News/Updates:

Our Honduran project is coming along nicely. Students from Hampden Sydney College along with my wife and Sarah Carlson, a twenty some lady from King of Glory Lutheran Church. They did considerable masonry work on the clinic and according to our local contact, the HS guys are the best group they have had work on the project.

Cindy worked with Floripe Gonzalez, MD in her clinic in Taulabe almost daily. Cindy being a nurse obtained valuable information on medical issues and treatment methods. The group also delivered $500 worth of school supplies to El Diviso, a small village in the mountains that we have "adopted".

Ken Carlson, Doug McKeag, MD, and myself had an unbelievable experience and adventure. We left San Pedro, flew to La Ceiba where we serendipitously met a remarkable man while buying antibiotics and anti parasitic medicine. A Greek who was a mercenary fighter preparing for the Bay of Pigs invasion. He and his wife took us to dinner and then shopping for other supplies. The following morning we flew to Puerto Lempira on the edge of the Moskito frontier. A gravel runway and two shacks for a "terminal. Again we chanced upon a missionary who invited us to breakfast and we spent several hours on their porch talking about the Moskito/Tawahka culture and how it is changing.

About noon, we piled in a Cessna and flew to Ahuas a small Moskito settlement on the Rio Patuca. We met with the physician at the Ahuas Clinic, who coincidentally had trained at Michigan State where Dr. McKeag attended. After a brief meeting we met our guide/translators. Our transportation up the Patuca was in a 30' x 2.5' dugout with a outboard motor. We headed upstream dodging rocks and submerged trees. The river was alive with alligators and exotic birds. We ended up in Wampusirpi a small muddy settlement of Moskito people. Slept on benches in a church with insect netting. Not a pleasant experience. 

The next morning we continued upstream and ultimately ended at Krausirpi a Tawahka people settlement. A beautiful village elevated above the river on rolling hills. We met with a Cuban doctor at the clinic and gave her the medicine. Her cupboards were bare and she was surprised and very thankful for our visit. Two days before a mother and child died because of lack of medicine.

We had lunch with a Tawahka family which was the best meal we had since leaving Puerto Lempira. I met with a Catholic priest and discussed the Tawahka peoples future as the outside world creeps closer to them. There way of life is changing, however they are preserving their language and culture.

We retraced our path back the river and spent the night in a "house" at a small gathering of homes, one of which was a relative of one of our guides. While I was guided to a semi comfortable bed, my friends had to sleep on the floor. After hearing clicking sounds, Doug turned on his flashlight...MISTAKE....there were hundreds of cockroaches three inches long lined up staring at him. After an series of appropriate expletives and the cow under the house rubbing against the supports moving the house, I started to laugh my xss off. I slept well and my friends did not.

We finally got to Wampusirpi where we were going to catch a flight. The airplane didn't show up because of no fuel. As we found out a fuel ship sank off of Puerto Lempira in the Caribbean several days before. We got back in the boat and headed to Ahuas where we knew there were missionary pilots. We made plans with a pilot that evening before retiring in a "hotel", not telling him we did not have enough Lempira to pay him. The following morning we met him at the landing strip and told him the news. We gave him everything we had and promised to mail him a check. He laughed and agreed with our plan. 

Got back to Puerto Lempira in time to catch the commercial flight to La Cobia and San Pedro Sula. A grand adventure with possibilities for future ROW projects.

Jon R. Haskell

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