Our plane with beautiful blue skis and a recent rain when we first get to Belize. God has given us a beautiful start to our journey.
When doing a quick window survey in Belize City we found their hospital. Protected with bars on the outside. We did see an ER entrance but didn’t notice the public entrance.

Robert’s Grove pool and one of the relaxation areas.
Concordia University Seward Nebraska nursing team. Heidi Gubanyi, Kathie
O’Dell, me and Tina Kahn.
The beauty here is breathtaking, giving me the strength to know that my Lord is with me on the journey we are about to take.

From our shoe lace survey you can see that many of the houses are not safe from the elements. Many of them have boards that look as though they could fall off. There area also piles of trash all over, under houses, next to houses, along the streets. We would see people when they were done with bottles and stuff just throw them where ever they wanted. Many of the houses started getting painted by the Mission
Society this last year, and that has made a difference in the look of the houses.

Two piles of trash along the street we saw while walking on our shoe lace survey
.
An outside kitchen that was at Calvin’s house. They use these so that their houses do not get so hot inside
.
This trash can and do not litter sign was on the main street into town, and just down the street from Mrs.
Harriett’s house where the school lunch program is.

Our first home visit was with Ms.
Amanda. She has had ulcers on her left leg that have been being treated. She is not able to go to the doctor often because it is a 2 hour bus trip to get there. She uses torn up bed sheets for her dressings.
She had good granulation noted and great healing noted also. We were able to get her some dressings while we were there and more cream to put on her ulcers.
We were able to get a picture of our home visit team Heidi Gubanyi,
Peggy Roller, Ms. Amanda and I.
Her grandkids wanted a picture too, they were such beautiful kids.
Her oldest granddaughter got lessons on the stethoscope and our blood pressure cuff. She said that she wanted to be a nurse when she grows up. I love where and what I am going, I followed God’s plan for me and He was right, when I was scared and unsure.
Monday October 12, 2015

I definitely had a strong connection with the children there. This was one of Lynette’s children. She is the sister to
Harriett and helps her with the school lunch program.
Billie, Ms. Amanda’s husband was the second patient that we saw.
While I was the primary care giver for Ms. Amanda with Peggy and
Heidi helping me, Peggy was the primary care giver for Billie. He had suffered a CVA some time ago, but was needing some restorative therapy to get some of his strength. He had a few areas that were causing him to catch his feet in his home, so we used what we had to fix them – duct tape. He was a very pleasant and funny guy to work with.
Peggy was going to be there an extra week and planned on continuing care with Billie.

Deedee has CP, this is her bed that she is sitting on. Upon assessment she has one pressure ulcer 0.5 cm, stage II on her 4 th toe due to pressure from the 3 rd toe. We were able to get her some pedicure foam to protect the toe. I instructed her mother on how to look for these because of her toes rubbing together. Deedee was sitting up dancing to her mother’s music, such a big smile. Peggy worked with her on her mobility and stretching. We were also able to get her wheelchair fixed so she could use it. The middle picture if of the kitchen and the third picture is of the room with the stove in it.

Tuesday October 13, 2015
The Catholic School in Seine
Bight. The kids all wear uniforms that are made by
Ms. Harriett’s mother. She makes everyone a little bit different so that each child has an original uniform of their own.
Mr. Palazzo talked to the kids about the trash on the school grounds. The grounds were clean on
Friday and a mess on
Tuesday. So the children had to take bags and pick up the trash before class. He said that they needed to have pride in their school.
The kids all lined up singing their anthem, before classes begin.
We were able to listen for awhile and it was beautiful to hear them all sing, and pray before classes began.

Kathie and I did CVA teaching and prevention class. We made wind chimes to teach about the different signs and symptoms and also the ways to lessen your risk of having a CVA. The first class was on Monday and we only had 3 people show up. But one of the ladies said that she would get more people there if we would repeat a class the next day. So we planned time to have a repeat class the next day. The little girl was coloring with Tina, but she kept looking at the beads and I had brought stuff to make bracelets for the little ones so she finally came over and sat on my lap and we made a bracelet just for her. At the very end of the class I was able to finally get her to laugh and smile while I was holding her.

I was able to do a primary physical assessment on J.J. and they Peggy did a work up on her for strength and her ability to get around. I tell her grandmother that she needed to get to the dentist the next week when they were going to be there.
J.J. has CP and has been losing a lot of weight over the last several months. The Mission was able to get her more diapers, high calorie dried milk, and Nurtibon for her food. She is able to get around well by crawling. They do have a gait that they made so that she can not get down the step outside of the home.
One of my favorite pictures of J.J. standing on their porch, she has such a huge smile. I did find out that she did make it to the dentist and her teeth were cleaned.

Volleyball
Mission Society vs. Seine
Bight Girls
It was a well fought battle with a ton of laughs!!
We all have some great form, but I guess I forgot you are to hit the ball over not catch it!!
Their coach was a great sport and played on our team, I think she thought we might need some help.

Wednesday October 14, 2015
We had about 25 women show up today, and a lot of kids that
Heidi kept busy for us.
It was such a rewarding, blessed day.
And of course I got snuggles today also!!!

Handmade drums that Calvin makes. Several of us bought them to bring home.
I did try a small bite because he was so generous in making us a meal. They do not have much but he was will to share what little he did have with us. It was tough and kind of fishy tasting. But the barbeque was really good. “Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you”
Deuteronomy 16:17. I do not know that
Calvin had this to give, but he did anyway to show his appreciation to us.
Calvin made us barbequed stingray for lunch.

Kathie and I taught handwashing to the preschool and kindergarten kids. While kids were washing their hands the other children were learning about germs and coloring pictures. Kathie, Tina, and I built a germ box while in Belize for the kids to stick their hands in. We used a black light to show the germs that were still on their hands after washing. The kids loved it, and the teachers were also having a friendly competition to see who could wash their hands the best. It was fun to watch them have so much fun with it.

th
These are a few of the boys we taught hand washing too in 5 th grade. I was a great feeling when asked why we want them to wash their hands good, and one of them said “because of worms.” With him saying that we knew the class the biology students taught the kids retained. The kids were so excited to get fingernail clippers and a little tag to put on them to remind them when to wash their hands. They all did need education on how to use the clippers, so while Kathie was going over handwashing with the I was helping with the fingernail clippers and then Kathie helped when the handwashing was over. This group of kids had so many questions it was really fun to work with them.

Thursday October 15, 2015
The morning we left I got up to get some pictures of the sunrise. By the time we did devotions, and breakfast the weather was upon us. The rain his and those of us that had our bags on the ground by the van to get packed had wet clothes in our bags.

Part of our team.
Left: Sydney Olson,
Kathie O’Dell, Heidi
Gubanyi, Deisy
Jaimes, Larry
Meissner, Tina
Kahn, Ms. Sue, and
I.
Sydney Olson, I, and Tina Kahn (left) just on the outskirts of the jungle.
Here you see some of the rocks that made up the staircase to the cave. I went just far enough down to see the entrance to the cave. Due to the rocks being so slick I did not go to the bottom. It was really neat to see all the jungle plants, not so great getting wet.
But we did have a hint of Nebraska in the Belize
Jungle.

Getting to Xunantunich Mayan Ruins
We road on a man propelled ferry to get to the road for the ruins. It looked like hard work to get the ferry started but once started it kind of went on its own. On the way back the ferry was packed with cars, people and horses.
Selfie with a picture of the falls behind me. Once at the ruins I found a black orchid, the National
Flower of Belize.

Karyn,
Deisy, and
Tina at the top!
Karyn,
Deisy, and I at the bottom.

Our room (Kathie, Tina, and I).
One of the huts we slept in.
The main gathering place and where we ate meals.
Our hut roof thatching.

Everyone enjoying figs from the fig tree.
Acacia – Ants live in the bull horns to protect the plant. They use the leaves and eggs inside the bull horn for diarrhea and high fever.
Strangulation of a palm tree by a hard wood tree.

Chena takes us into the jungle and tells about the plants she uses as medicines.
Due to not feeling well Heidi brought me a leaf from inside the jungle. Chena called it an “Ass Plug” leaf.
You boil it and then drink the water to cure diarrhea. Part of the team following Chena into the jungle.

Saw several different species of passion flowers while I was in Belize. I have always loved the intricate detail of these flowers. While in the jungle we also saw some passion fruit which had been ate already so the only thing left was the leaves and the casings to the fruit. Professor Gubanyi taught us that the passion flowers leaves are poisonous so when caterpillars eat them and turn into butterflies the butterflies are very bright colored.
They have these bright colors to warn off species that may try to eat them that they are poisonous. Very interesting plant that offers great protection to the beautiful butterflies in the jungle. The passion flowers leaves can be boiled and used for women after birth to help with hemorrhage, it works much like Pitocin.

½ way up

Here we talked to the residents and sang Gospel music and other Christian music we had learned through out our journey.
I was able to talk to a gentleman that had, had a CVA. He was aphasic but I was able to understand some of what he was trying to tell me. He had been a carpenter during his lifetime. He was married and he had 4 children 2 boys and 2 girls. It was fun to see the residents sing with us, and being able to provide them with some contact other than what they are used to everyday.

We were all given a challenge by God to follow him and jump off the boat and let Him guide us. I was unsure of this jump, but I had a great team to jump with. We were able to do
God’s work with our hands and we worked like a team that had been together forever. Because we followed what God wanted for us we helped many people, and made new friendships, and some of us found a new passion we never knew we had. I will be forever thankful to our team and to God for leading me on this path, and pray that I will have another path
He takes me on. For God Is
Great!!!