People in Campamento

Ok so I want to post about some of the families in Campamento.

Dayli (pronounced Die-lee) is an adorable five year old who last year had a goiter on her neck about the size of a golf ball. Well, last year Mark's cousin Tracy was here, and was able to help her out a little. He didn't know what to do about a goiter, so he called a doctor friend back in the states at $2/min to ask. This doctor mentioned that he had just recently read a medical journal about children with goiters in Belize. They found that these children had zinc deficiencies, so it was worth a try. They drove all over the country looking for any medical center that had zinc pills. Praise God, they finally found some and gave them to the family hoping that this would work. Well here we are, one year later and her goiter is almost completely gone!!! You can't even see it; you can only feel it under the skin. She has a couple of small scars to show, but other than that, she's doing really well!!! Soon, I'll try to post pictures of Dayli.

One of the families who's house we worked on consists of a husband and wife and four children. We found out that the roof and floor were all a surprise for them. They were so sweet and so very grateful. I wish we could have done more. It's hard to even imagine raising your children in a place like that; as you read this, imagine yourself living here. The house was about 10'x30' (originally with no roof and a dirt floor), the walls consisted of hardened mud with a sort of putty painted on the outside. The kitchen contained an earthen wood stove (made of the same stuff as the walls) and a couple of pans. They had a concrete wash basin outside and I never did find out where they went to the bathroom. They had a dog and a few chickens. Pictures to come soon.

Thanks for the faithful readership! Love,

Allie