Thank you!

Dear Friends and Family,

I cannot thank you enough for giving me the opportunity to go and serve in Nicaragua over the past several months. God used the time to do amazing things with the lives of many Nicaraguan children, their families, as well as with my own heart and life. Your donations and support yielded so much good, love and improved health. I worked alongside a Nicaraguan pediatrician named Dr. Karla setting-up a program and attending to Nicaraguan students in 4 different schools with Pre-K through High school programs. These students are some of the poorest children in our hemisphere. Dr. Karla became a best friend and mentor. Together, we had a total of about 1,800 children to love and share our clinical skills with to promote their health.

Just being a part of these children’s lives and sharing both the joy and the sadness with them was such a learning and influential experience. Dr. Karla and I did not have a clinic or a room in the schools. We traveled from school to school in a car with our bags full of everything from stethoscopes, syringes, tongue depressors, and medicines to health education posters, a minor emergency kit, and tweezers. We also travelled around in order to visit the children when they were in the hospital, bring them to specialist appointments and/or a place to get laboratory tests done. There was never a dull day.  I saw firsthand how poverty reaches every aspect of life especially health. Mothers sleep on the cement benches outside of hospitals while their children are cared for in intensive care.  Children’s diets consist of tortillas and 7 cent bags of chips/candy/cookies. Families don’t have towels or soap in their homes. Eight people live in a one-room shack with a dirt floor.  Things like headaches/hunger/thirst/stomach aches are part of daily life. Access to health care is a huge problem in Nicaragua. Giving the children at the schools access to healthcare through Dr. Karla and I is an immeasurable blessing. With your generous donations and support, Dr. Karla and I were able to serve together in the following ways through Nicaragua Resource Network:

• Gave anti-parasite treatment and taught about parasite prevention, symptoms, and treatment  >1,500 children and >200 of their teachers
• Installed soap at the schools to assure that the children and staff can wash their hands. The bathrooms are always pretty dirty, rarely had toilet paper and no soap. Hopefully with the soap we can prevent the spread of many infections including parasites.
• Helped set-up the documents/supplies/system of care delivery for 4 different schools, 2 of which have special needs programs. Special needs programs are very rare in Nicaragua. Typically special needs kids are hidden and ostracized from society.
• Identified cases of malnourished and anemic children  and gave the support/teaching needed to treat them
• Attended to several particularly grave cases of children with fatal conditions or emergencies and supported their family members through the process of care throughout the tough times.
• Organized for many of the children to receive dental evaluations, vision screenings, and receive glasses if needed
• Got health insurance for some of the special needs kids whose families have no financial means to support the medical needs of their children. Many families live on about $1 a day. So for the special needs kids that have medicines costing $50 per month, it is impossible to provide for their children and their families.
• Taught basic personal hygiene and hand washing to all of the children
• Taught  parents about nutrition and oral hygiene for their families and answered parents questions about their child’s health.
• Supported a 16 year old Nicaraguan girl with bone cancer as she struggled emotionally, physically, spiritually, and clinically. Her name is Heysi and she was always in and out of the hospital either to receive chemo, with a kidney infection, with anemia, or with unbearable pain. She is smart, beautiful at heart, and is a blessing to know. Her mother has not been able to work and spends her days supporting Heysi with all the love a mother could possess.
• Brainstormed and got a plan in action to get clean water at the most rural school where currently there is no water available.
• Began teaching (and Dr. Karla will continue) the oldest high-school students how to be health promoters in their community by teaching about the Heimlich Maneuver, CPR, wound care, infection prevention, and how to identify and handle many emergencies. This school is located in a rural area where access to health care is especially difficult. Equipping these young people in their community can help provide the community awareness and skills to address emergencies/health concerns.
• Found and transition a Nicaraguan nurse to take my place when I left to keep the program going to create sustainability. The new nurse’s name is Martha and she is a Nicaraguan nurse that is skilled, loving and enthusiastic…she has also become a good friend.
• And much more!!!

However, despite or maybe because of the poverty, the people in Nicaragua are so beautiful in heart. Nicaragua is the 2nd poorest country in the western hemisphere, so the people feel the ups and downs of life in such a tangible way that they share a sense of humility and connectedness that is warm and welcoming. They work hard and I was so surprised about the many people wanting to give whatever they had to help better their own community or their neighbor. Thanks to your support and donations, hope, health and love are being spread to the Nicaraguan children and families through this medical project.

In addition to working with Dr. Karla in the schools, I experienced Nicaragua through other avenues too. I spent time with a Nicaraguan nursing school and supported them whenever I could. I lived with a host family and enjoyed learning how to make tortillas, eating gallo pinto (a typical Nica rice and beans dish) for dinner every night, going on family trips, eating mangoes on the porch, and playing by candlelight when the power went out. I went to church at Nicaraguan churches and learned to praise God the Nica way. I love this country, the culture, and the people. I was constantly challenged and humbled.  I learned to redefine love, justice, health, faith, and my own dreams.

I dream to positively and significantly impact women’s and children’s health in the developing world and to promote global health education among nurses. While I was in Nicaragua, I was accepted to Johns Hopkins University for the MSN/MPH (Masters of Nursing/Masters of Public Health) program which will prepare me to accomplish those dreams and I couldn’t be more excited to start the program at the end of this June. My experiences in Nicaragua are the perfect steppingstone to prepare me for making the next step in my nursing career and life. I know I will be back in Nicaragua in the future.

I want to thank you so so much for your donations and support that gave me the ability to go on this journey to Nicaragua and grow spiritually, professionally, and personally in ways I cannot express. If you want to know more about my time in Nicaragua and see pictures, feel free to email me at ayla.landry@gmail.com if you have questions/comments/encouragement. I cannot thank you all enough and hope that while I have been in Nicaragua, God has been moving in your life too. Thanks again for your donations and support from the many Nicaraguan children/families and from me!

With Love,

 Ayla Landry, BSN, RN

“Love requires action.”

Some more quotes:

“My actions are my only true belongings.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.
-- Maya Angelou

“Hunger makes a thief of every man.” Unknown

“This bright, new day... complete with 24 hours of opportunities, choices , and attitudes… a perfectly matched set of 1440 minutes. This unique gift, this one day, cannot be exchanged, replaced or refunded. Handle with care. Make the most of it.”~Unknown

“The journey of a thousand miles 
must begin with a single step.” Lao Tzu

"If you can't feed one hundred  people, then just feed one." Mother Teresa

Reverse Culture Shock

Reverse Culture Shock…is real and difficult. I expected to feel a lot more critical about the people living in excess here in the USA, or guilty for the blessing I have. However, I have not experienced those thing…instead I have just been sad and still feel out of place. A nostalgic sad that brews and then sometimes explodes in tears. A feeling of being out of place…I assume due to the personal changes and growth the trip brought. I want to still be there where I can spend 80% of my day giving to those that need it most.

Here in the USA giving is a choice. There in Nicaragua, it is a necessary part of living. No one can make it on their own and so everyone depends on their families, neighbors, and communities to help out…and they do help regularly.

Here there are walls that keep people out of other people’s lives. There in Nicaragua, walls are built to hold people together and give shelter.  A person in the USA could live their whole life without knowing their neighbors, or having any personal relationships at all. A person in Nicaragua, even they do not know the person walking to their door, will welcome them invite them in and offer whatever they have to their guest…a chair to sit, a cup of coffee/soda, a tortilla and will take the time to visit and get to know them.

In the USA we are expected to be in control, have it all together, be independent, and plan the next step.  In Nicaragua, that is not an option.

I am speaking English just fine…sometimes my recall of words is slow and I can only think of the Spanish word.

The best treatment for Reverse Culture Shock I have found to be is:

1.   Time

2.   Talking and/or writing about your experiences with lots of people

3.   Quality time with loved ones

4.   Not holding it all in but instead consciously recognizing, and redirecting the negative or uncomfortable feelings and thoughts to something motivating…It’s all about choosing your attitude.

5.   Prayer

Love,

Ayla Landry

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. 

Attitude, to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.

It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company ...a church ...a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past ...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.

We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude ...I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes”. 

~Charles Swindoll

Dayana Passed Away…

The day after I came home, I got news from Dr. Karla that Dayana died. Dr. Karla writes (and I translated):

“On the 4^th  of June the two year old little girl Dayana Bello passed away after 16 days of intensive therapy in the Mascota Children’s Hospital. The injustice of the world is that she died of a disease, pneumonia, which could have been cured if they had caught it in time. The sad part is that four days before those 16 days, she had been admitted in the hospital in bad state of health and when the mother asked the doctors if the phlegm that she heard in Dayana’s chest was normal, they told her that yes and that she should just wait for the effects of the treatment and that for children with special needs there is always phlegm. So the mother left not expecting this to ever happen. We give glory to God who wanted to bring her to His presence. We are grateful for all of your prayers and we ask that if you know a mother of a special needs child that you tell them not to conform to the doctor if they say something is normal and to look for help and other opinions if they feel as if something is wrong. God gives us our children for a short period of time and we have to tell them of Him and give them all the care we can give.”

Please Pray for this mother and family. The mother slept and spent all of those 16 days sleeping on the sidewalk outside the hospital and I know this must be causing lots of suffering that, with her other 2 kids at home, will have little time to process.

Also, pray for Dr. Karla. I wish more than anything I could be there with her to go through this loss and move forward on the many things to come. We would visit Dayana and her mother and stay professional and together while we were in front of them and then cry and pray together afterwards in the car as we got ready to drive to the next thing. I pray she feels supported and loved in this time as well to give her all that she needs  to serve and love and serve and love and serve as the work requires.

Love,

Ayla Landry

“In April we cannot see sunflowers in France, so we say the sunflowers do not exist. But the local farmers have already planted thousands of seeds and when they look at the bare hills they may be able to see the sunflowers already. The sunflowers are there. They lack only the conditions of sun, heat, rain, and July. Just because we cannot see them does not mean they do not exist.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

I'm Back in the US of A...

I flew from Managua to Houston, TX to Austin, TX. The flight was uneventful. I read one of the two books Ginny and Cecil gave me and slept a little.

Then, as happy as  it could have been, I hugged my mom when she came to pick me up. I loved seeing her and soon after my dad, brother, friends, boyfriend, and my loved ones. I had missed them all and I am happy to spend time with them all. I am hoping the adjustment back to the US won’t be too bad.

Love,

Ayla Landry

"He has showed you, O man, what is good. 

   And what does the LORD require of you? 
To act justly and to love mercy 
   and to walk humbly with your God." ~ The Bible (Micah 6:8)

Last Night in Nica

When Dr. Karla and her husband , Jose Luis, dropped me off at my host family home at the end of our work day, we prayed together, encouraged one another, and promised to stay in touch. Of everyone one,  I will miss Karla the most. She has become my best friend. She is uplifting, genuine, loving, and very special to me. I love the woman she is and the blessing she has been for me and all those she encounters. I have exchanged several emails with her since I have been back in the USA already and I will continue to hold her and her family close to my heart.  We told each other earlier in the day that we would not say good-bye and only see you later because it would be too hard. So sticking to that plan we hugged and said see you later.

    I went straight into my room and cried a little bit  just to get it out. Then, I went and played with Gabriel and spent time with the family. They also have been such a blessing. They took me out to dinner at the mall food court. We went to the arcade before we ate dinner and I played air hockey with Gabriel, and played the air-drums while Rubén played guitar hero.  We exchanged gifts and hugged and as I packed each family member came in at different times to say their good bye. Gabriel didn’t want to say it so instead we drew pictures for each other. He came into the room with paper and all his colors and we drew and drew. I felt so blessed all day. It could not have been a better day or a better trip!

My host mom woke up with me the next morning at 4:30AM and wished me farewell when the taxi came to pick me up and take me to the airport. US here I come...

Love,

Ayla Landry

“There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer, no disease that enough love will not heal, no door that enough love will not bridge, no wall that enough love will not throw down, no sin that enough love will not redeem... It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble, how hopeless the outlook, how muddled the tangle, how great the mistake. A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all.” ~Emmet Fox

My Last Day in Nicaragua

My last day in Nicaragua was Thursday June 2^nd. It was a beautiful day and felt like my birthday. The day started with me packing gifts to take to Assistant Patricia, Nurse Martha, the ladies that work at the Quinta, Ginny and Cecil, and Dr. Karla. To my surprise they had gifts for me too! I shared special moments with each of them as I gave them their gifts and received hugs. 

Then Dr. Karla,  Nurse Martha, Patricia and Dr. Karla’s Husband and I went to visit 2 year old Dayana and her mother at the hospital. Dayana has been there for 15 days and is really poor condition. Dayana’s organs are failing. Her kidneys are not working at all and a machine called a Dialysis machine is functioning as her kidneys. Her liver is not working. Her heart is being sustained by medicines, and she is attached to a ventilator that is breathing for her since her lungs/muscles are not working. It was hard seeing all of this and trying to support her mother. I cannot imagine the suffering that she must feel as she sleeps outside the hospital walls on the cement just praying constantly for God to perform a miracle on her daughter. I offered all I had to support her and I will be continuing to pray for this family and little Dayana even when I am back in the States.

After that visit, we went to the school Rey Salomon were I helped set Dr. Karla and Nurse Martha up to do consults with the sick children that day and I left the two of them to go play and spend time with my dear friends there like the Director of the School, Cinthia, a some of the teachers, and several of the students. Cinthia was in the school kitchen cooking a special farewell lunch. All the teachers gathered in the school cafeteria and wished me a farewell with prayer, hugs, good wishes and thank-yous. Cecil, my US father figure during my time in Nica/mentor/friend/boss came too. Am I was so touched and the food was scrumptious. Then, for dessert, the special needs kids threw me a party with cake and music and everything. One of the special needs kids had been working on a prayer for the event and prayed out-loud giving thanks for the time we spent together, for my safe travel back to the US, for my family, for Dr. Karla, for all his friends there in class with him and his teachers. Patricia, Dr. Karla’s assistant, surprised  me and performed a dance for me to my favorite song that we always listen too in Dr. Karla’s car. Then per the special needs kids request, Patricia and I danced together for them and they all clapped and it was so joyful! Ginny, my US mom figure during my time in Nica/mentor/friend/boss, came and watched and celebrated with us. I received many cards and each of the special needs kids came up and gave me a hug one by one. I nearly cried because I was so touched. We played games, danced, and I told them all thank you. One of the special needs girls was crying because she did not want me to leave and I she sat in a corner. She had been a friend that I always hugged and chatted with when I was there on Thursdays. I went to the corner and spent some time with her and encouraged her by letting her know that I would always be with her in heart and prayer. She finally gave me a big hug and after a long time let go.

It was difficult for me to want to leave the school or Nicaragua for that matter. However, it was time to go meet Heysi at her Oncologist (cancer doctor) appointment so we left...

Love,

Ayla Landry

“The most important act of peacemaking? Your next one. Few of us will ever be called on to do great things, but all of us can do small things in a great way.” 

~Colman McCarthy

Heysi’s Doctor Appointment

Heysi is a beautiful 16 year old girl who has bone cancer. She and her mother arrived by taxi at the clinic. Heysi’s father is a mechanic and one of the taxi drivers who he has worked for over the years often volunteers to drive them to appointments. It is amazing how communities work together and depend on one another.

Heysi looked good but was saying how the pain at the tumor site was coming back. The Oncologist is very black and white and just laid the bad news right on us. Her tumor is uncontrolled, growing, and could metastasize (spread to another part of her body) at any moment. However, there was nothing else he could do. He had tried all of the chemotherapy medicines they have and none worked. She could try radiation but it is not as strong as the chemotherapy. He recommended talking to her orthopedic doctor and taking her leg off. Then, trying radiation after that if metastasis exists. The doctor spoke to Dr. Karla and Heysi’s mom the whole time and hardly even looked at Heysi.

Heysi cried, her mother cried, and Dr. Karla and I were trying to hold it together. There is one radiation center in all of the country with 3 machines. To try to get radiation would mean putting her on the list and probably waiting no less than two weeks before the first treatment.  We can’t wait two weeks. As the doctor said, her tumor is uncontrolled and could be throwing bad cells anywhere…her hip, lungs, spinal cord, etc. Additionally, both radiation and the amputation surgery mean that she will not be able to have the prosthesis surgery as previously discussed and her chances of walking again are greatly decreased. This discussion was extremely difficult but we spoke and moved forward. Heysi is scheduled for her amputation surgery on the 22^nd.  Please pray for her strength and peace and for in this time of waiting she feel no pain and remain as healthy as possible.

Before Heysi and her mom left we exchanged gifts. I gave Heysi her birthday present of the digital camera that Debbie, Ryan and I bought her as well as a card I had written. She turns 17 on the 26^th…which means she will be in the hospital for her birthday. I also gave her mother a card for their family. Heysi and her mother gave me a card, and a souvenir I will cherish.  We all hugged and cried some more and then said good-bye/see you later. There is no way I can stay away from here to long…the people the culture are so dear to me.

Love,

Ayla Landry

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while DARING GREATLY so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat."

~Theodore Roosevelt