Hogar de Belén

that´s the name of the clinic where i´ll spend much of the next month. it means "Home of Belen". you can´t imagine (i´ll try to post pictures soon) how true this is. it is distinctly different than all the other buildings there. it is cement, white, clean, solid amidst (literally) a sea of filth, wooden shacks that float, despair and little that is sure or solid.
to get to work today i was picked up (they use one of my favorite verbs for this action - coger - which can mean to catch, to take, to get) by the doctor, Ronald. on his motorcycle. i climbed on behind him - i think that was the first time in my life to have ridden on a motorcycle. it was pretty fun, actually. and an adventure amidst the crazy traffic of mototaxi´s here. we made our way to the "top" of Belén ... where he left his motorcycle in a locked garage of sorts. then we descended the stairs to where the water begins. if you can call this water - it´s filth. sewage. grey and thick-looking. all manner of stuff floating in it. and scores of people everywhere. walking in it, canoeing around it in, living in shacks that float on it. and the ´water´is supposed to rise more this month. this same water is part of the Mighty Amazon.
our taxi to the clinic was a low-riding, wooden canoe. i got in trusting that it would hold all 3 of us - me, Ronald and our "driver" who was a boy of maybe 11 yrs. it did. and he rowed us through the water streets to the steps of the clinic, partly submerged. we pulled up, disembarked, and walked up the dry, solid steps.
a waiting room filled with people, a pharmacy/lab (which can do urine analysis and malaria blood tests, nada más = nothing more), 2 consultation rooms, a dining room where the children´s programs are held including lunch. there are a second and third floor which are being finished.
i saw close to 20 patients today. mostly on my own, consulting with Dr. Ronald when i wasn´t sure what to do or how to diagnose and treat without my usual tools of lab, X-ray, etc. the majority need more than medicine can offer them. so i gave a lot of vitamins, ibuprofen/tylenol, anti-parasite drugs and prayed. prayed for wisdom and understanding in spanish and of their lives. and prayed for food for them. for a day when they have a toilet in their house and clean water. for a day when they don´t have to live in filth. for them to at least be blessed by spending some time in the "Hogar de Belén", hoping they were able to find hope and light and peace there.
after afternoon devotions with the staff, we left. in a canoe, to the water´s edge, and then in a mototaxi to my clean, lovely hostal. the contrast is almost palpable.
i get to go back tomorrow. i can´t believe that this is actually my life. and i can´t believe Belén is actually theirs. i covet your prayers - for them, for me.