2008 Medical and Dental Mission in Nicaragua

by Bev Brenneise

The 2008 Medical and Dental Mission to Nicaragua began with a series of mishaps and challenges. Two members lost their cameras or cell phone on the planes en route to Nicaragua. Luggage for about half the members was sent to Florida rather than to Nicaragua. When it did arrive, regulations prohibited its release until Monday — the day after we were to open clinics. The luggage held necessary supplies for our work. Then three dentists and one doctor from Mexico were detained in Mexico City due to passport problems.

It seemed a poor start for the mission, but the Lord had control and sustained us. Team members whose luggage had arrived shared their clothing, and a quick visit to a marketplace allowed us to purchase a few things. Through prayer and a humble request to the Nicaragua customs office, our luggage was released. The mission could begin on time.

We learned anew that material things are only that — material. As we drove through Nicaragua, we saw true poverty in the poorest country of Central America.

In the capital city of Managua were streets — paved, cobblestoned, and dirt — badly worn and needing repair. Vehicles on the streets were varied. Unique taxis (narrow three-wheeled vehicles sporting canopy “cabins”) and horse-driven carts moved in traffic with automobiles and buses. On our first Sabbath we discovered a traffic snarl was due to a dead horse, its carcass left there for the vultures to feed on after its cart and reins had been removed.

We spotted another common sight in Nicaragua: basura (garbage). Roadsides, walkways, and canals were littered with basura, bagged and scattered. Posted signs warned not to dump it — to little avail.

So many of the houses were of simple construction (corrugated steel sheets, masonry, wood, plastic tarps) with dirt floors. Yet people of means lived in nicely landscaped homes and villas protected by heavy walls and gates lined with coils of razor wire.

The Managua CoG7 was our base for the first three days. Our team set up clinic on beautiful cool tile floors that gave some relief to hot and dusty air. Medical personnel, pharmaceutical people, and general assistants recorded basic information in order to triage patients to appropriate doctors and dentists. Whatever needed to be done, even the most menial task, our Nicaraguan brethren were there to offer help.

When the missing members arrived from Mexico City, our team was complete. The strong bond that had been built with Mexican dentists and doctors during our first two missions forged us into a cohesive unit.

One elderly man approached a group member as we were closing the clinic at the Managua church. With tears in his eyes, he grabbed our member’s hand and spoke softly in Spanish: “I wondered who these people from America are, that they would come all the way down here to care for us and help us. Gracias, gracias, gracias.”

Our second three-day clinic was in Puerto Sandino, a smaller town northwest of Managua and situated three blocks from paved streets. This was where the CoG7 Garden of Eden project provided care for children.

The sanctuary was enclosed by tall masonry walls with open doors and windows. One section of the roof was missing. Almost one hundred people waited outside, peeking in the windows while the team stood on the dirt floor of the sanctuary, deciding how to set up clinic.

We discovered the brethren there had been working for three days and nights, when money had been donated to provide a roof. Workers had welded metal trusses and attached corrugated steel sheeting above to provide protection from the relentless sun. Funds hadn’t covered materials for the one open gap in the roof. We were grateful for the almost-completed roof, even as we shifted our tables during the day to avoid the sun’s direct rays.

Here the doctors and medical assistants worked on the dirt floor of the main building of the church while dentists set up in a nearby building — a smaller but more sanitary space for their tools. Church brethren constantly poured water across the dirt to keep the dust down around the clinic.

We triaged patients, diagnosing and helping some, while others required treatments that we couldn’t provide. Individuals were treated with basic procedures and/or were given medication. After our departure, we arranged for six patients to receive follow-up surgery and treatment.

On the final day of our clinic at the Garden of Eden, two of our team members donned clown costumes, entertaining a crowd of children — and adults — with fun, while others gave out food and gifts. The children’s expressions of appreciation — high fives, high fists, gleeful grins, and excited comments — touched us.

By the end of our six days in Nicaragua, we had seen 3,016 patients, including 650 individuals treated by dentists.

In addition to clinics during the days, several outdoor evangelistic services were held every evening. Three pastors from our group spoke at these services, and our head doctor concluded the campaign with an address. An estimated 2,000+ people attended the meetings. Pastors and other Church leaders circulated among the crowds, praying with individuals and taking information from new people so for follow-up work.

Most of the brethren in Nicaragua were economically in need. Controlled now by Sandanista President Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua is still struggling to recover from past wars and several natural disasters. Education and technology among the common people appeared to be lagging. Even if people owned a computer, few seemed to have access to Internet (or “cyber”) — a service Americans take for granted.

By the final day of our stay, following six straight days of clinics, we were physically fatigued but emotionally exhilarated.

The mission seemed to end in almost the same way it had begun: precipitously. As we boarded planes for our flight home, ten people from the Sacramento group (whose tickets somehow weren’t listed in the airport computers) appeared to be stranded in Nicaragua until a few passengers already on the plane volunteered to take later flights. One by one, our team members trickled onto the plane, and we were all aboard.

The two missing cameras were discovered on the Houston airport lost and found list.