Fellow Man International Mission’s purpose includes education. Lisa started programs to educate the locals in nutrition, health care and dental care in addition to supporting the local public school in a variety of ways.
Starting on May 10, she extended the education mission to a group of 12 persons from Salina, mostly from Kansas Wesleyan University’s Nursing Education Department. Eleven students (several May ’09 graduates) with faculty member Dr. Jamie Spikes, friend Dr. Shashi Sharma and former KWU President Marshall Stanton enjoyed a seven day venture.
The education for the group included visiting a public and private hospital; seeing a public and private clinic; assisting with the care of patients in the public clinic; watching the Mission’s nutrition program at work (butchering chickens and observing the tiny store); seeing the donated equipment from Salina at the Mission’s clinic; unpacking and shelving donated medications brought with the group; assisting with a health screening program at a village school; unloading dozens of donated school bags at that village school; observing the Mission’s dentist screen then flouridate children’s teeth; watching a village school’s recess period where two new school rooms are waiting for roofing; and, traveling over nearly-impassible spots in mountain roads.
For many traveling in a Third World country was a new experience, consequently, the entire journey was an educational experience. Eating Honduran food, seeing the Mayan ruins at Copan, sleeping and bathing in rustic facilities, traveling over roads whose traffic sometimes included cows and many speed bumps, and seeing the hovels in which the mountain people live impressed the group with the differences in life-styles seen and those experienced in the US.