Crisis averted

This morning was our weekly time of devotion at work. Four North Americans are spending 15 days with us. There was more English spoken at the office than usual.

After the devotional we planned for the week to come. I saw a co-worker filling out his schedule. He works every single day. The only time he has free this week is Tuesday morning. This isn't an exceptionally busy time for us. I was surprised to see him working seven days/week. My co-workers continue to impress me.

In the planning meeting we talked about the budget for 2016. A number of our kids are not attending school because their parents can't afford to send them. My boss asked if we know anyone who would want to sponsor a kid's education for $20 per year.

It may be hard to believe that a parent can't come up with $20 so their kids can go to school, but today Erika told me she couldn't come up with less than 25 cents to get her baby to the doctor. Fany and Ana both told me about times when they didn't have the 25 cents for bus fare.

Erika called me at 11:30 this morning. I assumed she had already gone to the doctor and was back at home, I asked what the doctor said. She had not gone to the doctor. She thought the baby was better when the morning began. Then the diarrhea started at 9:30 a.m., but  she has to be in line at the clinics by her house by 5 a.m. or they won't let her in. So she didn't go.

I felt frustrated. I thought she understood yesterday that this was serious. I explained to her the dangers again. She said that she had nowhere to take the baby at 11:30 in the morning. She said she couldn't have gone to the doctor this morning because she didn't have 4 Lempiras for the bus. That's less than 25 cents. I asked why last night she had bus fare. She really didn't have a good answer.

After thinking for a couple of minutes I asked Fany to talk to Erika. She could talk to Erika mother to mother. Fany explained the dangers of diarrhea when it comes to babies. She told her that five days is too long. I heard her say, "Move yourself!"

Then I got ahold of Ana. Ana lives near Erika. She agreed to help out. I called Erika back. By that time Erika had already taken Marjory to the doctor and was waiting in line to get the medicine that was prescribed.

Crisis averted.

I am going to talk to Erika about making sure she always has enough money (40 cents) set aside to take the bus to the clinic.