Updates

Last entry I mentioned the Cholera outbreak and I wanted to leave you with an update. First of all, a HUGE thanks to any and all of you who have ever bought coffee or vanilla from the Guest House Store! We save that money to use for community needs and there is no one is more need right now than the people of Cercado. With the money from that fund we were able to send 180 IV bags, 400 diapers, 80 yards of fabric and plastic for covering hospital beds, and over a thousand bags of bleach for water purification- as well as gowns, uniforms for the nurses, hand sanitizers, and other various supplies.

I accompanied Dr. Perdomo on Tuesday morning to drop the supplies off at the hospital and it was a hard sight. Even without entering the building you could hear the babies inside crying, watching people being carried back and forth to the bathroom and just feel the exhaustion of the staff. They have been working day and night in some pretty terrible conditions (they were all wearing knee-high rain boots and large yellow cleaning gloves because of the un-imaginable conditions that this disease causes). The doctor told me that the director of the hospital had tears in her eyes when she saw the supplies that had been given. She thanks you all for your generosity and prayers! There is a lot of suffering, but praise God that because of their efforts and because people are now aware of the disease and recognizing its symptoms, they are getting to the hospital and they are getting healed.

Dr. Perdomo unloading the supplies at El Cercado Hospital 

Numbers continue to fluctuate, last week there were 60 some new patients a day, then only about 25, yesterday it went back up to 43, but today was back down to 28. Overall the trend seems to be going down. Praise God and keep praying!

Other, much less important updates are that we are finally tying up the loose ends of the many projects that we began here at the Guesthouse over the last month or so. Margo has been cleaning like crazy, Dan has been working hard fixing broken pipes and tearing up old floors... and then there is me adding the girly touches. haha, I talked a couple of our dear friends (Andres the painter and Herman the tailor) into helping me with making some curtains and putting some paintings in the rooms to make them a bit cozier. Here's how they look now:

Fantastic, right?? And this is just one room! But I'm not gonna spoil the rest- you'll just have to come and see for yourself ;)