A young lady is quietly awoken from
a short afternoon nap. For a brief moment, she thinks she is back home in her
village in Nicaragua. As her senses slowly become stronger, she realizes that
she is far from home. The last week has been a whirlwind of change, fear, doubt
and joy. She begins to remember the last few days. What began as a simple
checkup for her pregnant sister at their village clinic, turned into the most
intense day of her young life. The doctor found that her sister was showing
signs of premature birth, and the baby was in a breech position. She needed an
emergency C-section, and she needed it fast!
The next few hours were a blur,
full of nurses and doctors preparing her sister for an emergency air evacuation
with the Wings of Hope airplane. She remembers seeing the plane come in for
landing as the car ambulance rushed to the airport. She smiles briefly as she
thinks back to her first encounter with the pilot. He was trying to reassure
her and her almost unconscious sister. His funny sounding, but steady, Spanish
comforted her as she climbed into an aircraft for the first time in her life.
The flight was uneventful, as her worry for her sister distracted her from the
wonder of flight. A few hours later at the Puerto Cabezas hospital, her sister
safely gave birth to her nephew.
But, now, as she hears her sister
quietly crying beside her with her baby nestled close, the joy and relief of
seeing her baby nephew born healthy, and her sister recover completely, seem a lifetime away. Her eyes slowly scan her surroundings. They are sharing a
bed in a maternity house in Puerto Cabezas. The house was made for people like
them: released by the hospital, but nowhere to go in a strange town with no
family. In a region of a country that doesn’t have paved roads outside of a few
towns, traveling is no small task. The trip home is typically 7-8 hours on a
bumpy, muddy road in a hot and dusty old school bus — less than ideal
conditions for a newborn baby. Making matters worse, the torrential rains have
made the road home impassable. Although it wouldn’t matter anyway, as they do
not have any money for the bus tickets. She feels so powerless and alone.
She sees the pilot approaching
their bed from a distance. In a house full of pregnant women, it’s pretty hard
for him to hide. He has come by every day to check on them and give them money
for food and medicine. This time, however, he comes carrying the greatest news.
He had a call for another emergency to their hometown. The call came late in
the afternoon, so he wasn’t able to make the flight right away. The patient is
fairly stable, so he will be flying out early the next morning. He offers to
take her, her sister and her nephew home the next morning on his way to pick up
the patient. No bumpy, hot, dusty, day-long bus trip. No more sharing a house
with 40 other pregnant women. After the most trying five days of her life, she
will be going home.
The next morning, all the memories
come rushing back as she sees the Wings of Hope airplane for the second time.
She asks her sister if she remembers anything about the flight just a few days
before. With tears in her eyes, her sister responds, “No. The only thing I
remember is thinking I was dying.” As they climb into the waiting aircraft, she
embraces her sister and gives a quick kiss to her new nephew. Halfway through
the calm, early morning flight, the quiet hum of the aircraft’s engine begins
to lull her to sleep. She smiles as she realizes that, this
time, when she awakes she will again have that familiar feeling of being back home — except,
this time, she will really be there.
