Still so much more to do ...

It has been over a year now since Wings of Hope assigned me to Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua. So I figure reflecting on this milestone is a good excuse to write.

I am not a very good writer, nor does it come easily for me. The hardest part of writing for me, as I am sure it is for most people, is finding the right story. It’s not that nothing happens here that warrants a story—but after you’ve been someplace a year, you become part of that place. Things that first seemed amazing, or different, become a daily part of life.

All of the 90-plus emergency medical transports that I flew last year directly transformed a life in an extraordinary way. They are all “story worthy.”

I could write about the little girl with a compound arm fracture. Not only did her arm heal completely, but she was the first patient flown from Rosita—a town of 22,000 people that now has access to air emergency services.

I  could write about the numerous pregnant women in complicated delivery or the man with a brain aneurysm. There are also the many babies with pneumonia, and the countless hours spent flying the aircraft while anxiously looking back and hoping the baby is still breathing. Then there is the pregnant girl who named her baby after me. I didn’t even fly her—just visited her after the birth, because her family from a faraway community couldn’t be there to support her.  

These images flash through my mind like a slide show from last year. But, for some reason, none seem like a fascinating story to me. I start thinking of writing about things that occur in normal life over here, apart from my work. I could write a story about learning to ride a motorcycle—while dodging cows, horses, school kids, buses and possessed taxi drivers—or the innumerable funny interactions with all of the local merchants and business owners. As before, none of my ideas are shaping up into stories. I begin to wonder why. How come everything I can think of that has occurred in the past seems just that— in the past, a distant memory? How come my mind is not recalling all of the amazing things that have happened?

I start to focus on what is on my mind and what does have my attention. It isn’t anything that has already occurred or has already been accomplished. It is what can be accomplished in the future. It is Alamikamba, a town that is an 8-10 hour car drive from Puerto Cabezas, but merely 45 minutes by air. With only a little work on the runway, and permission from the government, they, too, can have free emergency air transportation. Also consuming my mind are Kukalaia, Lapan, Raiti and Prinzalpolka—all communities that are in very similar situations to Alamikamba. All could be reached. There is still so much more to do.

Looking back on my one year here, I am filled with gratitude and joy for what has been accomplished. But the unlimited possibilities of what lie ahead are, to me, far more exciting.