Prologue:

Off to Seaford Town Jamaica to spend a few days off the grid and sharing talents and treasures.  We depart on Wednesday morning from Ft. Lauderdale to Montego Bay via JetBlue.  Hopefully, we will have a better experience than last years Spirit debacle.  

This will be my fourth trip to Jamaica and it appears that some of last years team will be going as well.  We have added the ministry power couple, Nancy and Paul Curti to our team which should make this an especially fruitful adventure.  Nancy is an RN and Paul is a retired titan of industry; both have gifts too numerous to mention.  Paul will be humbling himself beyond his usual degree to serve as the all purpose eye clinic tech and optician.  I am especially glad to have Paul and Nancy along and the rest of the team will no doubt feel likewise.

It will be nice to return to this mission destination, having a positive past experience of the destination and accommodations and reunite with Fr. Luke and the rest of our local hosts and helpers.

Let the blog begin.

Jamaica Mission Day #1

This is my second mission to Seaford Town, Jamaica.  Nancy, Paul and I have arrived at the Ft. Lauderdale departure gate with time to spare and regroup after the typical TSA morass.  They picked me up at 5 am for the drive to the airport.  There is always a new wrinkle with the TSA and this time it is food.  Of course, my backpack is almost entirely packed with food, keeping company with scrubs, tshirts, shorts, socks and underwear.  So just as the bag is about to enter the x-ray tunnel they announce that food needs to be taken out of the bag.  Seriously!  I did my best to extricate the things I could remember but forgot two giant, Trader Joe chocolate bars buried in the middle of my underwear.  This apparently set off a level 3 alert and I could see my beloved chocolate outlined with a big red box on the video screen.  My backpack was subjected to a personal search and after a mass spec swab the chocolate was determined to be of no immediate concern. 

The travel packing drama actually started on Monday evening when I was graced, last minute, with two gigantic suitcases full of supplies and clothes destined for the Sacred Heart Mission.    

The plan was to ship all this stuff as checked luggage but I was the last to know that it would be my responsibility.  It has become my custom to travel with only what I can carry on my back which simplifies travel and spares me from herniating a disc.  As both of these bags were full of items that were unknown to me, I was obligated to open them and take inventory so that I could answer the inevitable security questions about whether I packed my own luggage.  90 minutes later I had completely emptied the bags, repacked and added some high strength reinforced tape to one bag that had locks strained beyond their capacity.  I paid $60 for the two bags when I checked in online but upon arrival at the airport I was informed that both were grossly over the 50lb limit and thus there would be an additional $200 charge.  I know it is expensive to ship things to Jamaica but this process defies good sense and logic and I still have  to experience the thrill of customs interrogation on arrival in Jamaica.  Late last night I was advised that I might want to prepare to pay duty if there were questions about the contents.  I was also given local phone numbers for the Bishop should I need help in getting out of detention.   This was the primary reason that I only got three hours of sleep last night. 

Assuming I get past this hurdle the rest of the trip will be rewarding. 

Our flight on JetBlue to Montego Bay was on time and uneventful.  The serpentine line for immigration at MoBay was markedly better than last year and once clear of step one we located the behemoth suitcases and proceeded to drag them to customs.  Now the fun would begin.  We started in the line for entry without declaration and then got sent to the duty declaration line.  Event Paul and Nancy were redirected with only their carry on’s.  Again, I suspect this was because Sacred Heart Mission was noted on our entry paperwork.  Nancy and Paul whet first and had their bags searched and then it was my turn.  Apparently, I answered the questions correctly and after a few minutes and NO search we cleared customs and the previous night’s anxiety was past.   Note to self: decline future requests to shepherd donated supplies to third world. 

We dragged the luggage out of the terminal, located the outdoor bar and set up camp to wait for the rest of the team arriving today.  Paul and I ordered a couple of Red Stripes, the Jamaican equivalent to Rolling Rock and cheeseburgers.  Our waitress then returned with the bad news that they only had one hamburger bun and sent a runner out for more.  We had plenty of time and while we waited I saw our local security and all purpose helper, Boxer, walk past.  I flagged him down and we embraced, got him introduced to Nancy and Paul and added his burger and beer to the order.  Great timing.  He had just arrived from St. Piux X in Kingston after a three hour cross-country bus ride.   Our burgers finally arrived and we settled in for the next few hours to wait for the last team members to arrive. 

Around 3pm Fr. Luke arrived with Fr. Wojtek (forgive spelling) another mission priest from Poland who had volunteered to help drive us and the luggage back to Seaford Town.  Raysa and Mary (dentist) were the last of the team to clear customs and we gathered our bags and loaded the van and pickup for the 2 ½ hour drive up the mountain to Seaford Town. 

Fr. Luke and Fr. Wojtek 

Fr. Luke and Mary (Dentist)

Traffic in MoBay was horrible and it took thirty minutes to pick our way through town and arrive at MegaMart for some quick shopping.  I had my list prepared in advance and darted around looking for a coffee maker and a few staples for breakfast and two cases of Red Stripe.  We loaded up our goodies and continued up the mountain to the mission and clinic.  Aside from the ubiquitous and immense potholes, that require continuous course correction, the trip was quite pleasant and unlike last year, it was still daylight.  Fr. Luke, Raysa, Boxer and I talked and laughed and re-connected. 

Upon arrival at the Seaford Town mission compound we quickly unloaded luggage and settled in for dinner at 6pm.  Jenny made a salt pork and bean stew served with rice and sautéed cabbage and carrots which was outstanding.  13 hours have passed since Paul and Nancy picked me up in Naples and our day was not finished.  After dinner we headed over to the clinic to assess and get set up for tomorrow.  There were a few challenges that we will need to address tomorrow but overall things were in pretty good shape.   Sadly, Gavin, our Jamaican friend from Kingston was unable to make the trip this year since he just started a new job.  He will be missed in the clinic since he was our chief administrator and kept things running smoothly.  Sadly, we will have no after dinner, acapella, serenades. 

I missed the drama of sleeping arrangements in the “Doctor’s” house but the result was Nancy joining Paul, Boxer and I in the community center.   She is a very good sport as this is not quite the comfort of the house but we will do our best to make it work.  I got the coffee pot set up and Paul boiled a dozen eggs for tomorrow’s breakfast.  Quick showers with the lights out by 9 pm which beats last year by at least three hours.

Jamaica Mission Day #2

It is 4 am and my day is underway.  Bad news for the rest of my bunkmates.  I am doing my best to stay quiet in the kitchen and have resisted flipping the switch on the coffee until now.  I got some pretty decent rest and resisted the urge to jump out of bed at 2:30.   Our accommodations were very comfortable last night.  We had a fan and it was cool enough overnight that I needed to get under the sheet, a first in my Jamaican mission history.  My white noise iPhone app worked like a charm. 

This will be the first day of clinic and my insomnia is connected to concerns about some equipment that was not working in our check we made last night.  The patient chair for the eye clinic should move up and down and that did not function at all.  This will be problematic as many Jamaicans are diminutive in stature;  I am not,  so getting to their level will require some unnatural back posture for me.  The biomicroscope also did not illuminate but that may be simply a bulb or an issue with where it is plugged in.  I will address this before we start this morning. 

We had a quick breakfast with coffee, tea, the hard boiled eggs and some bananas.

Boxer, Paul and Nancy and I were able to get into the clinic well before the 830 opening to get some things sorted out before our first clinic day.  I oriented Paul on the auto-refractor but it was really a blind leading blind scenario.  I really do not use this technology back in my own clinic and so I am pretty unfamiliar with the operational specifics.   After a few stumbles we were able to get some readings on volunteers and developed confidence in the instrument.  Paul set up the dispensary for the glasses and with no prior experience managed to lay out frames in an impressively organized display.  We were unable to find a “PD rule” so measuring bifocal seg heights necessitated use of a ruler we found in a desk.

Having Paul set up I returned to my station and began to work on the chair and the biomicroscope.  I have to give Fr. Luke credit for resolving the issue with the chair.  It was plugged into an outlet that was not hot and an extension cord resolved that.  Turns out the microscope issue was the same and the floor looks like Medusa with cords everywhere, but everything worked. 

The rest of the clinic crew started to roll in and we were open for business before 8:30.   Sheli worked the check in desk and updated our system for keeping track of who was going where.   We have appointments for primary care, dental hygiene, dentistry and optometry.   This worked out well and Sheli organized patient tracking that worked better than last year.  Paul and I worked out the final details on getting the eye patients started with a few drops of dilating agent, an auto-refraction and picking out a pair of frames before they were too dilated to see what they were choosing.  He kept the forms for the patients waiting to see me in order and the eye clinic ran like a Swiss train.  Good thing because by the end of the day we put 47 people through the eye clinic. 

Nurse Nancy

Shelica and Sr. Telesa confer with Nancy

Paulette in dental room

Veronica doing hygiene

Nancy and Raysa in Pharmacy

About 1/3 of our patients need nothing more than reading glasses and we had a nice supply of ready to wear, near only glasses.  Nothing like instant gratification.  The cell phone has replaced the customary reading card as the conformational test of how the reading glasses were working and the raised eyebrows and smiles confirmed success.  

I could not help this guy with any glasses but I did find him a new pair of crutches.   

This years winner of most appropriate wardrobe for an eye exam-note dog with glasses

Kemesha and her daughter

At least 10 of today’s patients had some ocular pathology.   Six needed to be walked in with help, as they were functionally blind with dense cataracts.   In men, injuries are a primary cause of vision loss and my remarkable patient of the day was blinded in the left eye as a result of his mother hitting him in the eye with an iron.  This happened 10 years ago and the eye was not painful but beyond any hope of restoration.  He got a lecture on protecting the good eye like a newborn baby and will get him some safety glasses with his prescription.  

Even in Jamaica there is the occasional “difficult” patient and today’s winner was a lady who just would not leave the clinic.  I thought I was fairly fluent in Patois (the local dialect that is mostly English) but despite my best efforts I could not understand why she continued to return to the exam lane and interrupt me.  After a few encounters with her I was also concerned that she may have some mental issues.  I finally called Boxer in for a consultation and even he could not understand what she was trying to convey.  This went on for the entire day.  Just when we thought we had moved her on she would reappear and continue with her impossible to understand concern.  By the end of the day we had a revelation that she thought the glasses we had her try on were the final result (they had no lenses in them) and did not want us to proceed since she could not see out of them when she tried on the frame.  I am pretty sure she will still be hanging around for the next two days.  The concept that we were going to need to send her frames to the states for lenses and then send them back was not sinking in.  

We did our best to stay on schedule and break for lunch to respect Jenny’s efforts to provide us a delicious hot meal.  A power failure right at the time we were to head to lunch put an exclamation point on the lunch break.  As we were leaving the clinic, Fr. Luke and Boxer were setting up a generator so we would have power when we returned. 

Lunch was curry chicken, rice and Nancy’s favorite (Not!), more cabbage.  The chicken was fabulous and I had seconds which makes Jenny’s day.  Refreshed we returned to the clinic.  By this time of the day the entire community is inside or on the steps of the clinic so getting through the crowd presents some challenges.  As I approached the sidewalk a young lady called out “Dr. Phil” and wrapped her arms around me.  This was my most beautiful and tragic glaucoma patient from last year, Kamesha.  She is a young, unmarried mother of three who has nearly end stage glaucoma.   She is on my schedule tomorrow.  Even with medications, her glaucoma is so advanced that she will be blind by the time she is thirty.  No family support means a dismal future for her and her little ones.   Fr. Luke has put her on the payroll and she helps keep the clinic tidy. 

Inside the clinic in full swing is difficult to describe.  Think of a movie where there is an outdoor market with a din of voices, punctuated with motorcycles revving and backfiring.  I hope that was motorcycles backfiring.   Added to that is the gut wrenching screams emanating from the open door of the dental clinic which shares my lane.  Mary, the dentist, apparently set a personal and JOP clinic record for tooth extractions yesterday.  This is physically exhausting and I cannot imagine how you get through the day with all that wailing.  I feel pretty pitiful complaining about my back ache from sitting on a stool for 10 hours.

We managed to close out the day at 6 pm right on schedule for dinner.  The Red Stripe beer was ice cold and nearly everyone took advantage.  Jerk chicken was on the menu along with some type of root vegetable that was steamed and a unique Jamaican dumpling that is guaranteed to send your blood glucose over the top.  It is so dense you cannot cut it with a fork and weighs about as much as a curling stone.  Jenny put two of them on my plate and now I have to figure out what to do with them so I do not hurt her feelings when she discovers I could not possibly eat them.  We finished off a few more beers and everyone scattered for showers and rest.  Too bad because they left before I broke out the dark chocolate that nearly caused a TSA lockdown!  Nancy, Paul, Boxer and I enjoyed a little bit of heaven and I gave a good size chunk to Jenny and her family who live in the kitchen during the day.

Time for showers and some rest.  I am not sure what Fr. Luke has done with the shower water supply but the hot water is actually hot.  I was the third in line and still had plenty of nice hot water to cut through the day of crud. 

We all lay in our beds reading and enjoying some quality quiet time and by 8:45 I was dead asleep. 

 Jamaica Mission Day #3

I managed to stay in bed until 3:30 today before my kidneys threatened to explode.  The trek to the bathrooms makes returning to sleep impossible.   The toilets are about a football field away from where we sleep and upon arrival there is the challenge of sitting down.  Last night Fr. Luke revealed that the bathrooms were designed for the preschool children who use the community center as a day care/preschool.  Thus, the toilets are “kid size”, the seat is less than 12 inches from the floor, which is pretty much sitting on the floor if you are 6 feet tall.  Getting down is aided by gravity but the dilemma is getting back up again with your knees at eye level for a starting point. Decades of cycling has not prepares my quads for this maneuver. 

Coffee is brewed and I am sitting in the kitchen in the dark knowing that I am in the good company of some roaches the size of a Volkswagens.   I cannot see them but their footfalls are not beyond my extraordinary hearing. 

Yesterday one of our neighbors brought some fresh eggs and some grapefruit sized oranges that will enhance our breakfast today. 

Day 2 of the clinic is typified by some really exciting patient experiences and today things went as predicted.   I started off the morning with a couple of walk in Sisters that were friends of Sr. Telesa who is acting as our pharmacist.  Sr. Telesa is from Tonga and her friends were also from south Pacific islands that I will need to find on a map when I get back to the connected world.  The eldest of the pair has been diabetic for ten years and thinks that it is ok to eat cereal and oranges every day for breakfast.  Add that to the ubiquitous rice in the Jamaican diet and things can go bad in a hurry.  Her dilated examination revealed spectacular diabetic retinopathy.  She had no idea that her dietary choices were ruinous and I educated her before adding her on to our primary care clinic schedule to check her blood glucose.  I took a side bet that it was going to be about 400 (100 is normal) and she clocked in at 380.  Raysa and Nancy teamed up to continue the dialog about diet and self-monitoring.  She actually has health coverage through her order so I insisted that she see the retina specialist in MoBay ASAP. 

I was reunited with my young, advanced glaucoma patient from last year for a follow up today.  She is taking two medications for glaucoma that cost her $8000 Jamaican per month (about $60 US dollars).  This is unaffordable for a single mom who raises goats for her income.  Thanks to my good friend and former business partner, Rod, who sent me a last-minute drug supply I was able to give her a few months of medication without cost.  I will try to send more with Fr. Luke when he returns to the US.  Her untreated eye pressures were in the high thirties last year and her optic nerves were in pretty dismal shape.  Today her pressures were down to the low teens and she is very compliant so there is a chance she can retain some central vision for a few more years.  She told me she cannot see at night and has very poor peripheral awareness which is no surprise given her advanced optic neuropathy. 

My problem patient from yesterday returned and hung out all day with continuous interruptions every time I popped out of the exam room.  Our communication did not improve overnight.  Paul was finally able to find someone more fluent in Patois and determine what she was concerned about which was of even less significance than yesterdays issue.  She will no doubt return for the last clinic day tomorrow. 

Our lunch today was salted fish in a coconut sauce, somewhat Thai in style along with the usual rice, an incredible macaroni salad, fresh pineapple and coconut.  We also now have at least thirty gallons of coconut water provided by Jenny’s husband Carlton.  It is an acquired taste that has NO resemblance to coconut.  Pretty good over ice.  I broke out the chocolate and then we headed back to the clinic for the afternoon session. 

Our crisis of the day was a flood caused by a blown PVC fitting on the water pump in the clinic bathroom.  All the water for the compound is collected rainwater or well water so every building has a pump that fills a huge above ground tank.  The fitting separated from the pump and water gushed out with a ½ inch covering the clinic floor.  There are extension cords and bare outlets everywhere and I had a Thomas Merton flashback of my likely death by electrocution.  Merton, a Trappist monk, author, poet and social activist died in 1968 by accidental electrocution when he stepped out of a shower and touched an electric fan.  Boxer cut off the pump and the water cleared out by mops and brooms while a waiting room full of patients barely noticed. 

I was told that I saw another 47 patients today and that was before Fr. Luke appeared with his four Polish friends.  Two are young priests, one was a student of his when he was teaching religion in a Polish high school.   Another friend, Marcin, I believe, complained of a very blurry right eye so I put him in front of the microscope and noted he was wearing a soft lens and had notable corneal edema.  Via translation I was able to convey that this was likely the result of over wear of the lens combined with the stress of travel and some overindulgence in Vodka the night before.  All four of them burst out laughing when they hear the word Vodka, confirming my diagnosis.

By 5:30 we were done in the clinic and headed back to the community center for dinner.  Fried fish and rice with a very delicious and slightly spicy gravy comprised our Friday Lenten supper.  The fish was fantastic, species unknown.  There were whole steaks and the tail sections, fins and all.  I will never get this past my spouse to the dinner table at home, but I love whole, crispy fish and it was outstanding.   Paul and I ate quickly to be within the one hour fast before heading to Mass at Sacred Heart. 

Sacred Heart Church

Fr. Paul with his friends visiting from Poland

This was another highlight and we were singled out for our service.  Everyone at Mass had been through the clinic in the past two days.  We will fulfill our Sunday obligation tomorrow night after persuading Fr. Luke to provide a vigil Mass since we would miss any opportunity to go to Mass on Sunday due to travel.  This should be very special and everyone on the team is looking forward to it.

Back to the barracks for a quick shower and some relaxation before the lights go out.  Nancy and I talked about her experience working with Raysa.  Nancy has not practiced nursing for over 20 years and really embraced the challenge of coming out of retirement in a third world, bush clinic.  She and Raysa worked well together and they remained cheerful albeit exhausted after two days of trying to do much, with little.  Raysa puts the rest of us to shame as she comes here frequently to work in this clinic on her own.  I wish I lived nearer to Miami as I would be pleased to have her as my primary care provider. 

Boxer has been very quiet on this trip and we are all inquiring what is going on but he has not revealed anything.  We do know that he is engaged for the first time at 60, clearly saving himself for the right person.  He plans to marry Michelle in April.  Perhaps he is just lovesick having to leave Michelle back in Kingston while he is here helping us. 

Jamaica Mission Day #4

It is just about 5 am and I am enjoying the first of many cups of coffee, waiting for the sunrise.   This is the third and final day of clinic.  I am not sure how many patients are signed up today but this will be a big day for walk-ins, friends and family. 

Sunrise Breakfast views from Seaford Town Mission

Paul, Nancy and Boxer

This would be a good time to pay tribute to the members of our team this year.  Mary is our dentist with lots of past mission experience and knowledge of  Jamaican culture.   Paulette, who I met last year is the dental assistant, which is a gross oversimplification and under-credit to her function.  She is an all purpose mission veteran who gets along well with everyone and cheerfully makes everyone around her look good.  Veronica and Ashley are our two hygienists who persevere in spite of the lack of adequate equipment that apparently was promised but never made the trip.  Since they have only one operatory, they trade off helping with the administrative chores, keeping the check in craziness under control.  Ashley also provides the music that is sadly hard to fully appreciate over the constant din of the compressors and the wailing emanating from the dental operatory.  Sheli is our aspiring medical student, returning from last year and doing the onerous job of patient check in and blood pressure screening.  Paul, who I dragged here with Nancy from Naples is functioning superbly as the eye clinic technician.  His past experience is wearing glasses so we built him from the ground up during this trip and he has made this, by far, the best experience for me.  Paul has kept the eye clinic organized and running smoothly.   I have a steady flow of patients ready to go with frames already selected, frame measurements taken and notated on their clinic form.  He is administering dilation drops so he gets all the grief about the drops stinging and I get the benefit of a panoramic view inside my patient’s eyes.   He keeps the optical area organized and patiently helps people select frames, even acquiring a mirror so we no longer use the “selfie” phone mode for patients to see how their spectacles will look. 

Raysa and Nancy comprise the primary care team.  They face the greatest of challenges with responsibility for head to toe health care compounded by lack of adequate equipment and a shortage of appropriate medications.   Their biggest challenges are patients who show up for tooth extractions with astronomically elevated blood pressure.  Many show up without taking their meds for reasons that defy explanation.  They come great distances so every effort is made to get their blood pressure under reasonable control so that they can get the dental care they need.  This takes a lot of time and repeated interruptions in everyone’s schedule to monitor their response to on the spot treatment. 

Special mention to longstanding hero of the JOP mission trips, Boxer.   Boxer has been the local all-purpose helper for the JOP missions for 20 years.  He lives in Kingston and is a special projects person for St. Pius X.  I met him in Kingston on my first mission trip and he basically is with us to take care of things we need, troubleshoot equipment problems and endure loving abuse from Fr. Luke.   Last year I asked his shoe size after noting his were in abysmal shape.  Before the trip this year, I purchased some decent hiking boots for him.  He has yet to wear them but I caught him admiring them yesterday when he did not know I was looking.   He then explained that he had just purchased some pants that will match perfectly with the boots so I suspect he is saving them to wear with Michelle for the first time. 

The day unfolded as expected with an abundance of patients seeking care that had not previously scheduled an appointment despite months of advance notice.  My day included a return visit from the guy who wore the polo shirt adorned with tiny glasses, captured with a photo in last year’s blog.  He had a very exotic refractive error and made my day when he stated that the spectacles we had done for him last year were the best he has ever had.   One of my add-on patients was a young and articulate man who claimed to be an artist.  He had never had an eye examination and I would have loved to seen his drawings after discovering his extraordinary astigmatism.  Several more patients with diabetic retinopathy that will need treatment that they will not likely receive to prevent blindness.   Cataracts are another big challenge in this primitive setting as there is no option in place for a follow up surgical mission.  These patients will require someone to lead them around for the rest of their lives since their vision is so poor. 

We cut off the clinic to allow time to take inventory, pack up supplies and put the equipment in mothballs for the next team.  The plan was to get cleaned up, have dinner at 6 and then walk down to Sacred Heart for a vigil Mass.  Everyone on the team went and we were treated to a very special celebration with a homily by Fr. Luke that touched all of us profoundly.  Lots of tears.  Again, this was a life moment that will never be rivaled and remembered forever. 

Back to the compound we put a dent in the remaining inventory of Red Stripe and had an impromptu mission debrief with Fr. Luke seeking input for how things could be made better.  Chief among them would be more frequent missions to take the pressure off and keep the patient load down.  It also appears to make sense to break the teams up into medical/dental and medical/optical to make the clinic traffic more manageable.   He requested that we be specific about equipment to the point of sending him a link to the website for the item to make it easier to obtain what we want. 

We finally hit the lights around 11 and will need to be packed and ready for our bus to MoBay departing at 8:15 tomorrow morning. 

Mission Day #5

Some signs of life are evident at 5:30 and I drank my last Jamaican coffee for a while.  I packed about 100 pairs of frames with lab orders in my backpack displacing most of the clothes I brought down.  Boxer takes them back to Kingston and distributes as he sees fit.  He was wearing a shirt that I left with him last year and likes the socks which he typically has to do without.    Paul boiled another dozen eggs and we enjoyed our last breakfast on the veranda watching Seaford Town slowly come alive.  We have consumed two pots of coffee which we will likely regret on the bus trip back to the airport.

Boxer was back to his usual self this morning, thank God, and he entertained us with some stories of his Jamaican history.  He came by his name honestly and fought lightweight division for a local team and made the national championships, earning him a trip to an international competition in Mexico City.  Unfortunately, he was detained by the local Kingston authorities and missed the trip.  His last fight was on the street and he was hit in the right forearm by a machete resulting in the need for a surgical pin, ending his career.  His record was 7-1 which means he gave more than he got and still has full use of his mental capacity. 

The sunrise this morning was highlighted by a low fog/cloud cover in the valley just to our east.   I heard some noise last night and something banging on one of the steel doors of our building but was too exhausted to get up and investigate.  Daylight revealed the fence that keeps the animals out of the kitchen entryway was open and whatever beasts roam around at night helped themselves to the garbage.  

This mornings shower was invigorating as the ambient temperature of the air, 70 degrees, is also the temperature of the water without the aid of a day of sunshine to heat it.  We finished packing and were waiting to go.

About 8:20 I heard the rumble coming up the mountain indicating Larry, our bus driver, has  arrived.  We loaded up our things and headed to the “Doctors House” to pick up the rest of the  team.  I claimed the front seat and Shelica was more than happy to sit in the middle between me and the driver.  This would spare two of us from the severe motion sickness that accompanies this serpentine ride to MoBay.  Thanks to Sheli I did not have to hold a conversation with Larry.  He is a most delightful gentleman who can talk continuously while dodging mammoth potholes and avoiding at  least 10 near head on collisions.   Upon arrival at the airport Paul disembarked from the rear and I was unable to any difference in the color of his face and his green polo shirt.  Sorry Paul! 

The security check went without incident and we had plenty of time to browse the shops and have some lunch before our flight.  Our return flight and reentry into the USA was uneventful and we were back in Naples by 4:20.  My beloved spouse of 40 years had a nice Bolognese sauce ready to go over spiralized zucchini and our first salad in five days.  We bored her with our tales of the past few days.

Again I want to give heartfelt thanks to all the beautiful examples of God’s good work that shared this trip with me.  You guys really are incredible and I cherish the time and bond we share.  Fr. Luke, we love you which makes it easy to discern returning to Seaford Town.  Your love, consideration, energy and example amaze and humble me.  Thanks for the gift of your service to the people in your care and for making this mission inspiring for those fortunate to be in your presence.

Love to all my mission mates!

Please enjoy my account of this trip and feel free to add your own comments and corrections.

Philip