Today was Team Day, an Operation Smile tradition. The day before surgery is always spent doing some relaxing activity where team members can take the time to get to know each other better and take a deep breath before the whirlwind of the surgery week begins. We drove to Valle de Angeles, a small town about 45 minutes from Tegucigalpa that is primarily a tourist destination. It has narrow dirt or cobblestone streets lined with small shops selling a variety of local crafts. The quality of the items varies widely, but most are authentic and made by the seller. Some things, like the tightly woven pine needle baskets, come from other regions of the country, so they are sent by the artisans to one of the three larger "galleries" here or to cousins or other family members who live in the town. Most of the sellers give Operation Smile team members an extra discount, likely because a team comes at least three times a year with lots of business.
After a couple of hours in town, we went to the home of the former president of Honduras, Ricardo Maduro. He's a big supporter of Operation Smile and lives in a beautiful old home on a few acres of land at the edge of town. We had pupusas: flour tortillas with cheese or beans layered between them and topped with chilis, tomatoes and shredded cabbage. Two women made them while we watched and a couple of guys from the team tried their hand. There were also chorizos and a fudge-like cookie and, of course beer. There were mango trees on the property and I was hoping we would have fresh mangos for dessert. Indeed, after the pupusas were gone, a woman came around with a plate offering mangos. However, they had been sliced, heavily salted and peppered and mixed with chilis. I didn't cry, but it was a close thing.
Near the end of our visit, a rather small, slender man and his wife came up to me on the patio and introduced themselves. At first, I didn't know who it was as I hadn't gotten the word that we were at the ex-president's house and therefore wasn't expecting to run into him. In the course of the conversation I learned that he was Ricardo Maduro who had been the president of Honduras from 2002-2006. However, that fact didn't come up until we'd been talking for at least 15 minutes. He spoke to me in perfect English, and it soon came out that he had gone to prep school in New Jersey at the Lawrenceville School and then to Stanford. He graduated two years ahead of me so we were there at the same time.
On returning to Honduras, he worked for Xerox and then was tapped by the President of Honduras to head the finance department of the government. Later he was the President of the Bank of Honduras, but in 1997, his 25 year old son was kidnapped and despite him paying the requested ransom, his son was killed. He told me that this event and his subsequent depression and recovery changed his approach to life. Where before he had been a fairly hard-nosed businessman, he now just wanted to work on getting rid of crime, getting the poor a fair deal and getting education to the poor. Despite a constitutional requirement that presidential candidates had to be born in Honduras, he managed to be elected President of Honduras in 2002 on a platform of fighting crime. He initiated the "Illicit Association Crime" law that put hundreds of gang members behind bars. He also did some educational and financial reforms that benefitted the poor. While he was in office, he met and married his second wife, a Spaniard, Agua Santas Ocaña Navarro. He said she gave money to every beggar she saw and because of her they took in 12 street children during his presidency. Most were badly malnourished, so his wife nursed them back to health and then sent them to boarding school in Spain. They all thrived and are either in universities or graduated and working. He and Agua Santas divorced after he left office as she "couldn't get along with my kids from my first marriage," and she moved to Nicaragua with the remaining adopted street kids and formed a foundation for children. In 2006, he lost re-election and since then has mainly devoted his time to his foundation, Inversions la Paz and to the Fundación para la Educacion Ricardo Ernesto Madura Andreu, named for his son. He also supports various organizations such as Operation Smile. Amazing.
We returned to the hotel and this evening had our pre-surgical meeting. The pediatric intensivist arrived and I am, happily, no longer the team doctor. Tomorrow morning, Jen and I and four nurses will have a quick breakfast at 5:45 and leave the hotel at 6:00 so that we can have the first two groups of patients ready for surgery at 7:00. The first day of the surgical week often starts at 7:30 instead of 7:00, but at least the patients will be ready. Kara bought two boxes of chocolates which I'll present to the local nurses along with a "speech of gratitude for hosting us" tomorrow morning. Thus will begin our campaign of winning them over!
After a couple of hours in town, we went to the home of the former president of Honduras, Ricardo Maduro. He's a big supporter of Operation Smile and lives in a beautiful old home on a few acres of land at the edge of town. We had pupusas: flour tortillas with cheese or beans layered between them and topped with chilis, tomatoes and shredded cabbage. Two women made them while we watched and a couple of guys from the team tried their hand. There were also chorizos and a fudge-like cookie and, of course beer. There were mango trees on the property and I was hoping we would have fresh mangos for dessert. Indeed, after the pupusas were gone, a woman came around with a plate offering mangos. However, they had been sliced, heavily salted and peppered and mixed with chilis. I didn't cry, but it was a close thing.
Near the end of our visit, a rather small, slender man and his wife came up to me on the patio and introduced themselves. At first, I didn't know who it was as I hadn't gotten the word that we were at the ex-president's house and therefore wasn't expecting to run into him. In the course of the conversation I learned that he was Ricardo Maduro who had been the president of Honduras from 2002-2006. However, that fact didn't come up until we'd been talking for at least 15 minutes. He spoke to me in perfect English, and it soon came out that he had gone to prep school in New Jersey at the Lawrenceville School and then to Stanford. He graduated two years ahead of me so we were there at the same time.
On returning to Honduras, he worked for Xerox and then was tapped by the President of Honduras to head the finance department of the government. Later he was the President of the Bank of Honduras, but in 1997, his 25 year old son was kidnapped and despite him paying the requested ransom, his son was killed. He told me that this event and his subsequent depression and recovery changed his approach to life. Where before he had been a fairly hard-nosed businessman, he now just wanted to work on getting rid of crime, getting the poor a fair deal and getting education to the poor. Despite a constitutional requirement that presidential candidates had to be born in Honduras, he managed to be elected President of Honduras in 2002 on a platform of fighting crime. He initiated the "Illicit Association Crime" law that put hundreds of gang members behind bars. He also did some educational and financial reforms that benefitted the poor. While he was in office, he met and married his second wife, a Spaniard, Agua Santas Ocaña Navarro. He said she gave money to every beggar she saw and because of her they took in 12 street children during his presidency. Most were badly malnourished, so his wife nursed them back to health and then sent them to boarding school in Spain. They all thrived and are either in universities or graduated and working. He and Agua Santas divorced after he left office as she "couldn't get along with my kids from my first marriage," and she moved to Nicaragua with the remaining adopted street kids and formed a foundation for children. In 2006, he lost re-election and since then has mainly devoted his time to his foundation, Inversions la Paz and to the Fundación para la Educacion Ricardo Ernesto Madura Andreu, named for his son. He also supports various organizations such as Operation Smile. Amazing.
We returned to the hotel and this evening had our pre-surgical meeting. The pediatric intensivist arrived and I am, happily, no longer the team doctor. Tomorrow morning, Jen and I and four nurses will have a quick breakfast at 5:45 and leave the hotel at 6:00 so that we can have the first two groups of patients ready for surgery at 7:00. The first day of the surgical week often starts at 7:30 instead of 7:00, but at least the patients will be ready. Kara bought two boxes of chocolates which I'll present to the local nurses along with a "speech of gratitude for hosting us" tomorrow morning. Thus will begin our campaign of winning them over!
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