TAPAN Member's Honduras Medical Mission

Sonia Deleon, BSN RN

August 25, 2024

I was fortunate to be part of the tenth mission to Honduras with St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in the Woodlands.

We left Houston on July 27, 2024, bound for San Pedro, Honduras. From there we took a five-hour bus to La Ceiba and stayed there overnight. Then at 5:00 AM, the next day, we continued our journey for another four hours by bus to our hotel in Trujillo, located by the ocean. When I laid down in my hotel room, I could hear the ocean.

On my first day, there was a tropical storm, and it was so windy. We were not able to go up to the mountain in La Colonia, where the clinic is. 

We started the day at 4:30 AM every day. There were nine trucks that took us up to the mountain, on a zig-zag dirt road. Due to the heavy rain, the dirt road was so muddy, the trucks had a hard time going up to the village. On the days that it rained, they had to install chains to the tires so the truck would not slide.

We saw about 100 patients a day with various medical needs. In the clinic, there was a dentist, a physician, several nurses, and other medical professionals. For the children and young adults, several catechists were there to talk to them. If the children’s clothes were in a poor state, we had clothing donations to give them. We were there for a whole week and the mission group provided breakfast and lunch for about 200 kids from three different villages.

Villagers Waited Patiently for Hours

"No matter how hot it was or how tired we were, seeing people smiling and thanking us meant everything."

The villagers would patiently be in line for hours to come to the clinic so they could be seen. There were family members who would wait and let us know their family is sick so that a doctor and nurse will make a home visit. It was very hot, but people were not hydrating themselves. Most complained of headaches--even the children. If we saw a mother with children that are sick, we wouldn’t let them wait in line, we would just take them in. The medical mission donated a three-months supply of vitamins for children and adults. No matter how hot it was or how tired we were, seeing people smiling and thanking us meant everything. We kept on helping people. I’m proud to be part of this mission group.

On July 30th, ten women, stayed overnight in the clinic in the village. We spent one and a half hours talking to them about the importance of education. The mission provides for education after high school if they want to continue to on to vocational college. I was surprised to see young ladies, as young as thirteen or fourteen years old, who were pregnant. Education is one way to get out of poverty for them.

There were two engineers from Washington State that came along with us to help the residents have clean water. It was so emotional to see people crying when they finally had a faucet connected to the main water source.

On the last day, we spent time at the orphanage, playing games with the children and we provided lunch for them. It was a humbling experience to be with them and I plan on returning next year with the mission.

Interested in going on a medical mission trip?

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