Day 2 – To Be Seen
Faith in Practice – Team 860 Robinson | May 12, 2025
This morning, we woke up just as the sun had fully risen, sharing breakfast and a quiet sense of anticipation as we boarded the bus to the town of Aguacate, the site of our first full day of clinic with Team 860 Robinson. When we arrived around 8:00 AM, the front gate was already crowded with patients—mothers holding their children, elderly men with walking sticks, women with brightly woven shawls draped around their shoulders. They had waited patiently, some since very early, for the chance to be seen.
And seen, they were.
Our team hit the ground running. Within minutes, the school-turned-clinic was buzzing with purpose. Each classroom had been carefully transformed into a space for healing: general medicine consultation rooms, triage and education stations, a fully stocked pharmacy, as well as specialty rooms for gynecology, orthopedics, pediatrics, and ultrasound. In one area, women received screenings through IVAA, while in another, patients in need of wheelchairs and walkers were welcomed at the mobility station. There was also a dedicated referrals space, ensuring that those requiring further treatment would not be forgotten once our week is done.
The day itself was a blur of motion and care, nonstop patients from morning until nearly 5:30 PM. In every room, our medical staff worked with compassion and grit. Translators moved seamlessly between Spanish and English. Nurses and volunteers assisted tirelessly. There were stories told, symptoms explained, diagnoses made, and treatments begun. Every corner of the clinic was alive with human connection.
It was long. It was hard. But it was the kind of hard that fills you up instead of draining you—the kind that reminds you what a privilege it is to serve.
By the end of the clinic day, our team was tired in the way that only meaningful work can make you. And yet, the day wasn’t quite over.
We rode back to Jalapa around 6:00 PM and headed straight into our evening devotional, led by Cosmo. His words grounded us in the very heart of this mission. He shared the story of his final patient—a 77-year-old woman who came in for foot pain and a check-up. As they talked, she revealed that she had 15 children, four of whom live in the United States. Then, through tears, she shared that she had lost her 55-year-old daughter just a year ago. Cosmo spoke softly about how all she really needed at that moment wasn’t just medical care but to be seen, to be listened to, and to be known.
And isn’t that what we’re all searching for? Whether we are patients or providers, travelers or locals, young or old, we all just want to be seen. That was the thread running through every interaction at the clinic today: the power of human connection. The truth is that healing isn’t just about medicine, it’s about dignity. It’s about presence. It’s about making someone feel that, even for just a few moments, they matter.
Cosmo closed with the Prayer of Saint Francis, and as we joined together in prayer, there was a quiet unity in the room, a shared sense of purpose. We had dinner, hearts a little heavier but somehow lighter too, and headed to bed ready to return tomorrow. Today was the beginning—and from here, the rhythm will only grow stronger, smoother, and deeper.
Tomorrow, we return. Ready to see and be seen again.
Miya Macnew, Team Blogger
