This Honduras trip was not only enlightening in our exposure to another place, people, and way of life, but was also a huge personal milestone for me: international travel with an infant.
That's right, I decided to bring my 6 month old daugther with me on this trip. Due to work conflicts, my husband was not able to come so I was truly flying as a single parent. I had a huge about of doubt and worry about this before the trip: was i being selfish? was i putting my daughter to undue risk? would we be a burden to the other people on our trip?
Fortunately, those questions were all put rapidly to rest. We were lucky enough to be travelling with a group of 40 including many of my residency faculty and their families. The whole team was incredibly gracious in their offers for help and eased my stress by making me feel like having Lily there was an added excitement for everyone.
Having her with me also acted to highlight even more strongly the health of the local children. While I had my daughter sleeping in a giant mosquito net tent, the local kids are running around sans-bug spray, sleeping in the open, with rotting teeth. Certainly shows my privilege...
Overall, this was a fantastic experience for the 2 of us to share. Lily acted as a fantastic ice-breaker for her shy mom and I was able to talk to more people and create some fantastic relationships both with some of the local Hondurans and with people on our trip. I'm eternally greatful to everyone for their help and support and look forward to bringing Lily back to Honduras someday!
Here's Lily's safe napping spot at our clinic!
Emily Fisher PGY3
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