Kimberly Boim

kboim@dawsonadvertiser.com

A Dawson County nurse working at the senior center leaves Friday for a medical mission trip to Honduras in Central America.

Dedri Bruce and 14 other medical professionals from North Georgia will spend nine days and eight nights treating malaria and meeting other medical needs of villagers in an area known as the mosquito coast.

We have a little clinic in a village called Limon where malaria is rampant, Bruce said. We sleep in dorm rooms upstairs, and the clinic is downstairs.

During the day, the team treats patients at the clinic, then heads to remote areas to set up makeshift clinics in a school or church.

The schools here have no running water, and the churches are cinderblock buildings with a roof and open sides, she said. Its very primitive, but the people are so appreciative and they have so little.

Bruces team is the next to last group into the area before the clinic closes for three months during the rainy season.

Bruce began working with Dr. Ronald Beebe at Good News Clinics in Gainesville, and it was there that she learned about medical mission trips.

Its a God-thing, she said. I knew I was supposed to go somewhere and I was waiting to hear, and then it hit me like a lightning bolt. Thats where Im supposed to be.

This year marks Bruces third trip.

The place kind of haunts you after you leave, she said. You want to do so much for these people, but you know you can only do what you can do. Their government is so corrupt. Orphanages dont get any money from the government, and they rely on the kindness of others.

Bruce attends Harmony Baptist Church in Dawsonville.

They support me financially and send things with me to Honduras, she said. Ive got 300 pairs of flip-flops Im taking. And if anybody out there can pray for us, we sure need it.