UPDATES

JUNE 23.  Monday morning.  Home. 

     We’re home, safe and sound. 

     Well, almost sound…..Brenda smashed her fingertip in a car door four days ago, and Charles has had a rumbling stomach the past 24 hours.  Some of us gained a couple pounds.

     The night before our flight home, Dr. Phil Plunk paid us a visit.  He is a dentist from Texas who, after dozens of short-term mission trips to Guatemala, and with his wife Joan Dyer, moved to Quetzaltenango in March 2001.  Together, they run two medical/dental clinics in that poor area, working two days every week in each one alongside a Guatemalan doctor that they’ve hired.  Phil provided us with some very interesting information.

     Seventy-one percent of rural Guatemalans live in extreme poverty, existing on less than $1 per day per person.  And, 70% of them cannot read, making hope for breaking out of that rut pretty slim.  The Maya people have been discriminated against for many generations, and hundreds of thousands of them were slaughtered during the 36-year civil war that just ended in 1996.

     Most of them have come to see themselves as inferior human beings and second-class Guatemalan citizens, and have felt that they are not worthy of anything better than that. 

     Against that backdrop, our team came to tell them, by our presence and actions, “That’s not true!  You are worth something!  In fact, we’ve traveled thousands of miles to be here with you and to try to help.”

     If just a few of the people we encountered on this trip can somehow feel lifted up, can feel that perhaps they can take a step to a higher level in life, or can say to themselves that their life is really worth an attempt at improvement, then some of the purpose of this mission will have been fulfilled.

     If some of the people we treated can feel better physically, maybe that will help them – or their children – take some of those big first steps to lift themselves up out of poverty, illiteracy, and hopelessness.

     We probably won’t ever know for sure just what effects we had on the hundreds of people we saw in Guatemala, or what they may or may not do or feel because of our presence there this month. 

     We do, however, know some of the effects that this trip has had on the 12 of us….. and they’re all good.  Hopefully, some of this warmness, this feeling of love toward each other and the people of Guatemala, and this renewed spirit of hope that we each possess now, can carry on in our lives for some time to come.

     Until next time………

JUNE 20, 2003.  Friday. 

     Our last work day….

     With today’s patients at the clinic in Paquila, we saw a total of 409 patients for the week.  We provided worm/parasite medicine to about 500 people, and glasses to another 85.  What a fabulous week.

    Words cannot begin to describe the awe and love we feel toward this country and its people.  Please just look back at the pictures we’ve sent, and reminisce with us.

     Say another prayer for us tomorrow as we travel up to Lago de Atitlan, that big lake surrounded by three volcano peaks, where we’ll hopefully enjoy a little R & R, and then bus on to Guatemala City for Saturday night.

     Our thanks to the Rio Internet Café here in Mazatenango, where we’ve been allowed to use their computers free of charge for our web postings.  They’ve been absolutely great.

     Hope to see you all when we return on Sunday.

     Adios.

Group outside clinic in San Antonio Such

Group outside Hotel Bambu

JUNE 19.  Thursday.

     Another hot and tiring day, but again so rewarding……

     We pulled out of the Hotel Bambu drive at 8 AM, and turned the other direction today, heading for San Antonio Such.  Pastor Felix serves a Metodista church there, and has also served as the construction foreman for Guatemala Volunteers In Mission (VIM) construction teams in the last few years. 

     A crowd had already gathered at the church doors as we unloaded the tables, chairs, bags of drugs, and supplies.  Jim extended the folding ladder and attached the room-dividing curtains to the rafters; Judy, Jennifer, and Kara went to work spreading out and organizing the farmacia; everyone pitched in, and the entire operation was set up and ready to go within 15 minutes.  We felt like a mobile M.A.S.H. unit…..

     We saw 112 patients today in the San Antonio Such church clinic.  Two young boys had perforated eardrums; we could offer no ENT surgery.  Dozens complained of weakness and fatigue in the stifling heat (that they live in every day); all we could do was provide some vitamins and suggest that they drink more fluids.  We treated several cases of bronchitis, lots of low back pain and headaches and arthritis, and a few ear infections. 

     Charles marveled at the plight of a 19-year-old girl we saw with her four children!

     One mother and father carried in their nine-year-old daughter.  She had obvious physical and mental challenges, and they asked for our help.  Mom reported that the child was “born normal, but then had a bad fever” during her first couple weeks, and then was “deformed.”  She apparently had had meningitis that was not treated soon enough, and she had sustained severe brain damage.

     The girl was quite small, her nine-year-old body being perhaps 30 pounds at the most, and her entire body was contorted, with spastic limbs and spine muscles.  She could not hold herself up, she couldn’t speak; and any movement sent her muscles into more severe spasms.  Mom had taken her to several clinics, and had been prescribed medicines for the spasticity and seizures, but could not afford to buy the three drugs.  And, she said, no clinic would now see the child without an official “referral” because the family had no money

     “One clinic told me to take her home and just let her die,” Mom said with a couple tears in her eyes, and then she added, “But I couldn’t do that.”

     We told Mom and Dad that we had no medicines to help, but we did take one of the official clinic cards and write our best referral for further evaluation and treatment.  And, the group gave Mom enough Quetzals (Guatemalan money) to buy at least four months of her three medicines.

     The team handed out dozens of toothbrushes and T-shirts, and gave bead/string necklaces to 20 more.  Parasite medicine was given to approximately 150 San Antonio Such residents.

     The heat was really stifling today, and everyone was tired by mid-afternoon.  The rains waited until we had loaded the bus and were just pulling away; it poured all the way back to Hotel Bambu.  The air-conditioned rooms felt pretty good….

     We then had a surprise visitor, Pastor Juan Pablo, the president of the Iglesia Metodista for the entire country of Guatemala.  He had some very kind words to offer us, and we invited him to eat dinner with us this evening.

     Tomorrow we head for the clinic in Paquila, where independent VIM missionaries Jim and Diane Thompson (from North Carolina), who have been with our team all week, usually hold their Friday clinic.  It’s hard to believe we only have one more day to work.

JUNE 18, 2003

     Today, we head for our final (of 3) days at the Chuisamayac clinic; tomorrow we’ll be at a church clinic in San Antonio, and on Friday at Jim and Dianne Thompson’s Friday clinic in Paquila.  What a great week!

     What follows are a few of the thoughts and feelings of the team.

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My thoughts of the village so far….the children, their expectant faces hoping for a touch, a smile, a moment of our time.  They trust us implicitly, their eyes and those of their mothers embody love and mutual support. An eight year old carrying on her back her two year old brother, her mother only 29 years old with nine children of her own.  They are so happy, so free, so beautiful.  We are so blessed to have been given this opportunity, Thanks to all you sent us.  Judy Ruland 

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This week is my third week in Guatemala with my third mission team. Each day I am blessed by the great people I have the privilege of working with as well as blessed by the Guatemalan people. Every day has brought something new and leaves me excited for the day to come. I love the spirit of the local people. 

Robert Christopher

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We are seeing many women and children each day in the clinic.  Most of the women and girls wear beautifully embroidered blouses. Some have flowers all around the edges of the short sleeves and neck, others are solid embroidery over the entire shirt.  Many wear a wrap-around black skirt with colorful long belts.  They wrap their babies up in solid colored scarves.  First they lean over and balance their child on their back.  Deftly, the scarf goes over and is knotted to secure the child in just the right spot on the mother’s back, the little head peaking out or sleeping on his mom’s shoulder.

    To Nick and Vicky, love and miss you.  Tell Dad hi and happy anniversary.  Love, Anna Paulis

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I have never been stared at so much in my life.  I don’t see why, I mean, I look just like a Guatemalan. I love working at the clinic because it is a really great experience.  However, the best part is playing with the kids.  There are so many and they are all adorable.  They seem to come from every direction and crowd around you until it’s so thick you can’t move.  We have fun though, even though there is a bigger language barrier than I thought… if they spoke Spanish, I would be fine but they all speak Quiche!

Molly Joustra

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Yesterday during our day in the Chuisamayac clinic, I came across a 16 yr old woman with her little one-year-old girl strapped onto her back.  I soon became aware that this girl is an example of how my life would be if I had been born here instead of Daytona Beach.  Everyone is so beautiful here and they are constant reminders of how unique and special each one of us is to God.  Ri dios cah tu the oo chejj……(God bless you in Quiche J)

Mackenzie Stauffer

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Three clinic days down and, sadly, only two more to go.  Mom, you are lucky that I am with sensible people or else you might end up with another daughter.  I think that eventually I might have to adopt a child from China and Guatemala. I will definitely have a beautiful family.  I love everyone and miss you (a little J) and I can’t wait to tell you about everything I’ve seen and experienced.  I wish everyone could be here with me. 

P.S. Mom, why didn’t you make me study more Spanish? 

Tara Lynne Peterson

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I really love it here in Guatemala.  The children are all so beautiful and are really enjoying the guitar.  I’ll be home soon enough.  That is, if they let me back into the country with the fifteen machetes that I bought… 

See everyone later,

Charles Roberts

P.S.  I’m kidding about the machetes.

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Hola from Guatemala.   Ditto all above…We have truly been blessed as a team. Your thoughts and prayers have been with us and for that we are thankful. See you soon. Jennifer Maxwell

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Hi everyone……we’ve been having a wonderful time.  We……gosh, I gotta go; they’re all saying they want lunch (never made so many pb&j sandwiches in my life!!!)…..

Brenda Stauffer-

JUNE 17, 2003

     Today was a day of happiness…..punctuated with a few very powerful incidents.

     Breakfast at 7 AM, bus at 8 AM; the “usual” morning start-up.  We picked up our 2 Quiche-Spanish translators about halfway to Chuisamayac on that gravel/mud jungle road.  Some wondered just what kind of home these 2 walked out of this morning before they joined our team for the day.  The sky was actually blue this morning, so the mountains and volcanoes could be seen clearly.

     One volcano belched smoke into the blue sky; it appeared to be only about 10 miles away from us, and reportedly spits out these little eruptions rather frequently.

     We saw 77 patients in the Chuisamayac church/clinic today.

     A mother carried one very small baby in to see us, and told us that this 11-pounder was actually 3 years old!  She noted that her little daughter had never been very big and just wouldn’t gain weight, and that her eyes “always seemed to roam around.”  The child was very poorly nourished, had a rather peculiar look to her face, possessed very minimal strength in her legs, and was obviously blind.  She ate poorly, and it was apparent that she would not live very much longer out here in a Guatemalan jungle village with whatever this genetic or metabolic problem was.  Anna held her for quite some time; love was all we had to offer.

     Another mother begged to have her children seen after the clinic had officially closed its doors for the day, and she was added to the list.  When she got into the room, she asked for whatever help we could give her and her 2 children, explaining that her husband had been shot and killed some time ago, and that she now had to support her family by washing clothes for others (for a few cents at a time).  We gave the kids shirts and food, gave Mom a few Quetzals (money), gave all 3 of them vitamins and worm medicine, and provided a couple stuffed animals, hoping to add a little joy to their home.  This Mom cried a couple times, and gave Brenda a big hug as they left the clinic.

     One 16-year-old girl carried her 10-month-old boy in to see us, and we marveled at the apparent future this young woman was destined to live.  The age of Mackenzie and Molly, the girl from Chuisamayac would most likely become the mother of 8 or 10 babies, and would live in her small jungle village for her lifetime.  She won’t go to high school or college, she won’t have a job that pays enough to live on, and she won’t ever get to visit or experience another culture.

     Three other patients had problems that would be routinely fixed in America within a week or 2 of their development, but simply won’t be fixed in Chuisamayac.

     One young mother showed us how her finger locked when she tried to wash her family’s clothing; that trigger finger could be so easily repaired in America.  A 6-year-old boy had a rectal prolapse that any American surgeon could repair.  A 60-year-old great-grandmother’s large hernia would be routine in our country.

     We were able to treat a baby’s thrush and several cases of bronchitis, and we taught an old woman how to use the 2 inhalers that we gave her, offering some treatment of her asthma for the first time in her life.  High blood pressure that had never been treated for 2 other patients was attacked with medicine for the first time, and follow-up was arranged in (American missionaries) Jim and Dianne Thompson’s Friday clinic in Paquila in a couple weeks.

     We rode the bus back to our hotel, realizing that we can’t, of course, fix all of the problems in Chuisamayac.  We are, however, trying to make a difference a few little steps at a time.

JUNE 16, 2003

Our first clinic day at Chuisamayac…..

This was a day of contrasts.

The mission team left Hotel Bambu, with its relatively luxurious accommodations (electricity, AC, hot water), at 8:15 AM, and within 7 or 8 minutes of bus travel we turned onto the road toward Chuisamayac……like heading into another world.

Single-lane, thick jungle along both sides most of the way, winding uphill and around turns that a bus shouldn’t be able to make…..that’s quite different from the 4-lane highway in front of our hotel. Our brightly painted bus only met a few beat-up pickup tricks along the way; most travel out here is by foot. And, nobody is wearing shoes.

Then, here we come, in our neatly colored scrubs, Nikes, wristwatches, and hair-ties, into the village of the Maya, carrying our large bags of medicines and supplies.

We saw 60 patients after we got set up and organized, and we gave out eyeglasses and stuffed animals. We gave Decadron shots to 2 people with sciatica, and a Rocephin shot to a 2-year-old with pneumonia. Everyone has neck pain and headaches, and everyone has worms. And, the women all have lots of children. There’s no contraception in the jungle; there’s a pretty high maternal mortality rate out here, too.

A 40-year-old reported that the 7-month pregnancy that we were checking would be Number 9 for her. Many had 7 or 9 or 11 children.

Charles played his guitar, drew a crowd, and soon had an assortment of young Mayans trying to strum a few strings. Tara led about 30 kids around the church floor in a long-line swaying snake-dance.

We got back in our brightly painted bus to head back home; the villagers walked in their sandals or bare feet through the mud and rain back to their huts.

We’re taking showers, we’ll make a run down to Mazatenango to the Internet Café, and then we’ll get ready to eat in the hotel restaurant. We hope that a few of the Maya in Chuisamayac will get rid of their intestinal worms this week, and maybe will be able to enjoy a real meal then….without that vague ache in a swollen belly.

JUNE 15, 2003. FATHER’S DAY.

In Guatemala, Father’s Day is always on June 17, no matter what day of the week it is. So, today we celebrated Father’s Day on American time, but, on Tuesday, we can still do Guatemalan Father’s Day….

After breakfast, Mackenzie spoke to the team about the similarities and differences between earthly and Heavenly fathers. We spent the morning organizing the 13 bags of supplies and drugs for the clinic, shopping at a “grocery store” for our lunches (that we’ll carry with us each day), and then loading the bus to head for Chuisamayac.

We pulled out of Hotel Bambu at 2:20 PM. Within 5 minutes we turned off the paved road onto single-lane gravel/rock road, and the vegetation became increasingly thick and lush. We passed huge banana plants, lots of coffee trees, large thick ferns, and acres of rubber trees with small collecting bowls somehow embedded along their scored bark. We continued deeper into the jungle in the pouring rain.

Dirt/mud paths led from the road to huts and small shacks in the jungle’s edges, and dozens of children waved and smiled at us as we passed. We arrived at our work site in just 40 minutes.

Their Sunday church service was still in progress as we pulled up, and we took the remaining seats in the rear of the 25 X 50 foot, single-room structure. There were approximately 45-50 people in attendance, the men sitting in the pews on the left side, and the women on the right, all dressed in traditional, bright-colored Maya clothing. They were concluding the service with communion, and it was a bit awkward to decline the “wine,” since the water was – no doubt – not safe for us to drink.

Dozens of small children gathered around Kara, Molly, and Judy as they tried to teach a lively song (in Spanish) to the kids. Jim Thompson (a North Carolinian who, with his wife Dianne have worked in this area for 6 months) set up his ladder, hung sheets from the rafters to delineate the “exam rooms,” and helped move the benches into positions for the triage area and farmacia.

We’ve arrived back at Hotel Bambu before dark.

JUNE 14, 2003

11:45 AM

     It’s almost noon.  We’re in the American Airlines 737 flying past Key West, a brilliant blue sky up above, various shades of bright aqua and blue down below. 

     After arising at 2:30 AM and getting to the church parking lot before 4:00, this day already seems long….but really it has just begun.  The captain just announced that we’re at 35,000 feet, that we’ll arrive in Guatemala City 15 minutes early, that their temperature is about 72 degrees right now, and that their time is two hours earlier than ours.

     So, we’re re-setting our watches, and we’re re-setting our inborn, Americanized, rigid, and often-unreasonable expectations.  We now won’t count on our bus being on time, we won’t assume our hotel will be ready and waiting for us, and we sure won’t figure that the upcoming bus trip to San Antonio will really only take four hours from Guatemala City.

     Now, we’re on Guatemalan time, on God’s schedule.  We shall see what really happens.

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5:30 PM

     Several rather unbelievable things have happened to us today:  our church van trip to Miami went quite well; our yellow church shirts again worked to get us checked in at MIA quicker than the long check-in line that everyone else had to use; our flight took off almost on time; we arrived at Guatemala City 20 minutes early; Carla was waiting on us just like she said she would be; all 24 of our bags came through; our yellow church shirts worked for us again at GUA when a Guatemala Customs guy just waved us on through to the exit; the bus trip from the City to San Antonio was actually only 4 hours long and the road was actually pretty nice; and now, we’re in our hotel.

     Our flight carried us over the coast of the Yucatan, across Belize and then over the mountains of Guatemala and into the City.  Our bus would through the City streets for 45 minutes, and then out across the countryside, on and around beautiful green mountains with huge sugar cane and corn fields.  We passed an occasional pickup truck stacked high with bananas.

     And now…..Hotel Bambu…..wow!  This is actually pretty nice compared to the places we’ve stayed in during past mission trips.  We have water, we have electricity, and….. drum roll please….. we have window AC units in our rooms!  Holy sweaty nights!

     Without a real meal for this group all day, it’s now time to eat; we’ll try the little restaurant here at Hotel Bambu.

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9:25 PM

     It’s been a really long day, but it ended fabulously.

     Although some of our team had collapsed into bed, several were still out in the courtyard when the mission team that had been in this area (from Tallahassee) the past week arrived to tell us of some of their experiences.  Although they had not held any medical clinic days in Chuisamayac – where we would be working this week – they did get to visit the village briefly today.  They related their impressions of the tremendous poverty and needs in that area to us….

     Tomorrow, we’ll get all our bags organized so that we can go to Chuisamayac and set up our clinic area……ready to work on Monday AM.

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THE PHOTO TO ACCOMPANY TODAY’S NOTE SHOWS MACKENZIE SHARING A LAUGH WITH MARIO GONZALEZ, OUR BUS DRIVER, AS SHE DOES HER BEST TO COMMUNICATE IN SPANISH…..

JUNE 9, 2003

 

     Last evening, the team spent nearly 3 hours on final preparations.

     Thousands of vitamins (adult and children’s) were gathered together in large carrying bags, hundreds of donated medications were popped from their blister packs and placed into labeled bottles, and hundreds of reading and sun-glasses were inspected, sorted, and packed.

     Each of the 12 large “group luggage” bags was partially filled with these items or the 80 pounds of children’s crafts and toys, and then was stuffed full with the hundreds of collected T-shirts and baseball caps that had gathered in the Stauffer garage.

     Last minute plans were reviewed.  The excitement is building.  We’re ready to go.

     Waiting for Saturday morning…..4:00 AM…..

 

Tara sorts through donated glasses to be taken to Guatemala.

Kara stuffs donated stuffed animals into one of the large "group luggage" bags.

TIMELINE

 

October 2002 – Thinking…..praying.

 

November 2002 – searching the world for medical needs / opportunities; reviewing “The Knock,” the quarterly publication of the United Methodist Fellowship of Health Care Volunteers.  What “feels right?”

 

December 2002 – numerous email communications with several potential mission sites in Central and South America, including the first contact with Carla Gonzalez, the coordinator for Guatemala Volunteers in Mission, and Dr. Phil Plunk, a dentist living and serving in the Quetzaltenango area.  Phil’s web site “Health and Peace” (www.SaludYPaz.org) becomes quite useful….  Feeling led in the direction of Guatemala.

 

January 2003 – verbal commitment to serve a poor Mayan village in Guatemala.  Chuisamayac, a small village in the foothills near Lago de Atitlan (said to be the most beautiful lake in the world, surrounded by three volcano peaks) selected over dozens of others.

 

February 2003 – “Any-interested-volunteer” meeting held at Coronado Community United Methodist Church.  Volunteer names drawn; team selected.

 

March 2003 – First team meeting.  Negotiating with American Airlines.  Twelve volunteers commit…..

 

April 2003 – depositing money; ordering drugs; asking for clothing, Polaroid film, and glasses donations; ordering children’s crafts / activities.  Re-stoking the team web site.  Second team meeting.

 

May 2003 – Getting Hepatitis shots, renewing passports, gathering supplies, paying for airline tickets, and arranging for transportation to and from Miami.  Third team meeting.

 

June 8, 2003 – Commissioning of mission team at church at the three morning services; asking for prayer and support; announcing the web site address.  Fourth team meeting, to begin packing hundreds of glasses, sunglasses, kid’s supplies, T-shirts, film packs, and caps, as well as 150 pounds of various drugs and supplies.  This team is ready!

 

June 14, 2003 – Planning to leave the church parking lot at 4:00 AM.