Welcome to the 2013 Guatemala Blog!

Thank you for visiting our Guatemala Blog, 2013 Edition. This blog will document the travels of students and faculty from Western New England University as we visit Central America to learn about healthcare. We'll be heading to Guatemala in just a few weeks, so please check back to follow our progress.

-M. Rust

Day 12

Adios Guatemala!

We packed our bags this morning and made our way back to the States. After a 3 hour bus ride back to Guatemala City, we caught a 3.5 hour flight to Atlanta. Follwing a brief layover, we took a 2 hour flight to Hartford, where many of us were greeted by our waiting friends and family.

What a trip! We spent almost two weeks in Central America exploring various aspects of healthcare. Visits to hospitals and clinics, volunteering at co-operatives, and listening to the Guatemalan people were just a few of our activities. We also experienced the culture, food, and language of the areas we visited, and even managed to celebrate a soccer championship.

We hope you have enjoyed reading about our travels. If you would like more information about our trip or would like to get involved in healthcare in Guatemala, please contact us at any time.

Thanks for reading!

-M. Rust
-S. Northrup
-ILP 296 Students

Day 11

After breakfast at the mission, we boarded a boat called the “Karina” to go across Lake Atitlan, which boarders San Lucas. The views of the mountains and the villages were exquisite and cannot be matched in New England.

We landed in a town called Panajachel and rode in “Tuk-Tuks”, which are motorized tricycle taxis, to a resort where we were scheduled to do zip-lining. We hiked up to the top of the resort, and got to view the unique vegetation and wildlife. We experienced speeds as high as 40 mph, and we enjoyed the amazing views of the surroundings.

We then visited the shops around the resort and had lunch. Afterwards, we rode the boat back to a town called San Antonio and continued shopping in the local area. The level of poverty at San Antonio is much higher than that of any area in which we had previously visited. It helped reinforce the need for volunteer help, and how even a little effort can go a long way in helping the people of Guatemala.

For our final meal together we headed to the Hotel Toliman restaurant, which would match any fancy restaurant in the States in quality. The professors thanked us for our efforts and made it a point of describing in detail how we surpassed their expectations. We returned the sentiments and thanked them for giving us the opportunity to help.

-Pete

Day 10

Today our team was split into two separate groups. One group visited the clinic again while the other went to the women’s center to break rocks into gravel and dig out boulders from the side of a hill. We were given pickaxes and a heavy duty pry bar to take care of the boulders, and hammers to smash the little rocks into smaller ones. After roughly a half hour of digging out smaller boulders from the hillside, Pete, Tim, Dr. Northrup, and I took it upon ourselves to dig out the biggest boulder we could see. In order to get to the big boulder, we needed to first get out a few other massive rocks. We used our superior engineering skills to find the best points to pry from to make the large boulders come tumbling down the hillside into the pile that was at the bottom. As time passed, one by one the massive rocks came tumbling down, bringing us closer to getting out “the big one”.  After about an hour and fifteen minutes of trying to get it out of the hillside, we decided to take a 20 minute break to refuel for the epic battle. After the break we went back to work with only one more rock standing in the way of glory. As I was prying out the last rock before “the big one” could be reached, Alyssa noticed that it was not as stuck into the side of the hill as we had thought. With a little extra effort, it came right out, and the glory was ours.

After lunch we all walked to the reforestation project for our next job of the day. When we arrived, we were given the task of preparing individual bags of dirt that would be used to begin life’s journey for hundreds of trees. We were divided into three separate teams, and Dr. Northrup said that the team that bagged the most dirt would win an ice cream treat. All together we must have bagged at least 700 parcels of dirt. After we had completed that task, the leader of the reforestation project told us about all of the different trees that he grew on his farm along with their uses.

We finished our day with a talk given by the only doctor at the local health clinic. He talked about how the clinic was started, their major challenges, and how people can get involved in the future by helping out the clinic.

-Mike

Day 9

After breakfast most of our group went to the reforestation area. There is a large problem in San Lucas with deforestation from a combination of mudslides and infrastructure. We worked in a bucket line moving saplings to a new area where they can grow. Toribo, the gentleman who runs the reforestation area, took us on a special hike after working. He brought us to a Mayan alter and explained the many similarities between the Mayan religion and the Catholic religion of the mission. It was a very unique experience, and it was very moving. The Mayan religion is largely based on respect for the land. This makes the reforestation efforts not only good for their prosperity, but it satisfies their religious wishes.

After lunch we went to the Clinic in San Lucas. We worked as a team to sort through a supply of sutures based on their size and whether they are absorbing or non-absorbing. While not the most difficult task, it was a good learning experience to understand the importance of little jobs which keep a hospital running. Most of the sutures came from donations from large American companies, which shows the importance of giving back.

Our final trip of the day was to a local restaurant to celebrate Maureen’s birthday. Happy birthday Maureen! The professors were kind enough to treat us to dessert, and fun was had by all.

-Pete

Day 8

Today our class piled into a van and went to a village just outside of town. When we arrived we split into two groups. Each group went to a different home to construct an oven for the owners of the house. We began constructing the oven by mixing dirt and cement to place in between the cinder blocks for the oven's base. It took a lot of patience to make sure that the blocks were level and in place.  Some of the students used a machete to cut the cinder blocks to the correct size. Since it is the rainy season, it began to pour while we were working, which made us unable to finish building the oven. Everything was done by hand, and it was an eye opening experience to see and participate in all the steps to create the stove.

The trip back to the mission was one we will never forget. We all crammed in the back of a covered pickup truck. The combination of the pouring rain, the hot air temperature and the inability to see where we were going made us all very anxious of when we would hit the next speed bump.

Once we got back to the mission, we all explored the different stores within the town. The stores had many different colorful bags and scarves that everyone enjoyed. One of the store owners who knew professor Northrup from previous years invited us back to show us her home. Her family was very inviting and grateful that we went to her store. Her father took out his marimba and played a couple of songs for us. Being invited into her home was a great experience of the real Guatemalan culture.

-Rhiana and Haley

Day 7

Today Eric and I had the opportunity to go out into the field with Dr. Paul and a few others to meet the health promoters and see some cases. Health promoters are members of the community that are nominated to attend a three year class where they are trained to diagnose and treat basic aliments, continue thorough checkups, and dispense necessary treatments. Dr. Paul visits a few times a year to monitor patients that are high risk or have chronic conditions. The people we saw lived in communities with few resources. These communities requested to be a part of the program that Dr. Paul and his colleagues created, which provides free care for the communities that participate. So the patients receive checkups and medication. We were very thankful to be welcomed into these patients homes, and we learned a lot about health conditions in this area.

We saw cases that include malnourished children, adults with severe arthritis, and maternal health issues. We felt this was a very rewarding experience and were deeply grateful that we were able to be a part of the day. We admire these people because of their continued optimism and great pride. We are also very sympathetic of their health conditions, but with the program Dr. Paul has created these patients are in great hands. Being able to observe today and work with Dr. Paul, it really has shed light on our dream to continue this type of work in the future and possibly come back to join Dr. Paul.

-Alyssa and Eric

Today the group went on a tour of some of the projects that the mission is involved in here in San Lucas. We visited a women’s center that provides a place for the local women to learn sewing, weaving, and cooking. A playground for their children was also being constructed while the women could learn the different crafts. The next stop was to the local clinic, which was impressive to say the least. The final stop was to the farm where coffee and various vegetables are grown. After the tour concluded we ended the day by preparing a field for planting by weeding the area and sifting a large pile of soil for spreading. It was nice to get our hands dirty, and I’m sure there will be plenty more opportunities to do the same during the rest of the week.

-Tim