Today, we went to San Andres to help with the clinic. The people who need to be seen line up really early in the morning and get a ticket with a number on it. We got there a little before 9 and started seeing people. One room was seeing all of the pregnant women and checking on how their pregnancy is doing. The other room was seeing chronic patients, including the people who have diabetes, high blood pressure and other conditions. We also helped with the nutrition program, weighing kids and recording their information. We helped out in the rooms for a bit, but none of us have medical training, so there wasn’t much we could do in the clinic part. There was a courtyard where the people waited for their number to be called. We brought some things to do with the kids who were waiting with their parents. Jim made bracelets and necklaces out of pipe cleaners, while Lisa, Allison, and I helped kids do those things where you scrape off the black layer on top and there’s colors underneath. It took a while for them to join in, but once they did, they really liked it. At around 11, Jim, Allison, Lisa, and I went down the road to the market to look for souvenirs to take home. Adrienne stayed at the clinic to help Leslie, so we were on our own! It was a bit difficult to communicate, but we were able to figure out how much they were charging for what we wanted. Adrienne met us and we got some snacks to take back to the girls helping with the clinic while they finished seeing the last people. We rode back to the mission in the truck on a very bumpy, windy dirt road. Allison and I were in the back of the pickup which is something I don’t know if I could ever get used to. We ate lunch and then organized some of the books and school supplies that we had brought. Jim helped Duane work on some electrical stuff while us girls headed up to what they call “Bunker Hill” to watch the sunset. We walked down to the cemetery and enjoyed the end of the day. We grabbed some snacks and debriefed for the night. Tomorrow we will be heading back to the school. ~ Megan

The people waiting to be seen

Playing with the kids

The sunset

A girl in clinic

Leslie talking to a mother

Armando sharing a message with the people waiting

Allison making an animal for a boy

I am always drawn to kids – in school, at McDonalds (not that we have one here), at church, on the street… it doesn’t matter where.  Through the years so many kids have filtered through our nutrition program.  Some come in because they aren’t receiving enough nutrition from their mothers, some were born with birth defects, some families struggle to provide food for their children, some have constant illness because of their living conditions.  In Guatemala, it is customary not to name your baby until you know that they are going to live.  The death rate for children under that age of two is very high.  When asking for birth history, we always ask for number of pregnancies, and then number of living children.  Although the economy has gotten better since the end of the war and we aren’t seeing as much starvation, there is always present a sense of panic when it comes to food.

Today we had a young couple bring their baby in because he was under five pounds and two months old.  He had been born with a cleft lip and palate, more common in this culture than in others.  This was their first and although they knew he was different, they were unsure of what to do.  The mother had come to us for her ultrasound and so they returned with their son to find out what they could do for him.  I will give them credit.  They knew he needed to eat and could not nurse and so they cut a hole in the bottle and had been buying formula for him.  Because he couldn’t suck, he was receiving 3 ounces of milk for the whole day.  This explained why he was struggling.  It is these kids that I hope to be able to help the most.  These kids that I see that have little hope without a small amount of intervention.  Here is Domingo.  The goal is to get him growing enough to be able to do his surgery the next time a cleft lip and palate team comes to Guatemala.

And here is Ana.  At 6 years old, she only weighs 24 pounds.  She can hold her head up and swallow soft foods.  She is progressing slowly, but may never grow.

Juan is in second grade and very shy.  For months he would not even talk to me.  Now he will answer my questions and almost smile.  He is a child that has struggled to grow.

Maria is a sweetie!  She has been coming to clinic for almost three years because she was born with a cleft lip and palate as well.  The lip has been fixed and she is awaiting surgery for her palate still.  She walks in with her arms up smiling because she is so familiar with the routine – making me smile each time!

Alino is another interesting case for me.  He is a twin, with a sister who has brown hair and brown eyes.  We call him my son because of this light hair, eyes and complexion.  Twins in this culture often receive help because the mom can’t provide enough milk to keep up with the growth of her kids.

Edy’s mom brought him in knowing that something was wrong with his development.  He is blind and has poor muscle control.  We will help her care for him and hope to be able to provide a basic physical therapy program to help him progress as he grows.

These triplets were born to a poor family in one of the villages.  Manuela, Maria and Andrea have been with us since before they were born and have thrived as we have helped the family care for them.  It took them two years, but they no longer scream when they enter the clinic.  What a joy to see them doing well!

Oliver is a Down’s Syndrome baby that was recently born in San Andres.  He has failed to put on weight and so we are monitoring his growth and helping his mother care for him as his development is slightly delayed.

Those are just a few of the kids that I weighed today as we served those people in San Andres.

I haven’t been to one of our remote clinics for awhile because I have class on those days generally. And so as I sat through the Chumisa clinic this week, it was as if I was returning after a year of being away.

The thing that hit me the hardest were the young people that came in with real need. All 19 years old. All needing a miracle. We had two girls who had both been married for 4 years (normal life here) who have been unable to become pregnant. In this culture, this is a very sad reality. Since children are your retirement, to provide and care for you as you age, it is a very difficult thing to not have children. Many times the woman is blamed and shunned because it is assumed that it is her problem. And so they come with the hope that we can do something to reverse the situation. We can make sure that they have what they need…. and we can pray. But there is little that we can offer them. Often the women in this situation are desperate. Their husbands threaten to leave them (and very rarely will they find another man). They are often abused and mistreated because of this. Infertility is always a very sad situation, but I find it heartbreaking in this culture because I see how much of their lives rest on the shoulders of their offspring.

The young boy came in because he had felt large, hard masses in this abdominal region. They were growing rapidly and he was scared. His story unfolded that he was in the church when he was younger, but had not been back since he left to work at the coast. His fear was evident as care for him is not very prevelant in this contry. The normal protocol is to start at the government hospital and the people are then often sent to this place and that place for testing – which is very expensive and time consuming. And so we explained the process to him as he began his journey to find healing. But Leslie took the opportunity to explain to him the story of the prodigal son – which was much like his story. And when she started to talk, tears streamed down his face. We know that so many are led to us who are seeking answers, seeking something beyond the medicine that we could give. All three of these “children” were just that. Although all three have spouses and all three have their immediate physical needs met, there is something greater that they are seeking. Being in Chumisa was a good reminder to me of the searching and seeking going on around me. We hope for answers in all three of them, yet know and very much undersand that there is nothing that we can do for them – and leave it in the hands of the One who can.