Antigua fountain

We spent a few hours in Antigua on our way to the airport today. The city is a fascinating mix of Guatemalan's, gringo's and hippies. Honestly it was way too crowded for me, especially after the slow pace of the country but I enjoyed seeing another part of this amazing land. The fountain in the central square behind us was very unique and a little shocking at first. After thinking about it however, I realized that it is so fitting for the place. It would be considered lewd in the US, but here, where the milk from a mothers breast sometimes is the only and best source of nutrition for all the children in the family. In the clinic, we would often see children run in from playing outside to quickly nurse before returning to their games. It was disconcerting at first but we quickly got used to it. Once one sees the malnutrition and lack of clean water that these children suffer from it is no wonder that the people would honor their children's best source of food in such a way. I wish the rest of the developed world would honor breastfeeding as these people do. We would probably be amazed at the positive effects it could have.

Antigua antique shop

A chair Amy thought we should bring home. Too big for the carry-on!

Saying goodbye.....

We had to say goodbye to our friends in San Lucas this morning. It was sad and we will miss them. We will especially miss our new friend Marie. She opened our eyes to the struggle of the plight of the Mayan people and politics of the San Lucas community. She taught us what it really means to stand with someone and help carry their burdens. I will never forget her lesson that if an action is good and helps someone, just do it. It's amazing how many times we hamper ourselves with the need for social acceptance. I will post more about Marie later. For now we are working our way back to Guatemala city for our flight out tomorrow morning.
Aaron

Communidad Porvenir

Our last clinic day. It was bitter sweet because we are missing our children so much but we will miss everyone we have come to know here also. Our lives have been touched in so many ways by the people we served that what we gave pales in comparison to what we received. The health promoters, nurses, local docs, our group of students and PA's, and all of our patients and their families taught us something in their own way that we will carry with us forever. We are especially attached to the amazing children of Guatemala. Their smiling faces and friendly "hola's" whenever we passed melted our hearts and warmed our souls. We feel so lucky to have been here.

Aaron

Children

Today we were in another small Mayan village. We saw a record 60+ patients and all of us were exhausted by the end of the day because the conditions were difficult for practicing medicine. However, the memorable part of today had nothing to do with clinical medicine. It did have everything to do with healing though. The village, like most of the others we visited had many children. We always struggled with keeping the children occupied, unsuccessfully and usually ended up managing chaos by the end. Today started very organized and a peek outside showed the reason. Amy had all the children lined up playing games, drawing, singing songs and teaching her Spanish and them English. It was fun to see but made incredible by the fact that Amy still has a very rudimentary grasp of Spanish. The smiles on the childrens faces showed that language cannot hamper happiness and love is a universal language.
By the way, the picture shows only a few of the 60 or so children that were there! :)

Aaron

Thanks for the toothbrushes Dad!

Everyone has been so excited and thankful to receive a new toothbrush. There is such a need for them here. Thanks to Dr. Pelton (Dad) for the fabulous donation. Thanks to everyone who has donated. The people here are so grateful. It has been heartwarming to see so many smiling faces over the simplest things. Things that we often take for granted. Thank you. You have all helped in making a difference in these beautiful people's lives.

Communidad San Gregorio

We visited a small community down the mountain in the heat of the lowlands today. We had to use the home of one of the families in the community because the people did not have a community center or even a school. It is so humbling to enter the peoples homes and see how they live. More than this though, I am humbled to see how happy they are. They have so little by way of material resources that we can't seem to live without and yet their lives are filled with other things. They place so much emphasis on family, work, relationships, their land. It is such a great reminder that where our focus is we will find our desires. I am reminded of a quote by Henry David Thoreau,"our lives are frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify!"

Children all over the world

I spent today with the children. We colored together played games, laughed and they helped me learn the language. There was no shortage of love from these beautiful children of our Heavenly Father.

They had a hard time with my name so I just let them call me emily. Today was special! It really made me miss my own sweet kids. No matter where you go in the world the kids are laughing and playing. It makes me smile. I love and miss you Bodi, Noah, Clara and Ireland:)

Sent from my iPhone

American children have unlearned how to work......

Those two people in tonight's pic hauling firewood are not midgets. They are a six year old and an eight year old, brothers who just climbed down from the mountain with firewood they chopped with machetes to heat their stove at home so their mother can cook. I met them while walking back to the San Lucas hospital where I spent the day working with local Guatemalan Doctor Tun. These two boys mirror two other young boys I ran into while running a mountain trail this morning. They were the same age as my sons and were following their father to the family coffee farm about 2 kilometers and 1500 feet elevation change away, to begin their daily work to provide for the family. Here, children are expected to help in contributing to the family bottom line. Often they can be seen helping their parents in the business or taking care of the younger siblings while mother and father work. Unfortunately, many of these children are unable to attend school, which has contributed to the growing illiteracy rate here in the country. It is a catch-22 that does not have an easy answer because these families don't have enough to even eat without everyone working. It is easy to have theories about how to fix the problem but being here and witnessing the struggle firsthand I can say I have yet to hear a theory that would work here. I'm not being pessimistic, just practical. The solution to the problems of the indigenous Guatemalan people will not be found in a distant university study but rather here by the people working alongside them. In the same way, the answer to teaching my children to work cannot be done by someone else. It has to be done by me and others who take the time to work alongside them and find ways to teach for each child.

Aaron

Santiago Atitlan

We spent Sunday getting to know a few of the other towns on lake Atitlan. First we went to San Pedro, just across the lake from San Lucas. It is a smaller town than San Lucas but is situated on a hillside that is rather steep and is populated with a large group of indigenous Mayan people, similar to San Lucas. It is incredible to think these people have been here for 2600 years. The disparity between the significantly more economically gifted ladino's and the indigenous Mayan can really be seen from a boat on the lake. Upper class homes of well-to-do Guatemalan and American owners are interspersed all along the shoreline, hidden among the trees. However, the beautiful multistory structures stand in clear contrast to the poverty they overshadow. Seeing the people in their homes and working in their fields makes our opulent lifestyle in the US seem decadent by comparison. I can't say I want to move my family into a one room cinderblock shack with a dirt floor and no water or electricity (what father would choose that for their children?) but I do need to teach my children to be grateful for what we have, to be less wasteful of our resources and to give back as much as possible.

Aaron

Morning yoga

Amy practicing her morning yoga in the yard of our hotel in San Lucas Toliman.

SIESTA!

Can't beat a siesta on the roof overlooking San Lucas and the beautiful lake attitlan. The weather is perfect, the birds are singing, Latin music blaring and of course the dogs are barking.

The starfish

Last night we had a discussion in our group about why we are down here and what we think we are accomplishing. I was reminded of the starfish story about the man walking along the beach throwing starfish back to the ocean. The question about what he was doing and the observation that he was not going to make a difference brought the response that he made a difference to that one....I thought about the two reasons that I came here, one to practice medicine and give care to a population in need. However, second I came here to learn from another land and culture and hopefully enrich my life and perspective. Last nights conversation made realize that while I thought I was the man trying to make a difference to one, I now know I am actually a starfish. The people here in San Lucas have touched me so deeply that my gratitude will never end. I am so grateful to be able to share this experience with my wife and best friend.

Solidarity at it's best

Aaron was so fun to watch with the people he was treating. He had so much love and compassion for each one. The amazing thing though is that it was they who touched our hearts so deeply. This boy holding Aaron's hand was so sweet and polite. He enjoyed the crayons and paper I had brought and every picture he drew was for me. He has so little, yet he gave us so much.

Visiting the country

Amy with the children of a family living in one of the areas devastated by mudslides from last years hurricane season.

Volunteer work Guatemalan style

The last couple of days I've spent working to help rebuild temporary housing for 100s of families who were displaced by the mudslides of hurricane Agatha. The work is a little slow because they just don't have the the most efficient tools or not enough anyway, but it should be ready in time for the rainy season which starts in may.

This is the group I had the pleasure to work with.  They are an amazing group of High School Seniors from Michigan.  I was incredibly impressed with how hard they worked and what great people they all were. Thanks for taking me into your group "Butch"!

My heart was filled....

My first patient today in Xiujuy was an 8 year old girl named Besayra who has suffered from severe scoliosis since birth. She has asthma and is very small for her age in addition to the effects of the scoliosis. Her mother told me she says she hurts every morning when she wakes up. I asked her about her bed and she told me she sleeps on a metal and cinder block bed with 1 layer of cardboard for padding. She took me to her house to see it and I nearly cried when I saw the humble home in which they live. I had to return to work though I would have given anything to pass the whole day playing with Besayra and her family. As we were leaving she came out of her home and offered me a bunch of bananas, which I gratefully accepted knowing this gift was perhaps a part of their small evening meal. Some of my companions and i have decided to start a pool to try and buy her a mattress before we leave. We saw many patients but my heart melted for this little child of our father in heaven who was born to such a life, yet, is an angel to everyone she comes in contact with.

Continuation of last blog

The last blog got cut short so read it first then continue here!!!!!!!!!  PS the volcano is in the first pic.

........We organized our equipment and began seeing patients who came from all over the town, some walking quite long distances.  The majority of our patients had simple colds, or "gripe", but we diagnosed a patient with pneumonia, one with migraines, and another with an h. Pylori infection.  All of our patients received proper diagnosis and treatment but I was struck with how much I realized I have come to rely on the other tools we have in our modern clinics at home.  I would have sent one patient for an MRI, another a CT, and a bunch would have gotten a rapid strep test.  However, even lacking these appliances and tests, with a few medicines and some knowledge these suffering adults and children received relief from their ailments and those that needed further treatment were instructed how, and why, to do so.  I know many people think we shouldn't bring our "advanced" medicine from the states because we treat and leave and the people are worse off because there is no follow-up.  The medicine we practiced today was in conjunction with the local health promoter and included education for her that she can now use to further treat and care for her community.  I have a hard time understanding how that could be a bad thing.  In addition to the help we gave, they gave me something in return, perspective and gratitude.  People are the same everywhere.  Work is required to survive, sickness and injury haunts us all, the will to live is in all beings and the family is the central unit to making hardship bearable and life meaningful.  As Christ went about freely giving his healing touch and loving words, I can and should be following in his steps trying to do my meager part in making the world a better place.  I think being here in Guatemala is teaching me how to do that better.  At any rate, I surely am more grateful for the blessings I have received in my life.

Aaron

Sent from my iPhone

Clinical day 1, working out the kinks!

First day of clinic. We visited the town Panimaquip about 15 miles from San Lucas situated on the side of the currently dormant volcano Atitlan (the mountain left of the tree). The clinic site, which was the small community center, was located about 15 minutes walk up the hillside from where our transportation left us.

We spent the day orienting ourselves to San Lucas. It was humbling to see the work being done in this town by the church and its people. We visited a womens center built specifically as a place for the women of San Lucas to escape for a few moments to rest and learn new skills. We also visited the hospital and organized our medical equipment at the "bodega" in preparation for our first clinic day tomorrow. Today was market day so we went shopping for fruit.

Lake Atitlan, beautiful but not safe for swimming, drinking or washing!

Walking to the Mercado to shop for fruit in San Lucas Toliman

We´re here!!

We finally made it to Guatemala today.  We survived the long bumpy bus ride to San Lucas Toliman and I was only slightly green. What we´ve seen so far has been amazing. I will post pictures and tell more tomorrow. Buenas Noches! 

News is we aren't yet in the beautiful country of Guatemala quite yet. Our flight was cancelled due to the fact they didn't have a pilot...Hmmm. The adventure has already begun. They put us up in a hotel in LA and we will try again tonight. Good news is we get to go to the beach and eat at our favorite resturaunt, Islands! Love and miss you all! Amy and Aaron