Almost there (to Guatemala)

We are due to arrive in Guatemala shorty, truth be told I have been told we are essentially here but going in circles waiting for our allotted time to enter the port.

During these days that we have been “underway” there have been many class offerings, meetings that review the work that was done in Nicaragua both medically and the engineering and preventative medicine work that was done. There is a huge focus on clean water, one statistic relating to clean water, or lack there of has to do with children. I forgot the exact number but diarrhea is the leading cause of death in children under 5 in these areas. We were told of children who played in the sewage drain off from their bathrooms near their school daily, and no adult knew better to tell them not to do it. I guess I should correct myself, it is not that they simply didn’t know better, there were no other options, the kids were happy playing in it, and possibly no one had ever educated them on the fact that the drainage contained feces and disease. I learned of villages where the water in the man made, hand dug wells was dark as mud, yet the locals drank from it regularly. They had to be careful not to scoop up a frog in their glass, because the frogs too enjoyed playing in the water.

There seems to have been a tremendous initiative by both the military and a group called Edge Outreach that focuses on providing clean water and making it sustainable for for the local people. There are amazing things being done in these communities, it is unfortunate that we are here for such a short period of time that follow up and continued education is limited, albeit impossible. I have to assume that the hope is that the teaching we be passed down through generations. One problem, or barrier to sustainability may be the lack of education, or the work it takes. For me, I think, wow, if someone could come into my village and teach me how to clean my water to make it potable to drink, the people will be healthier, the children will live longer, the further generations will be made possible. Water is essential to life. These people are most probably unaware of the health benefits of clean water because there communities have survived for years and generations on the existing water. They may not make the connection that babies are dying due to their water source, that so many illnesses that they suffer from may be linked back to the water.

A valuable lesson, although I am not sure what purpose it serves, is that we can’t save everyone. There are cases that have been seen, and I am sure the next stop will bring some of the same, that the collective “we” can’t save. This is heart breaking, especially since we are geographically so close to Miami, to the US in general, where life saving procedures can be done. Geographically we are close, but for these families medical treatment in the US is truly worlds away, it may as well be Mars.

I hear the words...”finish your food, there are starving children somewhere” repeat in my mind. Luckily most of the children I have seen appear well nourished, but one can be fooled by seeing a child who may be the appropriate weight but is truly lacking essential vitamins and minerals that his/her family does not have access to. I have had several children asked their mother for water while I am examining them, WATER?? I do not recall a time in the US that I have has a child essentially beg, as he/she would for candy, for water. Maybe the water we were provided tasted better than there’s, maybe it was fun because we were giving it to them in baggies as it was coming for the purified water from Edge Outreach, so it was kinda like a water balloon... despite the reasons it was a little sad to see these kids a little desperate for some water. Teaching is difficult when the family is truly functioning within their means and there is not possibility of expanding their diet or food source. Teaching really has to focus on capitalizing on what they do have available. One thing common to so many cultures is...there seems to be no shortage of candy & sweets. Just as in the US, those who are poverty stricken may eat just one meal per day.

Last night we had “scullery” duty... Luz may be explaining it in her post so I won’t go into detail. All I will say is that we were on the receiving end of dirty dishes of nearly all the 850 people on board (divided between two windows), Dr. Roark manned the one window with a fellow Hope volunteer while Kim, Luz and I were at the other window. It was an experience, I would do it again without a problem. The good thing is you get to see what people AREN’T eating, so you make a mental note of what not to eat.

Each day I am reminded of how lucky so many of us are to have access to clean water, food, shelter. Our children do not play in poo water during recess... I realize that this degree of poverty is not limited to places outside of the US.

Our trip is over halfway complete, the thought of going home is bittersweet. I am truly looking forward to our next mission stop that we are (slowly) approaching. I expect I will learn more with each patient and each day...