Packing Day

This morning the June teams gathered at Katie's house for Packing Day! Supplies were sorted, bags were packed, and spirits were high! Here are a few pictures. We are excited for our upcoming adventures in Guatemala!

We have seen more severely ill people on this trip than before. One woman age 55 who looks 75 has a growth the size of a cantelope hanging pendulous lay from her lower abdomen. They can't do the "free" surgery until she has 50 dollars worth of blood and urine tests. We did a couple of the tests then gave her the money for transportation to Panajachel where a private and only lab is located. We gave transportation money to a woman with a growth the size of a large grape in her mouth under her tongue, to get to the hospital about 90 minutes away. We are doing a home visit on a family that came in yesterday with the most malnourished kids I have ever seen here. They were dirty, skinny and sad. She is 20 and has four kids she obviously can't feed. We have paid for an 8 year old to have two rotten teeth pulled and I have begged the mom to go to a real dentist to find out the cost to repair the rest of his rotten teeth. His teacher initially brought him in because he was in so much tooth pain. A man came who needs a hernia repair but the "free" surgery can't be done until he comes up with $100 to pay for the mesh to use to do the repair. We have treated multiple urinary tract infections, colds, ear infections, headaches and body aches, gastritis and heartburn, done prenatal and well baby checks. One man told us about his 27 year old brother completely disabled since having meningitis at age 5 months. He sleeps in a crib so we are buying him a new bed that they can get for $150.  Since we opened the clinic last week we have treated over 400 patients in our village and three others.
Katie

Middle Tennessee State University Drama Team

This afternoon they performed for the mamas and tots nutrition program here and were a huge hit. They have performed for over 600 kids and families in 5 villages so far. The cast is 6 college students from MTSU and one HS student who is the professors nephew. The show is 20 minutes with a message (anger management, dental hygiene and hand washing). They wrote it in a theater class this year in English then had it translated into Spanish and learned it even though most of them know little or no Spanish. Impressive. There is some music which their audiences really like. The drama team performed for the Los Robles school minus one class since the teacher was at Inservice and they don't use substitutes.

Harley and Morgan with the kids

Watching the performance

Cathy and Catalina

Godinez Basico (grades 7-9)

The great performers!

Students at Godinez Primario performed for them

More of the show

The Drama Team

Yette mowing the lawn!

The food is good, homemade tortillas at every meal. The Los Robles school is using the stove we installed last year to make a nutritious drink daily supplied by the government,  it is a variety of drinks including one made of rice, one of wheat and incaperina.

Thanks drama team for a great humanitarian experience!! This is a great reminder that every talent can be used to help others!