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Profile: Emmaus Medical Mission

In 2001, a small group of doctors, nurses and volunteers traveled on the first medical mission to Sumpango, a small village in Guatemala, Central America. Their mission then and now is to provide quality medical care, medicines and vitamins free of charge for humanitarian purposes and further enhance goodwill of the United States in Latin America.

After providing free medical care, medicines and vitamins at no cost to well over a thousand needy patients, the medical team felt compelled and committed to return thereafter every 6 months to treat the needy people of Guatemala.

In May 2006, the Emmaus Medical Mission group decided to expand their medical care to other villages in San Pedro, another village in Guatemala. With a group size totaling over 110 (including 40 doctors, 20 nurses & 50 volunteers), their group was able to treat free of charge over 8,000 patients in both towns simultaneously, while providing them with a substantial amount of free medicine and vitamins.

By 2008, the medical mission has taken on the official name: Emmaus Medical Mission. The mission has gown in size to 80 to 100 volunteers per mission with an active roster of over 2,000 rotating doctors, dentist, pharmacists and volunteers. Presently, the Emmaus Medical Mission has a proven track record of successfully treating thousands of patients, complementing their treatment with free medicine and vitamins. Doctors, nurses and volunteers are willing to donate their time and services in recognition of their commitment to service mankind.

To date there have been 20 medical missions to Guatemala, Peru, and Ecuador, and their physicians and dentists have treated well over 65,000 patients. Their teams have performed numerous medical procedures including, but not limited to: hundreds of surgeries; pathological reviews; gastrointestinal endoscopies; pap smears; dental procedures; and many more specialized medical procedures.

Each mission’s group size consists of approximately 40 doctors & nurses, and 40 to 50 volunteers, to treat 4,000 to 5,000 patients per mission. Patients are offered a broad range of medical services & specialties: Pediatrics, Gynecology, Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, Pulmonary, Urology, Infectious Disease, Dermatology, Hematology, Oncology, Dental, General and Maxillofacial Surgery, Podiatry, Psychology, Pharmacy, Chiropractic Services and Registered Nurses.

The most common medical conditions treated are: Malnutrition; Hypertension; Diabetes Mellitus; Pregnancies; Severe Heartburn; Chronic Diarrhea; Dehydration; Parasitic Infestation; Asthma; Allergies; Skin diseases; Syncope; Chronic Lung Infections; and Gastrointestinal tract problems. The most common surgical conditions treated are: Inguinal Hernias; Uterine Fibromas; Cleft Lip & Palate; Breast Masses; and Head/Neck Tumors.

The Emmaus Medical Mission is complemented by voluntary teams comprised of administrative support planning and logistics; triage units; and a pharmacy team. The clinic and each doctor’s have the capacity to deliver patient privacy and effective, field-based healthcare.

Several organizations including Americares, MAP International, and Heart to Heart provide donations for the missions in the forms of medicines, vitamins and supplies at a very low cost. Each mission member traveling as part of the medical mission pays for all expenses and donates their time and services. Furthermore, each member is committed to provide monetary donations; over the counter medicines; vitamins & personal hygiene products through donations.

Their present goal is to expand the mission to other countries, as well as other villages in Guatemala, Peru, and Ecuador with increased medical support and patient care; increase the scope and complexity of the medical procedures and increase the amount of free medicine and vitamins to be provided to the needy.

As Emmaus Medical Mission continues to grow and travel to new countries and villages, the need for medical and monetary donations must continue to grow as well. In 2010, five missions are confirmed. With the help of their community and the commitment and dedication of many, Emmaus hopes to carry out these missions with all the supplies and medicine needed to attend to the 25,000 to 30,000 people they anticipate seeing in 2010.

Emmaus Medical Mission is a Catholic based foundation. It is open to, and welcomes doctors, nurses, and volunteers of all religions, beliefs, and all walks of life. This is a medical mission that strives endlessly to provide the most important medicine that many of the forgotten people in the world need…Love. That is the unwavering foundation of their mission…Love & Care for those who are forgotten, one by one.

For more information, please visit their Facebook page or contact Fernando Becerra, Secretary/Treasurer by email, Lfbecerra @ aol.com (remove spaces) or phone (786) 202-0491.

Profile: Mayan Hope

Mayan Hope is a non-profit corporation dedicated to providing educational, nutritional, medical, ecological, and other needed services to indigenous families, villages, and abandoned or abused children of Guatemala and other Latin American nations. They are a direct and hands-on charitable organization meaning that, as such, they work in close cooperation and side-by-side with the people in the communities where projects are located.

Education: Education is the foundation and primary purpose of Mayan Hope. They believe that education holds the key to the future for all. At present Mayan Hope is working with these educational projects:

Special Education
Central Education Center
Student Exchange and College Scholarships

Environment: Mayan Hope is currently working to develop several projects to help in the preservation of the environment and the betterment of the communities in the Guatemalan highlands:

Paper Firebricks
Solar Ovens
Composting Toilets

Health: Mobile Medical Unit and Training – Through some local contacts with an American medical team – Bryan and Riechelle Buchanan, Mayan Hope brings a mobile medical and dental unit into the local villages to perform minor medical and dental care. More complex cases than what they are equipped to handle from the mobile unit are referred to the hospital or doctors in Nebaj for follow-up.

Nutrition: Estimates are as high as 60 percent of the Mayan population here in Guatemala suffers from anemia or lack of protein in their diets. As much as 65 percent of the typical diet is corn based. To keep them from crying, mothers often feed their children nothing but sugar water for lack of any other food in the house. Proper nutrition and improperly balanced diets are a major problem. One of the goals at Mayan Hope is to improve this situation as much as possible. The immediate project that they are working on is the establishment of a soy milk production facility using a device called a SoyCow or VitaCow. They hope to provide each of the children in their schools with a daily quantity of soy milk as well as the pregnant and lactating women in the villages. Any excess product would be packaged and sold as a low cost and nutritional substitute for traditional milk and would be especially beneficial for those who are lactose intolerant. The sale of excess milk and other products produced from this facility could not only provide funding for the free milk provided to school children and pregnant mothers but could also help fund the overall project.

Economic Development: Nearly everything that Mayan Hope does in some way relates to economic development of the area. All of their projects require the employment of teachers or various local staff to work on the project. However there are some projects that they are trying to develop that specifically relate to economic development. These include:

Development of New Farm Crops
Solar Bakery

To learn more about Mayan Hope, please visit their website.

Profile: ASSCA (Social Services Association – German Cooperative)

ASSCA (Social Services Association – German Cooperative) is a non-profit institution that, through scientific cooperation has brought preventive and curative healthcare, along with other forms of development, to the neediest Guatemalan communities. These services have been delivered through the use of human capital and technology.

The vision of ASSCA is to become one of the most important development institutions in Guatemala; to contribute real, tangible support to Guatemalan communities; and to improve the quality of life of Guatemalans.

History: In 1996, a group of Guatemalan professionals met a German engineer, Elmar Stumpf, who was in the country studying Spanish. After a pleasant, lengthy conversation, they decided to collaborate with Mr. Stumpf on a health project for the neediest people living in and around Quetzaltenango. They first formed a general medicine clinic; and as time passed – and more needs were identified – they also created a dental clinic, a laboratory (for blood/cell/tissue testing), psychological office and a pharmacy.

Today, after 14 years of hard work, they continue to explore new projects and look for ways to support the people who need it most. Currently, they have one of the best equipped and staffed medical centers in the region. A high percentage of the patients are from rural areas and/or low-income families.

Services: Among the services they offer are: 2 general medicine clinics, 2 dental clinics, one biological (blood) laboratory, electrocardiograph (EKG), ultrasound, digital prescription, optometry and a pharmacy with high quality and low cost medicine.

This year they have expanded into a new, larger building to accommodate more patients. As mentioned above, ASSCA is a non-profit organization, and is funded through the donations of patients, partner associations and individual donors in Germany. In addition, all those who work for ASSCA in the clinics also make financial contributions in order to best serve the neediest individuals in and around Quetzaltenango.

To learn more about ASSCA, please visit their website (Spanish only).

Profile: Clinica Comunitaria Daniel Comboni

The Clinica Comunitaria Daniel Comboni (Daniel Comboni Community Clinic) located in Mixco, Guatemala, provides health, dental, and educational services. The clinic reaches out to the large population of indigenous people living in poverty and extreme poverty in Mixco by offering health and dental services for a nominal fee. Education and nutrition programs provide the people with the information they need to stay healthy and happy and to live more peacefully.

The Clinica Comunitaria D. Comboni began because the people in the area were aware of the need for health services and missionaries were able to answer that need. The clinic serves to provide complete health care, educational programs, and human services to the most needy families and individuals in the surrounding area. The clinic also assists in other corporal and social works of mercy, including the education of children and development of families.

Following the commandment of Jesus to “love one another as I have loved you,” the clinic serves the people with the greatest needs in health, education, and other social areas.

To learn more about the clinic, please visit their website.

Profile: Primeros Pasos

Primeros Pasos is a clinic in rural Guatemala that has a comprehensive outlook on health care. With the collaboration of health professionals, health educators, volunteers, and community leaders, Primeros Pasos offers quality and affordable health care and health education to the rural, underserved communities of the Palajunoj Valley of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Primeros Pasos works in the Palajunoj Valley, a rural valley in western Guatemala with high rates of communicable diseases, malnutrition, and untreated chronic diseases. Primeros Pasos is the only reliable and affordable source of local health care for the residents of the Palajunoj Valley.

Primeros Pasos has a long-term vision for the improvement of healthcare in the Palajunoj Valley, integrating its clinical healthcare service with health education and preventative care. Primeros Pasos seeks to maximize existing resources, partnering with communities and other organizations to find efficient solutions to health care challenges.

They incorporate and combine clinical care, health education, and community outreach programs to effectively provide preventative and primary care.

Clinical Care: Primeros Pasos provides primary care, dental services, lab exams, vaccinations, gynecological/obstetric care and medications for the approximately 15,000 people living in the valley. Their clinical staff includes a physician, a dentist, a lab tech, and a dental assistant. Rotating medical students from the University of San Carlos and foreign universities supplement the capacity of their full-time clinical staff. There are approximately 7,500 patient visits at Primeros Pasos each year.

Children’s Health Education: Primeros Pasos has developed a large health education program in the community for children and a growing health education program for women. Primeros Pasos gives approximately 500 health education workshops in the Palajunoj Valley covering age specific topics such as hygiene and nutrition, the environment, natural disasters, children’s rights, domestic violence, drugs, delinquency, puberty and several others.

Healthy Schools Program: Through the Healthy Schools Program, Primeros Pasos brings health care and health education to rural schools and day care centers in the communities they serve. Each day, a class from one of the schools in the Valley arrives at the clinic. The children each receive a medical and dental check-up and participate in an exciting and interactive health education program. The day not only provides students with immediate clinical care, but also tools for bettering their hygiene habits and preventative measures to improve their quality of life.

Women’s Health Education Program: The “Stairway to Good Health” Program aims to raise health awareness and provide the women and caretakers of the Valley with the health information they need to empower themselves to make vital healthcare decisions that affect the lives of themselves, their children and families. Primeros Pasos is able to provide workshops that are designed to address health issues and concerns effecting families and communities that the clinic serves, and more importantly, women specific issues that often times are sensitive subjects. There are currently 75 active women in the program in 6 different community groups and the program is looking to start two new groups this year.

Service Learning & Volunteerism: Primeros Pasos is a center for health education, serving as a primary care rotation for Guatemalan medical students from the University of San Carlos – Quetzaltenango and for foreign students who participate in away rotations under the supervision of Primeros Pasos’ attending physician. Each year, over 100 students and volunteers work at Primeros Pasos. The volunteers are at the heart of the clinic’s operations and with their continuous help and support, Primeros Pasos is able to offer an incredible amount of services with few resources.

Cost-Effective Care: Primeros Pasos is a very cost-effective operation, providing medical services to over 7,000 patients and health education to thousands more for approximately $50,000. Primeros Pasos receives approximately 80% of its funds from the Inter-American Health Alliance (IAHA), its U.S. non-profit partner. Click here for more information about IAHA.

For more information about Primeros Pasos or to apply to volunteer as a health educator or a medical volunteer, please visit their website.

Upcoming Trips: Hendersonville Rotary / Shalom Foundation

Patient referrals are being accepted for the June 12-20 Guatemala City trip of The Hendersonville Rotary Club members led by Dr. Bill Taylor and Rip Lebkuecher with The Shalom Foundation.

Dentists, hygienists, eye care professionals, physicians and support team members treated more than 1400 patients while conducting their wellness clinic at Shalom School last year. The Shalom Foundation will be working with all of our Guatemala partners to serve even more individuals this year. Volunteers from this group have participated in medical mission trips to Guatemala for many years.

For more information, contact Allison a Abender@theshalomfoundation.org.

Oral & Maxillofacial Surgical Procedures

Simple dental extractions
Surgical dental extractions
Extraction of partially impacted teeth
Enucleation of jaw cysts
Excision of soft tissue lesions
Biopsies in mouth and lips
Incision and drainage of infections
Repair of soft tissue trauma (lips & mouth)
Alveoloplasty (preprosthetic)
Lingual / buccal torectomies

Optical Procedures

Visual Acuity Assessment
Dispensing of glasses
Patient education on diabetes and cataracts in the eye
Parent education on vision correction of children

Profile: Faith in Practice

The mission of Faith In Practice (FIP) is to improve the physical, spiritual, and economic conditions of the poor in Guatemala through short-term surgical, medical and dental mission trips and health-related educational programs. Their mission is based on an ecumenical understanding that as people of God they are called to demonstrate the love and compassion that is an outward sign of God’s presence among us. Faith In Practice’s life-changing medical mission is to minister to the poor, while providing a spiritually enriching experience for their volunteers.

Currently, their medical teams travel to the most remote and poorest parts of Guatemala, setting up makeshift clinics in rural villages. Working side by side Guatemalan volunteers, their medical teams provide general care and make referrals to Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro (The Obras), now a hospital that houses four state-of-the art operating rooms thanks to Faith In Practice supporters, and to four additional smaller hospitals throughout Guatemala. Patients now have a safe and pleasant place to stay at their guesthouse, the Casa de Fe, while awaiting and recovering from surgery in Antigua. Their public health initiative has seen the development of the VIA/Cryo Program designed to train Guatemalans to identify and treat pre-cancerous cervical cells. They are currently developing a Preventative and Restorative Dental Program. Through these programs, their more than 800 dedicated volunteers served more than 17,000 patients in 2008.

FIP Mission Teams (click here to see 2010 calendar of trips):

Surgical Teams: Faith In Practice medical and dental teams travel to Antigua, Guatemala which is the base for all the teams. All teams volunteer their services for a week, usually traveling from the US on a Saturday and returning on the following Saturday. Teams are divided into a group of health providers who work at the hospital in Antigua and a group which travels to sites and villages in the countryside to provide family practice medicine and dentistry.

Medical and dental professionals working at the Hermano Pedro Hospital and Orphanage for the poor bring all the supplies they expect to use for performing surgery and post operative care. On Sunday, all surgery candidates are seen and reviewed; and a surgical schedule is prepared. The remainder of the week is spent in surgery at the hospital.

Village Teams: Family practice teams bring trunks of medicines and supplies as well and in the course of treating acute illnesses in the villages often encounter people who need surgical care. These patients are referred to the surgical teams working at the hospital. Often the teams are met with busloads of people hoping to receive medical help.

Dental Teams: Dental professionals accompany both the surgical teams and the family practice teams. There is a well-equipped dental clinic at the Hermano Pedro Hospital where general dentistry and extractions are performed and oral hygiene instructions given. Dental professionals who accompany the family practice teams to rural sites concentrate their efforts on pain relief (extractions) and oral hygiene instruction.

Professional Relationships: The professional relationships that develop between U.S. medical and dental personnel and Guatemalan professionals is an added positive impact of the work Faith In Practice is doing. Every year, Faith In Practice endeavors to present post-graduate type learning experiences to the Guatemalan medical community in Antigua and in Guatemala City. Topics have included Ear Infections, Cancer Pain Control, Ovarian Cancer, Knee Surgery, and Hip Replacement Surgery. Guatemalan surgeons are also invited to the OR in Antigua to learn the latest surgical techniques. Faith In Practice believes developing mutual learning and understanding makes sustainable change possible.

Cooperative Efforts: Faith In Practice makes concerted efforts to keep in touch with sister organizations who are working to improve the life and health of the poor in Central America. Much of the needed change that goes beyond any one organization’s scope can come about by combining resources, time, knowledge and energy.

To learn more about Faith in Practice, please visit their website, Facebook page, Twitter page, or blog.

Profile: Clinica Maxeña

Clinica Maxeña, in Santo Tomás, provides medical, dental and optical assistance and limited types of surgery. The clinic operation is made up of various projects that receive support from several donor agencies, including the Diocese of Helena, MT. These projects work together to provide excellent care to those who come to Clinica Maxeña and also those encountered during visits to the outlying communities.

Laboratory: There is a Laboratory to assist the doctor and health promoters in diagnosis and treatment, and is staffed by a health promoter who is trained as a technician. The lab tech performs coprology, urinalysis, and tests for tuberculosis, malaria, typhoid fever, venereal diseases, hematology, and pregnancy.

Pharmacy: The Pharmacy sells a limited number of medicines according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization.

Dental Office: The Dental Office has periodic service to the mission community from groups of American dental practitioners who volunteer their time, service and supplies for a period of time at the Mission.

Prenatal Clinics: Prenatal Clinics are held weekly with a midwife-educator, who also operates our clinic in Samayac. She and the midwives who serve the various communities of the area have constant refresher courses with the goal of reducing maternal-infant mortality.

The Medicinal Plant Project: The Medicinal Plant Project includes a demonstration garden with more than 100 varieties of plants that produces seeds and medicines. The coordinator examines patients and prescribes plant-based medicines. The pharmacy at the project produces and sells about 30 medications in the form of tincture, salve, shampoo, soap, and dried plants for teas or compresses. The team also trains promoters in the communities to grow their own plants for medication and treatment.

Community Health Project: The clinic is developing a Community Health Project which will enable communities to build a local health system whereby they can be fairly self sufficient with the option for referrals to the Clinica Maxeña and other health entities. The emphasis in the CHP is on women and children, including teaching and primary care on occasion.

Special Projects: Two very serious endemic health problems in the Boca Costa area in which the clinic is located are tuberculosis and trachoma. There are two projects to identify, treat, reduce or eliminate these diseases that Clinica Maxeña coordinates with the National Health Ministry and the National Committee against Blindness.

To learn more about the clinic, please visit their website (associated with The Diocese of Helena), or read this article.

Profile: Hope Alliance

Transforming Critical Need into Sustainable Change

The mission of The Hope Alliance is to empower impoverished people with the skills and tools they need to create positive change in the lives of their families and in their villages. The Hope Alliance also educates and exposes volunteers to the situation of those in developing countries. The Hope Alliance partners with active village groups in developing areas of the world to co-create change in quality of life. Local organizations and villages lead projects that include health worker training, medical care, clean water, sanitation projects, economic opportunity (micro-credit) and education projects.

The Hope Alliance assists communities in development, not relief, although it plays an extremely important role in saving lives, it is only temporary and is not sustainable. The communities to whom we offer our help are not necessarily victims of natural or civil catastrophes; they are people who can maintain a subsistence level of living. This means that they have just enough to get by but lack the resources and education to get out of perpetual poverty. Development is simply teaching them the skills they need to help themselves and linking them to resources necessary to progress. We want to make sure that our projects have a measurable, proven positive impact on communities.

“Unless we partner directly with the villagers to empower themselves and create active village participation, even though intentions are good, we will end up with empty medical clinics, empty schools and broken water systems” -Dr. John Hanrahan, Co-founder, The Hope Alliance

Supply Shipments: The Hope Alliance continues to support project areas with shipments of medical supplies and equipment specific to each countries needs and capacity. Our most recent container, which shipped in July of 2009, included five clinic modules for the Hospital T’Zunun Ha in Guatemala. Communities in Peru, Ghana, Vanuatu, Haiti and Ethiopia have also received Hope Alliance shipments of medicine, medical supplies, food and school supplies in years past.

Education Fund: The Hope Alliance administrates the Atitlan Education Resource for Opportunity, or the AERO Fund designated for the youth in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. It is their fervent hope that this financial resource can grow and become the mechanism by which many talented and ambitious young folks, who would not otherwise have the opportunity to gain an education or training in a trade or craft, can become successful and contributing members of their society.

Construction Expeditions: The Hope Alliance has strong ties to local Rotary Club and Rotary International, a service organization that works to combat hunger, improve health, sanitation, and education. World Community Service projects is one avenue that promotes collaboration with partnering countries to work on sustainable projects, such as the Biogas digester program in Nepal that transforms waste into a reusable resource for that community. Or the Aguajal Trancayacu project in Tarapoto, Peru that promotes reforestation, restoration and management of the Aguaje.

Medical Expeditions: While the medical clinics conducted by The Hope Alliance have been successful, they have been the catalyst to open the doors to the communities where sustainable projects within the communities have been developed. Under the direction of the Ministries of Health, medical and nurse practitioners along with student volunteers assist local healthcare providers address health issues facing rural villages. Past teams have included Surgical teams that support local hospitals and work collaboratively with local physicians to teach current surgery techniques. Health education teams address the long-term need in local education and preventable illnesses.

Dental Expeditions: Dental hygiene is a growing concern for both young and old alike. Most expeditions focus on extractions instead of restorative work and also on education and improving their diet.

Micro-Credit: This program provides economic opportunity to individuals so they can pull themselves out of poverty. At the same time, creating a more vibrant economic atmosphere and increased market activity which benefits the entire community. The micro-loans provide access to capital and also provide business enterprise training. The Hope Alliance micro-credit programs are in Iquitos, Peru and El Estor, Guatemala.

Vision Pilot Program: The vision pilot program has been designed to complement the World Health Organizations Vision 2020 initiative; the right to sight initiative aimed at prevention and treatment of vision loss through successful interventions and treating preventable impairments, in order to have the greatest possible impact on vision loss worldwide. Village Health workers are trained to identify preventable illnesses and refer individuals to the most appropriate resources available for that area.

To learn more about Hope Alliance, please visit their website.

Profile: Los Medicos Voladores (Flying Doctors)

Los Médicos Voladores (LMV) — in Spanish, the flying doctors — is a volunteer-based nonprofit organization that aims to improve the health and well-being of geographically diverse peoples through education and the provision of no-cost, high-quality medical, dental, and optometric clinics. LMV serves Mexico, Central and South America, and migrant labor populations of the southwestern United States. Since 1975 LMV has offered more than 230 short-term medical, dental, optometry, and other healthcare clinics, treating over 7,000 patients per year.

LMV provides clinics in the following specific geographies: more than 20 villages in the northern Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Peru in Latin America; and the Coachella Valley migrant camps in southeastern California

LMV clinics are open to anyone who can reach the clinic during open hours in the areas they serve. And they help improve villagers’ lives not only by treating their immediate health problems, but also by providing lasting tools that empower people to help themselves – including health education, especially for women and children, and clinic equipment for ongoing use by local healthcare professionals. LMV also runs a number of non-clinic projects that strengthen the villages they support through initiatives like education sponsorship, wheeled mobility and other equipment donations, and so on. They are proud to work closely with a broad range of partner organizations, including Rotary, Airline Ambassadors, and local medical and dental schools.

The next medical trip to Guatemala will be from July 31 thru Aug 8, in San Francisco del Alto. A team of 24 people will work Monday through Friday. They always need MD’s and Interpreters. Contact Milt Camp at miltcamp@aol.com. Also see photos from their recent Aug-2009 trip to Guatemala here.

LMV is also involved with a Rotary funded microbank in Santa Inez, just outside of Antigua.

To learm more about LMV, please visit their website.

Profile: Ak’Tenamit

Ak’ Tenamit means “New Village” in the Q’eqchi Mayan language, because their organization is transforming life in the Q’eqchi villages of eastern Guatemala. Those villages are located around the Río Dulce, far from the nearest road – most are reached by a boat trips and hikes through the rain forest – and they lack electricity, running water and basic sanitation. When Ak’ Tenamit was founded in 1992 by a small group of foreign volunteers and village leaders, most of the communities it serves lacked access to medical care and had only rudimentary schools, if any. Few students studied to the sixth grade, and most girls dropped out by third or fourth grade. Illiteracy rates were 70%–80%, and malnutrition, parasites, and various curable diseases were common.

Ak’ Tenamit consequently began improving village schools, providing teacher training, and coordinating donations of school supplies. The local people built a riverside clinic while foreign medical volunteers began visiting villages and training health promoters, while others taught groups of women to make paper from cornhusks and other waste. Since then, those initiatives have evolved to include preventative medicine programs, promotion of education for girls, a floating dental clinic, a secondary school that offers practical training in sustainable tourism and development, a network of cooperatives that produces and markets an array of handcrafts, and specific programs promoting gender equality, environmental protection and preservation of Q’eqchi culture.

Ak’ Tenamit now provides basic healthcare to approximately 6,000 people in 41 villages and has over 450 students in its an innovative secondary school – the Fr. Tom Moran Center – where the national curriculum has been adapted to the students’ rural reality, and includes hands-on training at the school’s farm, handicraft center, gift shops and restaurants. Graduates work in Ak’ Tenamit’s programs – promoting sustainable development in their communities; or for other nongovernmental organizations.

Their original project site is located in the village of Barra de Lámpara, on the banks of Río Dulce, a 40-minute boat trip upriver from the town of Livingston. Its facilities include a medical clinic, floating dental clinic, primary school, training center, facilities, and dormitories. A short boat ride away, in Tatín, is a larger site with the secondary school, boys’ dorms, an organic farm, a handicraft training center, and an ecotourism center complete with gift shop, restaurant and bakery. The project also has a restaurant and gift shop in the town of Livingston.

While money from the restaurants help support the project, they are also part of the secondary school’s tourism training program, since they are run by students, whereas the gift shops sell the work of artisan cooperatives that Ak’ Tenamit has helped organize.

To learn more about Ak’Tenamit, please visit their website. To learn about the Guatemala Tomorrow Fund, a non-denominational, non-profit (501 C-3) organization dedicated exclusively to raising funds and providing logistical support for Ak’ Tenamit, please click here.

Profile: Partnership in Women’s Ministries

Partnership in Women’s Ministries (PWM) is a partnership of ministries serving abused and abandoned women in Guatemala. This partnership comes to fill a huge void in Guatemala, where women lack total control of their lives, and are powerlessly subjected to lives of misery. These women, who are lacking resources and education, are desperately trying to survive and provide for their families. Tragically, they are all too often bound by violent relationships with abusive men.

PWM works with various ministries and organizations to provide multifaceted services to these women, including temporary shelter, counseling, legal services, discipleship, job training, and small business loans.

Their first shelter, El Refugio, (The Refuge) officially opened its doors for ministry on June 1, 2008, and their first client arrived two days later. Eunice and her three children, (Brian, Jasmine and Christian) were welcomed into the shelter with loving arms. Eunice had experienced abuse on almost every level for over the past six years. She shared that she felt isolated with nowhere to turn until her sister told her about PWM. Eunice and her children stayed with PWM for three weeks while restraining orders were processed by their director/attorney, Pamela, and plans were made for Eunice and the children to move to Solola with extended family. Pamela participated in this process as well, helping extended family understand that violence is not tolerable. She also met with local police to make them aware of the situation and the existence of the restraining order. Finally, she worked with Eunice to begin work baking ham and cheese croissants to earn an income.

PWM’s goal is to assist women and children in the physical, emotional, and spiritual healing necessary for them to re-enter society prepared to meet the needs of their families.

COUNSELING is available for the women and children from a trained Guatemalan Christian counselor who meets weekly with each woman both individually and in a group setting.
DISCIPLESHIP/MENTORING is provided by their in-house staff and discipleship teachers. The women and children receive optional classes and daily training in the areas of biblical teaching and Christian living, parenting, and healthy relationships.
CHILDREN’S EDUCATION is provided. PWM pays expenses for the children to attend a nearby school and offer educational opportunities in the shelter.
ADULT EDUCATION AND TRAINING is offered to the women. They offer assistance in job training, literacy training, and skill teaching, and seek to expand this area of service in the future.
PHYSICAL CARE is provided to the women and children through shelter, food and clothing as well as meeting their basic medical and dental needs. Due to poverty, most of the women and children in their care have never been to a dentist and have had very limited medical care. Many have never owned a toothbrush and suffer from poor nutrition.
FOLLOW UP AND SUPPORT is currently given to the families on a limited basis as they return to their communities. At this time PWM is able to maintain contact to make sure that the women are not falling back into abusive situations. PWM’s desire, with additional staffing is to provide more extensive follow up as they continue to encourage physical, emotional and spiritual development for these families, as well as additional training such as handling finances, encouraging children’s education, and goal setting.

To learn more about PWM, please visit their website.

Profile: Iowa M.O.S.T.

Iowa MOST is a Rotary District 6000 initiative, which provides surgical repair for cleft lip and palate to individuals living in the western highlands of Guatemala. Without Iowa MOST, they would not be given this opportunity. District 6000 Rotarians have cultivated a strong collaborative partnership with their friends in the Rotary Club of Huehuetenango, Guatemala to carry out the mission.

IOWA MOST FACTS:

The first surgical mission took place in February/March of 2006.
The mission team consisted of 26 medical and non-medical personnel from the U.S. and 2 Guatemalan doctors.
The MOST team performed cleft lip repairs, myringotomies, ear tube placements, fistula repairs, a frenulectomy, and tooth extractions, and began a database of patients for the next mission.
Equipment and supplies were generously donated for the mission from many sources and with the help of FAMSCO.
Mission equipment and supplies valued at $20,000 were donated to the Hospital Nacional in Huehuetenango.
Iowa MOST now serves two communities in Guatemala–Huehuetenango and Quetzaltenango.
In 2010, Iowa MOST performed its 5th mission in Guatemala with its Rotary parners in Quetzaltenango, also known as Xela.

To learn more about Iowa MOST, please visit their website or blog.

Profile: Faith In Action Ministries

Faith In Action (FIA) is a 501(c)(3) Christian organization designed to target isolated, remote people who have become lost and stagnant within their developing country. They primarily focus on mountainous highlands and the swampy waterways of Rio Dulce in Guatemala, Central America. Faith in Action takes the Good News into communities that have no church and have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.

For the people in these extremely remote villages they construct safe houses, churches, schools, clinics, and facilitate all types of economic and agricultural developments. They work with volunteer teams to bring in the expertise to build major infrastructure improvements to areas that are completely isolated. Some of the things that they bring to these people are bridges over swamps to facilitate their contact to the outside world, provide fresh water by drilling wells, and construct churches, schools, clinics.

Education: When Faith In Action started working in the highland villages there were only 5 children going to school. On the rare occasions he even showed up, the state-sponsored teacher organizing the classes was more interested in drinking alcohol than teaching the children. After several drunken visits to the village school, the teacher reported back to the Ministry of Education that there was no interest in education anywhere in the region. He told the council to close the school down.

Michael and Rocky Beene, on behalf of FIA, asked the Ministry of Education not to give up trying to educate the children in the mountains. They asked the counsel for one more chance to teach the local children. Michael and Rocky were even willing to provide a full-time teacher (including paying salary). The Ministry of Education agreed to allow Faith In Action to sponsor the school and bring in a private teacher for the remainder of the school year. By the end of the first school year Faith In Action had 35 children attending a new school located on the mission in Matasano. Their once little school has now grown to over 125 children, however, that is still only ¼ of the children from the community. The results are in and the response is conclusive, there is a huge desire for education in the mountains of Guatemala.

Nutrition: As a stimulant to keep children in school, they have started a reward program. Those children who stay in school for a month will receive nutritional drink, beans, corn, rice, and sugar. This is seen by a child’s parents as a form of a job so as to motivate the parents to let them study.

Small children usually have to survive only on corn tortillas – these are the children that many times do not survive. Parents often bring very young children to the clinic for them to treat for a wide variety of illness when the root cause is simply malnutrition. Having a place where they may educate the families of small children about nutrition and provide support for those in immediate need is imperative.

Agriculture: Subsistence farming has been practiced here for generations, stripping the mountains bare and leaving behind depleted earth that has little agricultural value. Corn or beans are planted on the same hill year after year and ruins the soil. Today, FIA is promoting permanent cash crops that will not only improve yield but help conserve the water shed for the entire region. Some of these advancements in agriculture include citrus, macadamia nuts, coffee, and fruit that yield four or five times the income of traditional harvests.

They teach composting and vermiculture as an alternative to chemical fertilizers in their soil. They buy coffee crops from the very plants they planted years ago and produce some of the world’s best organic coffee right in their mission. In their greenhouses they graft many types of seedlings onto strong rootstock and patiently nurture them until they are ready to be planted in the fields. Diversity and sustainable ideas in agriculture are improving the lives of the people they minister to. The amount of land needed to sustain a family is decreasing, and the quality of life is improving.

Housing: Most of the people in the villages where they minister do not have the ability to provide safe, clean housing for their families. Many children sleep on dirt floors. They cook over open fires. They eat a diet of mostly corn tortillas and usually have no fresh water. Along with the villagers and teams that have come to pour out their lives, they have been able to construct concrete homes that replace mud or bamboo huts, build bridges over swamps, and construct roads through rough mountain terrain. This links the local people with the developing world around them and enables commerce. They have dug wells and built latrines, schools, and churches. The playgrounds that Faith in Action has built encourage an atmosphere of friendship and love between the children and help to combat the long history of family feuding. The stoves project was initiated to halt life-threatening lung diseases. They have piped water from a fresh spring five miles through the mountains. The villagers now have clean water in their own homes for bathing, washing clothes, and cooking. All of these projects help develop a sense of community while teaching various trades

Medical & Dental: Faith In Action takes medical and dental teams into areas that have never seen a doctor or a dentist. Their teams suture wounds and pull teeth and then give them their teeth back through dentures. The teams go by boat up the tributaries and hike into the villages so that these people will know how extravagant God’s love is for those that only His eyes see.

To learn more about FIA, please visit their website.

Profile: The Scheel Center

Quality education, healthcare, and family development for the region’s poorest children

Known for its beauty, culture, and history, the Panchoy Valley also has its marginal zones where homeless families and street children live. In these areas the unemployment rate is high, adolescents lack education, crime is prevalent, alcoholism is rampant, and familial violence is widespread. Taking these problems into mind, the idea of opening a specialized technical school amidst the Victorias, Bella Vista, and Papalillo neighborhoods of Jocotenango, Guatemala, may have seemed like a risk, but it was also the long-standing dream of Patrick Atkinson, Founder and Executive Director of the GOD’S CHILD Project (GCP). In his own words, “It is the PERFECT place for the GOD’S CHILD Project to be.”

Construction of the school was completed December 6, 2007, and classes began in January of 2008. The Scheel Center’s goal is to be a catalyst for community change on a large scale by giving hope to impoverished families, abused or abandoned children. Hope is given in three forms: Standard Education, Specialized Technical Training and Healthcare.

Standard Education: For much of the modern world, formal education starts around the ages of 4, 5 or 6. By the time a child enters first grade they have often had several years of academic enrichment to better prepare them to learn. Students at the Scheel Center come from a very different world. Many of the students who study at the Center have been robbed of their childhood in various ways. They have not had time to play and learn. Many have not had access basic necessities such as adequate food, clean water, shelter or medical care. For these and other reasons, the Scheel Center students have grown up without an opportunity to learn.

Before a student is in a position to successfully learn any subject, their basic needs must be met. Scheel Center students are provided with two filling and nutritious meals a day. For many of them this is the only food they will receive.

Specialized Technical Training: Because of the unique background of the students at the Scheel Center some of them will not be able to continue their academic pursuits after the 8th or 9th grade level, or they will at least need to secure a part time job in order to do so. In an effort to equip all their students for life after school the following technical courses are currently being offered to students when they start their “basico” year. Each course’s objective is to prepare a student with the prerequisite knowledge and skill required to get a job in that field.

Carpentry: The carpentry program at the Scheel center began in 2009 and is off to a great start. During the first few months of the program both boys and girls were taught theory and took part in hands on training. First, students built their own workbenches; they then moved on to coat racks, frames for paintings and most recently: study desks, which they will later be able to take home and use for their other studies. (Many of their students do not have any hard surface to do homework on.)
Culinary Arts: The cooking class is a favorite amongst many of the students of the Scheel Center. The cooking class focuses on:
- Sanitary cooking practices
- Use and care of commercial grade cooking equipment
- Preparation of both basic and advanced entrees and desserts
- Promoting a love for the culinary arts
Computer Skills: Starting in October of 2009, students of the Scheel Center have access to a computer lab to begin acquiring the computer skills to prepare them to succeed in a high tech world. Computer courses will cover:
- Basic Computer Skills: typing, navigation of Windows, use of a word processor, use of a spreadsheet, accessing the Internet, using email.
- Research skills: performing Internet searches, criteria for a reputable Internet source.

Healthcare:

Dunnigan Family Medical Clinic: Made possible by a generous donation from the Dunnigan Family in honor of Dr. Ralph J. Dunnigan & Mrs. Bernadette Dunnigan. The Dunnigan Family Clinic will soon be serving the medical needs of families and children throughout the Vista Hermosa area.
Dental Clinic: The Scheel Center Dental Clinic will begin by serving the needs of the children and families enrolled at the Scheel Center. The dental clinic is a community education center where The God’s Child project gives dental hygiene education to families from the surrounding areas. The group expects for the clinic to become operational in March, 2010.
Psychology Clinic: In operation since February 2009 the Psychology Clinic provides counseling and support for the children of the Scheel Center and their families. Currently run by their on-campus psychologist Leonel Almira, the clinic gives Scheel Students an ear to listen and Christ-focused counsel on how to deal with the challenges of growing up in the slums of Guatemala.

To learn more about The Scheel Center, please visit their website.

Profile: Global Dental Relief

Global Dental Relief brings free dental care to impoverished children of Nepal, northern India, Vietnam and Guatemala in partnership with local organizations. Volunteer dentists, hygienists, assistants and non-medical volunteers deliver treatment and preventive care in dental clinics that serve children in schools, orphanages and remote villages.

Travel and logistics for volunteers are coordinated by Global Dental Expeditions, dedicated to humanitarian journeys to serve children in need.

Since 2001, Global Dental has hosted over 600 dedicated dentists, hygienists, dental assistants and non-medical volunteers. Volunteers have treated over 44,000 children with first time and ongoing dental care. Global Dental recalls each population of children every two years to deliver continuous care. After ten years, they see children returning for their third or fourth visits. The results are clear –extractions are rare, restorations small, and children are aware of the importance of diet and consistent oral hygiene. This is the sustainable legacy they strive to leave with every child they treat.

In Guatemala, the group works in conjunction with Behrhorst Partners for Development in Chimaltenango.

This year, the group will host clinics beginning July 23 and November 19. To learn more about Global Dental, please visit their website.

Profile: Climb for a Cause

…doing well while doing good

Climb for a Cause (CFAC) is a non-profit Foundation that combines the breathtaking beauty of the mountains with the desire to make a positive difference in peoples’ lives. Since 1998, they have been making positive and meaningful differences in the lives of needy children and deserving adults around the world. CFAC offers individuals and organizations a unique opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to “giving back”–that is, to share the fruits of their success with those less fortunate. Each year, dental professionals, staff, Industry participants, and Media from across the nation assemble at one of North America’s natural wonderlands to CFAC. While not technically difficult, the Events typically pose a formidable endurance challenge. Funds raised from this year’s events will support the CFAC dental education and treatment projects in Guatemala and Nepal. Part of CFAC’s proceeds may also be allocated to other domestic oral health causes.

By working with in-country partners, CFAC has been successful in making a positive and noticeable difference in the lives of needy children and deserving adults.

To learn more about CFAC, please visit their website. To read about CFAC’s 13th annual fundraising event on Sept. 5, 2010, in the Three Sisters Region near Bend, Oregon, please click here.

Profile: Wells of Hope

The Wells of Hope Group is a non-denominational group founded on Christian principles. They are committed to responding to the cry of the poor and to help them attain for themselves, the basic necessities of clean water, education, and basic healthcare. They live this commitment through various projects that the Wells of Hope Group has embraced in the mountainous region of Santa Maria, Jalapa, Guatemala. A permanent, year round base to support volunteers, maximize services and manage all projects more effectively was created. The camp has been lovingly dubbed “Campo Esperanza”, the Camp of Hope.

Here are a few of the many projects this group is committed to:

Drilling Wells: A person dies every seven seconds due to water related diseases. This staggering statistic emphasizes the urgency for mobilization. Overcoming many roadblocks, hurdles and frustrations, the Wells of Hope Group has successfully transported its own drilling equipment to Jalapa, one of the poorest regions of Guatemala, Central America. As a result, there are now tens of thousands of Guatemalans receiving reliable, clean water directly to their homes. Where there was once no hope, people’s lives have changed dramatically.

Medical Care: Odillia was in need of a hip replacement. The pain would not allow her to sleep at night or walk during the day. She needed $3,000 for the operation, but her financial situation was similar to most people who make up the communities in the mountains of Santa Maria, Jalapa. Her children had all grown up and moved away. Her husband had passed away many years ago. She barely had enough food to survive on. So Odillia gave up the only resource that she had. She sold her three-room adobe dwelling to pay for the operation. Three months later, the pin that had been placed as a joint to secure her hip snapped. She was now in even greater pain than before and she had absolutely nothing left to finance another operation.

Wells of Hope has become an avenue for many doctors from Southern Ontario to come to Guatemala on a volunteer basis and minister to those who cannot otherwise afford medical attention. The Wells of Hope team organizes medical clinics in the rural mountain communities and the visiting doctors spend long days relieving the nightmare of pain that many have been forced to endure. The doctors donate their time, and bring medicine with them. However, there is still a need for funds to pay for operations like those needed by Odillia.

Stoves: The average Guatemalan family relies on wood to cook their meals. Cooking with homemade wood burning stoves presents numerous challenges. The stoves are not efficient, so the women of the household must spend many hours each week searching for wood. The rudimentary design of the stoves causes the adobe huts of the Guatemalans to fill with dense smoke whenever they are put into use. The women who use the stoves for cooking, as well as the young children in their care, spend the better part of the day inhaling the smoke filled air. As a result, a large percentage of these women and children are afflicted with severe respiratory problems.

Using simple designs proven in successful trials, the Wells of Hope Group has begun to subsidize the construction of wood efficient, smokeless stoves. The stoves are constructed using local materials that are readily available. Under the direction of Wells of Hope, local masons have been taught to build the stoves. These masons are then hired by the Wells of Hope Group to construct stoves for families who have been sponsored through the generosity of Wells of Hope supporters.

To learn more about this group, please visit their website. To read about a group of volunteers preparing to visit Wells of Hope, click here.

Profile: Project C.U.R.E.

One day, one hospital, one patient at a time, PROJECT C.U.R.E. is changing the world!

PROJECT C.U.R.E. (Commission on Urgent Relief & Equipment) was founded in 1987 to help meet the need for medical supplies, equipment and services around the world. PROJECT C.U.R.E. builds sustainable healthcare infrastructure by providing the medical supplies and equipment that medical personnel need to deliver healthcare to their communities. Since its inception, PROJECT C.U.R.E. has delivered medical relief to needy people in more than 120 countries.

Programs: PROJECT C.U.R.E.’s unique programs are designed to help meet the needs for medical supplies and equipment and medical services in developing nations around the world.

PROCURE: PROJECT C.U.R.E. collects donations of new and overstock medical supplies and working equipment from medical manufacturers, wholesale suppliers, hospitals and clinics. PROJECT C.U.R.E. volunteers sort supplies and test equipment in preparation for delivery to hospitals and clinics around the world.
CORPS: PROJECT C.U.R.E.’s CORPS involves volunteer individuals and groups in the local “hands-on” mission of changing their world. There is no such thing as “just a volunteer” at PROJECT C.U.R.E.
CARGO: Through its CARGO container projects, PROJECT C.U.R.E. delivers donated medical supplies and equipment to hospitals and clinics in countries around the world. Containers are approximately the size of a semi-truck trailer. An average CARGO container provides approximately $400,000 (wholesale) in donated medical equipment and supplies.
KITS: C.U.R.E. KITS are specially prepared boxes containing essential medical supplies and instruments to be carried as luggage on an international flight. C.U.R.E. KITS are designed to meet the needs for short-term medical missions abroad and can be shipped directly to the traveler’s home.
Kits for Kids: An exciting, educational and hands-on project for community groups, students, and families to get involved in Project C.U.R.E.’s mission of “Delivering Health and Hope to the World,” C.U.R.E. Kits for Kids provide home healthcare supplies to parents of children ages zero to 15.
CLINICS: Through C.U.R.E. CLINICS, groups of volunteer medical professionals travel internationally to PROJECT C.U.R.E. recipient sites where they assist in-country doctors and nurses in providing medical services to people in need. From November 27 – December 10, 2010, Project C.U.R.E. will send a medical team to Clinica San Juanerita, located in San Juan La Laguna, Solola District. The local sponsors request that the team work side by side with the local doctor and nurse practitioner and provide health instruction to the community. The team will also travel across Lake Atitlan to El Hospitalito in Santiago for several days to provide general patient care.

To learn more about PROJECT C.U.R.E., please visit their website.

Update: Children of the Americas January 2010 Surgical Trip

cota Children of the Americas has returned from their annual medical /surgical trip to Guatemala. While in Retalhuleu from January 16-22, COTA donated 128 general, orthopedic, obstetrical and plastic surgeries to the citizens of this western coastal region.

Over 1,400 women and children were seen in our medical clinic and all patients received donated pharmaceuticals from the COTA pharmacy. In addition to the above services, the orthotic and prosthetic team distributed walkers, wheelchairs and crutches to patients who were screened for these particular needs. The COTA dental team cared for 134 patients during our visit.

One hundred volunteer medical and support staff members traveled from 16 different cities in the U.S. to travel with Children of the Americas for the 2010 team.

To learn more about this group, please visit their website.

Here is a sampling of photos from their trip:

Profile: Cascade Medical Team

cmtlogo The Cascade Medical Team (CMT) is a 501 (c) (3) organization headquartered in Eugene, Oregon. Since 2002, in conjunction with its parent organization, HELPS International, as well as PeaceHealth, and McKenzie Willamette Hospital, CMT has provided free medical care to the Mayan people of the highlands of Guatemala.

Once a year, CMT takes a team of volunteer doctors, nurses, dentists, allied health professionals and support staff to Guatemala to perform general surgery, gynecological procedures, eye and dental care. CMT also takes a construction team that installs efficient ONIL wood burning stoves in Guatemalan homes. As of 2009, the construction team is also installing HELPS Gravity Water Filters, an inexpensive in-home purification system.

CMT’s yearly mission is housed at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala Altiplano, located just outside the city of Solola. This college campus provides the team with facilities for a small hospital and clinic, dormitories for men and women and a gymnasium that is used for meals and general meetings. While the setting is beautifully situated on a plateau overlooking Lake Atitlan in the highlands of central-western Guatemala, it is a region of extreme poverty. During each year’s week-long medical mission, people come from many miles around, usually by bus or on foot, seeking medical attention.

Members of the CMT team pay their own way to and from Guatemala, including expenses for food, lodging and transportation. However, CMT must raise the funds for all costs associated with the medical supplies and equipment.

CMT’s ninth Guatemalan mission begins on Saturday, February 20, 2010 and ends on Wednesday, March 3, 2010.

To learn more about CMT, please visit their website.

Profile: Partners in Development

Serving the Poorest of Poor in Developing Countries

Partners in Development, Inc. (PID) strives to help the extreme poor attain independence and whole life improvement. PID combines a variety of programs to achieve community transformation in places where hope is often lost in the cycle of poverty. Through child sponsorships, small business loans, housing opportunities and medical care they aim to transform communities so they can be self-sufficient. Their work is currently focused in the neediest sections of the Caribbean and Central America.

Partners In Development, Inc. (PID) was founded in 1990 by James and Gale Hull of Ipswich, Massachusetts as a Christian service organization committed to the education and economic advancement of the developing world. PID works in direct partnership with those living in extreme poverty (those living on less than $1 per person per day) through their national overseas staff in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and Mazatenango, Guatemala. PID provides material, financial, and educational resources, which enables the poor to construct and implement their own programs for development.

PID began its mission by offering a child sponsorship program. It has expanded from sponsoring a dozen children, when the program first began, to sending hundreds of children to school.
Families who had children in the sponsorship program reported they needed help finding work. The result was their Small Business Loan Program, which lends participants capital to start or further develop a business. PID has provided over 450 Small Business Loans.
Squalor living conditions prompted the beginning of the Housing Program. The Housing Program moves families from inadequate housing to sturdy homes with bathroom facilities, clean water and a yard.
In an effort to provide whole life improvement a Medical Program was established in 2003 to provide basic medical treatment, preventive care, and health education services.

PID hosts work trips to Haiti and Guatemala throughout the year. Trip attendees can learn how to build a house by hand at building site and health professionals can volunteer their services to families in their programs.

Medical Program:

A productive community is a healthy one. Their medical program addresses the basic medical needs of the communities in which they serve. Their primary health care for program participants includes:

Documentation of health
Vaccinations
Yearly physical exams
Eye exams
Dental checkups
Dental treatments and sick visits
Medications
Training and proper use of medication
Vitamin and nutritional therapy
Physical therapy

(PID does not treat TB, AIDS, HIV or cancer.)

Some of the educational issues they address are pregnancy, nursing, child care, nutrition, family planning, AIDS prevention, high blood pressure and diabetes. They encourage all medical and dental professionals to share their skills and join PID on a work trip!

PID’s tentative 2010 trip schedule is as follows. Please visit their website for the latest information.

February 11-18, Guatemala
March – March 7-14, Guatemala (Governor’s Academy)
March 20-27, Guatemala
March 27-April 4, Haiti (Rhode Island School of Design)
April 17-24, Haiti
May 19-26, Guatemala
June 14/15-22, Guatemala
June 23-30, Haiti
June 23-30, Guatemala
Intern programs – July/August
July 28-August 4, Guatemala
November 4-11, Guatemala
December 3-10, Haiti

All dates are subject to change depending on group requirements. Other dates can be arranged for groups of 10 or more people wishing to have their own team.

To learn more about PID, please visit their website. To read about PID’s response to the Haitian earthquake, please see this article.

Profile: Clínica Dental / Río Dulce – UPDATED

This project, run jointly by the Anacortes (Washington) Rotary Club and Club Rotario de la Asunción of Guatemala, began in the early 1990’s and provides year-round dental service to very poor Queqchi Mayan people living in remote areas of eastern Guatemala. Volunteers serve for a minimum of ten days (although the group prefers a longer period because of the great distance to travel from Guatemala City), spending one day at the base clinic; and four days traveling to surrounding areas – setting up in local health centers, schools, churches and homes. The goal is to increase dental health knowledge and provide basic exams, fillings, extractions, and restorations. The program emphasizes a school-based program, but still includes many adults in their outreach.

Volunteers should speak English or Spanish. The volunteer must pay their own travel expenses and hotels in transit. Once at the project, their housing and basic food is provided (volunteers live in a house at the Catholic mission, San Antonio of Padua, 20 KM north of Rio Dulce), as is assistance in coordinating licenses with government and making visa arrangements.

For more information, please visit the project website page. For details about volunteering, please contact Dr. Von and Betty Kuehn, vonbetty@comcast.net, or 360/293-6006.

Profile: Dentistry For All

Dentistry For All is a non-profit, 100% volunteer-run and supported organization whose members are dedicated to providing dental education, preventative, surgical and restorative care to the poor in numerous developing communities around the world. All dental volunteers cover the cost of their own travel, while fundraising assists in purchase of necessary equipment and supplies, volunteer sponsorships and other expenses related to the trip.

Over the years, DFA has formed relationships and partnerships with regional development organizations, local NGOs, dental organizations, university programs and countless dental equipment and supply companies, in order to continue to maintain and provide the highest quality of care to those whom they provide dental treatment to.

Dentistry For All recruits and requires volunteers from all walks of life – their efforts are focused on providing the much needed dental care in the poor regions of Guatemala and Nicaragua. However, it takes more than just dentists to form a successful team. A successful mission involves efforts made on many levels – and crosses countless skill sets. Several areas, behind the scenes and along the trip itself, require volunteers to put all the pieces together.

Over the past 15 years, Dentistry For All has seen over 12,000 patients. On February 18th they will be leaving for Guatemala for five weeks and working in four different communities: Comitancillo (San Marcos), Pastores (Sacatepéquez), areas around Guatemala City, and El Remate (El Peten). The Guatemala trip will involve groups averaging 16 people per week – comprised of dentists, assistants, sterilizers and other support volunteers.

To learn more about Dentistry For All, please visit their website (still under development).

Profile: The Shalom Foundation

The Shalom Foundation is dedicated to providing humanitarian assistance and financial support to underprivileged children and their families with a focus on Christian values and service. The Shalom Foundation is supported through contributions from private citizens, businesses, churches and foundations.

The Medical Program: The Medical Program is one of The Shalom Foundation’s most important outreach efforts serving children from across Guatemala and changing their lives forever. With the purchase and future opening of the Shalom Surgery Center - The Moore Center for Children’s Health — in Zone 1 of Guatemala City, The Shalom Foundation will impact thousands of lives through these efforts. A number of excellent organizations such as the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, Batten & Shaw Inc., Project Cure, AmSurg, Rock City Mechanical, Vanderbilt University, Rotary International and Belmont University currently collaborate and support this program with their time, donation, talents and expertise.

The goal of Shalom’s Medical Program is to improve the lives of children through better health care, improved access to medical treatment and health education. The program includes facilitating surgical mission trips with doctors from varied specialty groups. Since 2005, The Shalom Foundation and Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt have sent surgical teams to Guatemala City to serve the children there.

These specialized surgery teams will provide operations that are financially and socially out of reach for acutely poor children. Medical teams will also provide dental care and education for children and their families teaching communities how to better care for their on-going health needs. The Shalom Foundation will partner with other organizations with similar goals such as Children’s Hospitals across the United States, members of the medical community, humanitarian aid organizations, non-profit agencies, universities and other NGO’s

Housing: Shalom Foundation volunteers travel to Guatemala to provide construction assistance to families and children living in desperate conditions. Since 1996, generous individuals and organizations have helped build a school, a church and more than 70 safe, sound homes for dedicated Christian families suffering in devastating poverty. In 2009, Construction Initiative volunteers will travel to build new homes for families providing a light in their neighborhoods. Shalom volunteers will also assist with the renovation of their medical facility in Guatemala City.

Some housing volunteers will help build homes from the ground up, while others focus on much needed repairs and community outreach including health clinics and other community-building efforts. Opportunities are plentiful and impact families for generations.

The Housing Program is expanding to help provide for homeless children and their moms living in the Greater Nashville, TN area. This will also be a collaborative effort with Shalom working together with experienced service providers and the local church community.

Education: Sponsors make it possible for children to attend Shalom School and receive a quality education by providing tuition they otherwise could not afford. These children will develop necessary skills and important values which will enable them to become compassionate leaders in their communities. Volunteers traveling with Shalom Foundation to Guatemala City will visit the school and can meet the students sponsored by this important program.

Shalom School is a ministry of Shalom Church in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It is accredited by the Guatemalan government through the Ministry of Education and teaches a Christian-based curriculum. It offers classes from pre-k through the senior level of high school. The ministries of Shalom Church and Shalom School are touching people in the local community, the country and around the world.

Nutrition: The Shalom Foundation has embarked on ambitious efforts to provide meals for students attending Shalom School. When as many as half of the children enrolled at Shalom School were diagnosed as malnourished and had difficulty learning under these adverse conditions, The Shalom Foundation created the “Food for Thought” Nutrition Program. Phase I of the Nutrition Program included the purchase and installation of commercial kitchen equipment at Shalom School providing the facilities required for daily food preparation. This goal was realized in October 2003 with the opening of the Food for Thought Commercial Kitchen. Phase II of the program included securing the necessary food items to provide daily meals for these children. This effort was immediately launched and continues to be a critical need throughout the school year.

Today, the Food for Thought Program feeds approximately 367 malnourished children. On average, 95% of the children in the program reach their normal height and weight within their first year in the program. This program will expand to include Clean Water projects in conjunction with Living Waters for the World and Rotary. This will bring clean water to thousands impacting more lives than ever before and helping alleviate water-related illness.

Shalom Foundation’s next surgery trip will be to Guatemala City in February of 2010. Click here for that trip’s details. To learn more about The Shalom Foundation, please visit their website.

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