Jalapa « Link for Health

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: 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: Hijas

Hijas™ takes its name from the Spanish word for “daughters,” the demographic they seek to empower through a series of programs designed to provide both immediate and long-term relief. The residents of the Marta and Maria Orphanage in Jalapa, Guatemala come from various family situations, from girls who have lost both of their parents, to girls whose families can no longer financially support them, to girls who have been removed from abusive and potentially dangerous homes.

These girls, who can no longer depend on their families, must learn to depend on themselves. Their goal is to provide an education that allows them to develop the skills necessary to gain confidence, sustain an income and — most importantly — achieve independence. The approach that Hijas™ takes is twofold: first, to teach the girls the hands-on skills of sewing and jewelry making; second, to work with them to create and implement successful business models for selling their own products. By educating these young women at Marta and Maria, they intend to both give them the possibility of providing for their immediate needs of food and clean water, and help break the cycle of poverty and neglect into which they were born, providing for their futures.

The obstacles facing the girls at Marta and Maria are numerous. They confront both daily challenges such as obtaining nutritious food, clean water, and finding safe, reliable transportation to school, as well as the larger reality of widespread poverty. At Marta and Maria, the majority of the food — primarily rice and beans — is provided through donations. A few fresh vegetables are provided by a garden tended by the girls, and they get milk when the orphanage can afford it. Tortillas are made onsite for every meal in a small shack behind the dormitory. The balanced diet, so important to young girls, is made nearly impossible by the financial constraints under which Marta and Maria operates.

They traveled to Jalapa in July to focus on training a specific group of young women to become teachers for the sewing and jewelry projects. They will also be working with them to create and implement successful business models for selling their own products. To continue their goal of providing for the immediate needs of the orphanage, including healthy and safe food preparation and a safe place to play, members of the HEAR Foundation as well as other volunteers will be accompanying their team in November of 2009 to build a new playground and tortilla shed/kitchen for the orphanage.

To learn more about Hijas, please visit their website.

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Profile: Faith in Practice

Profile: Wells of Hope

Profile: Hijas

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