Katie

 July was a great month for us in Guatemala.  Katie from Humanitize Expeditions came to us twice.  First she brought a group of teenagers who did their part to effect change, while they experienced the 3rd world.  They helped out with our programs, did arts and crafts, visited the new villages and prepped for the next group by weighing kids and taking stats at the clinic.  They kept a great blog and each kid wrote about an experience--you should read it, the world through the eyes of a teenager is always a little more entertaining.

After a week the kids left and Katie returned with a medical team and they held clinics all week in Los Robles and in the other three villages where we have programs. (Again, they kept a very detailed blog.)  They had lines and lines and saw hundreds of people.  Here are a few highlights. 

 Below there are a few pictures from their trip to Maria del Carmen--they went twice (to make sure they got everyone and to see some that needed to be seen twice), they handed out hygiene kits and got stats on all the kids.  (I pulled the following from their blog) "We saw a total of 28 people by 3 PM (we arrived at 10 AM) and passed out 17 goody bags composed of vitamins and tums to people who were still waiting to be seen. An elderly man and his wife came in right as we were passing out vitamins; he was an 80 year old blind man who was so grateful when we gave him some anti-diarrhea pills. Unfortunately,  no matter how many people we saw, it didn’t seem like we did enough. It was frustrating to see the problems with their village and want to do more, but we couldn’t. As we were leaving with people surrounding our car, the tears started. Julie, Tristyn, and I had tears rolling down our faces".

On the way home from Maria del Carmen they stopped to see Lucia in Nueva Victoria.  Below is a picture of Lucia, she has a heart problem. The medical team ran some test on her including an echocardiograma. Now they have to do a "cateter test"--it was going to be done last week but they found a sever infection in her teeth, so they reschedule it for August 21st.  

She has to go back to Guatemala City for these test.

 

 

They also visited Nueva Victoria and Chutiestancia.

 

There was a mother's program in Chutiestancia, the stats are as following.

91 mothers attended.

We gave 234 pounds of incaparina for 117 children.

We gave formula to 21 kids.

We gave eggs to 9 pregnant women.

And we served 293 LUNCHES.

They also had lots of fun eating Dominga's yummy food, touring the neighboring town and enjoying the culture.  Thank you Katie and teams!  We are so grateful for you and all you did, you made a huge difference and we can't wait for you to come back.

(read it all at http://www.humanitizeexpeditions.blogspot.com/)

If you or someone you know if interested in a trip to Guatemala let us know.  We are set up for groups or individuals (medical or other types of service).  Our housing is safe and very affordable (and includes meals).  There is lots of fun tourist stuff to do nearby and most important there are amazing people to serve.