Back home in Canada

Friday morning we got up at 3:30 a.m. and boarded our shuttle to the airport in Guatemala City at 4:00.
Things were very misty and our flight was delayed about an hour. Other than the delay everything went fine with our departure.

We said "Good-bye" to the beautiful hills, mountains and volcanos of Guatemala and made our way to Mexico City and then on to Toronto.

We arrived in Toronto about 8:30 and went back to the hotel where we had stayed before we left, to pick up our cars. Some headed back to Perth and some team members stayed over in Toronto.

We said our "farewells" in the lobby of the hotel. Having shared this very special time together the friendships and bonds that we have made during this great adventure will be life-long.

We arrived in Antigua

Here we are at lunch in Antigua - this is like a world away from where we were earlier today. We enjoyed a late lunch with Clara, Utzil and Hose as our guests.
Tomorrow we get up and leave the hotel at 4:30 a.m. to catch our 6:30 plane from Guatemala to Mexico and then on to Toronto

Final numbers 470 / 240

Today was the final day at the clinic - our final numbers draft numbers are 470 patients seen and 240 pairs of glasses dispensed - we felt good about what we have accomplished.
In this picture you will see some varied dress that spans traditional to modern, we saw just about every kind of dress over the 6 days of clinics.





Here Barbara Whitehouse is doing the basic acuity test on this young man who turned out to be mostly blind in one eye. Some cases we could refer them for surgery and others like this one we couldn't.

This is one of the final views of the hills around the school. The horse in the horizon has been grazing this hill all week.

Janet Batchelor is testing this man's new glasses. It was always fun watching the look on their faces as they see things come into focus that haven't been that way for sometime.

We saw about 80 plus people at the clinic today. There was a higher percentage of glasses and referrals today for some reason.

Here are two women that span several generations who have received

examinations and medication that should make a difference to them.

When the day was over there were some speeches and thank yous from the local village from the villages that traveled to the clinic.
In this picture a representative from Chuicutama presented a very special ceremonial shirt to Barbara Whitehouse and then a scarf to Carl.

What a handsome couple they are decked out in their new finery.

After we had packed up and left the village Clara had arranged to take us to a school in Cantel to here are special school band play for us. This band has been together for about a year and a half now. Their instrument were a gift made by Chris and Bill Hale in honor of son's and daughter-in-law's wedding in July 2008. Michael and Melissa are very supportive of the work done in Guatemala and have been part of several projects and have also travelled to Xela where Melissa worked with Clara as an intern. It was very touching to hear the young people play - when we get home to a faster internet connection I'll try and put up a video so you can see and hear some of their concert.

This school has some strong links to Canada as the money to build it was raised by Canadians. In this picture you see the school leaders, Oscar the teacher, Clara Colop who is our coordinator and who makes all of this possible and works so very very hard, and Chris and I. Their school flag is made from the colours and shape of the Canadian flag in recognition of the bonds that they have with Canada.

And lastly before I sign off for tonight and possibly until we get home here is a picture of one of the people we were able to help. This sweet girl's smile says it all and this is why we want to again thank all those who helped us to make this trip possible with the donations of supplies and equipment. Thanks as well go to my fellow team members for their time efforts, good humor and sacrifices and to their families for letting them spend the time here. Special thanks to Dr. Carl Whitehouse, Barbara Gutherie and Janet Batchelor all who we could not have done this without and to David and Pat Batchelor who did an amazing job on the logistics letting alone being our Perth headquarters for putting together the glasses and other supplies.

Tomorrow we will disperse the remaining medications to a local clinic and then travel back to Antiqua to catch our flight home on Friday.

One last van ride, one last dilemma for the group to consider - "What's better - diesel fumes or dust?"

Tuesday -April 20th - Chuicutama

Today was a good day, we saw more than 80 patients and got through about 3:30 which was in time to get back to Al Refugio before 5:00 p.m. Our hopes were up that the chocolate store on the premises would be open so we could have a treat of some hot chocolate but no luck it was closed.

The school in the village consists of a three classroom building and a one classroom building. Only the one room building seems to be in use and we aren't sure why, perhaps there is a lack of teachers.

This is the registration desk which we keep outside of the clinic room to reduce congestion and confusion. The door way is always crowded as there are lots of on-lookers taking peeks at what is going on inside.

This 81 year old gentleman shook the hands of the volunteers as he went through the clinic and gave us a blessing of some sort. I'm not sure if he was a cleric or not.

There were lots of children through today and most were in pretty good shape although most could have used a good bath. Some of their hands and faces were quite dirty although it seemed that the ones with scabbies were some of the cleanest ones. We do hand out soap to each family along with the tooth brushes and paste. We hope that the bit of training they receive at the clinic will be enough to make good and proper use of these supplies.

We had our normal sandwiches for lunch on the run while others set up a more traditional lunch out side for themselves.

Notice the load that this women in the foreground and the men in the background are carrying. It is common to see people walking on the roads, through the fields or up in the hills with heavy loads on their backs.

As the clinic was winding down some of us went up to the village to see this woman weaving on her back-strap loom. The detail in her work was incredible and it gave us an appreciation for the time and skill that it takes to produce the many beautiful fabrics that we saw on people in the clinic. Most of this work is for their own use we were told.





When I asked whether they had cooking stoves we were shown this stove and they commented that it wasn't large enough for large families which I suspect is the norm. While this didn't have the large plancha that the stoves that I have seen and built with the Guatemala Stove Project I was relieved to see a chimney to direct the smoke to the outside.

Last thing we did before we left for home was to take a team picture with the volunteers (Rotarians, friends of Rotary and Megile who is from Panimaguim and stayed with us all week), translators, Clara and Ushime and our drivers.The only person missing was Chris Hale who stayed back at Al Refugio today to recover from a cold.



Tomorrow is our last day at this village and the last day of the clinic. We are told that there is going to be a surprise in the afternoon and we're to wear something nice. That's a bit of a challenge given our working conditions and the limited wardrobes that we have.

Tomorrow I'll report on the surprise... stay tuned.

Today started out as normal with breakfast at 6:45 a.m. and then we gathered to meet the vans at 7:30.
The workers had already been in the field beside the hotel for some time planting their potatoes.

On our trip up the mountains we stopped very briefly to take some pictures of the volcano that was in the distance.

There was a minor washout on the road near the school in Chuicutama. This is the next village that we are working in so we walked the last little way. Later the road was temporarily repaired so the vans could get right to the school which was nice as that meant we didn't have to lug all our heavy cases too far. We got set up and were running within about 15 minutes of arriving.

We strive to get the eye drops in a few patients as soon as possible as we can't finish our testing until they have be dilated for at least 30 minutes.

This beautiful school was built after hurricane Stan by CARE. The views from the front of the school are of the fields rising up into the hills.  Today, just about every where you looked, you could see either and animal grazing or someone working a field way up on the steep slopes.

This person was coming back from gather fuel - mostly sticks that they will use for their cooking fire. They have a long way to carry the heavy load that is on their back.

Here's Cr. Carl and Cano doing their warm-up exercises. Actually Carl is showing Cano what he could do to try and stretch out some of his sore mussels from a soccer game that he had yesterday.

Today we saw 94 patients which is a record for us. We're really "in the grove" as far as efficiently processing people and giving them that extra little bit of attention and care that we feel they cherish.
Our work is bitter sweet. We're so happy when we see someone that we can help. On the other hand it is heartbreaking when we come across someone who we can not help. The 13 year old young women with the sun glasses on was one of the heart breakers. She was diagnosed with practically no vision, her retinas were destroyed likely by parasites and there was nothing we could do to help her, she is essentially blind. Dr. Carl will try and refer her to an agency for the blind if one can be found. For the many others who we are able to help with glasses, medicines and other treatments the smiles on their faces is reward enough for us. We received some very good news that some Doctors will be coming for a surgical clinic in May and they should be able to see our cataract referrals which is amazing that they will be getting this treatment so soon. 

Tomorrow and Wednesday will be busy days at the clinic as we try and see as many patients as we can in the final 2 days.

My apologies for the typos

I want to apologize for the typos in the blog. There just isn't enough time in the day - actually it's usually late in the evening, to get the pictures and material into the blog, do all the editing and proofing. Tonight the team wanted to see the blog and as I was going over it with them we discovered several typos that need to be corrected. I hope to be able to do that some time but feel that the limited time I have is better spent posting so that our followers can keep up to date.

Thanks for your understanding. / Bill

Sunday's adventure

Some of us woke up to the shaking of the building today - it  was a 5.6 earthquake. We thought this was quite something and then a quick google check told us that there were 3 quakes in Guatemala in the last 24 hours. There was no mention of this at breakfast so we're now concluding that this is not that abnormal.
We're off the the market in Chi Chi today and I hope to be able to update the blogs later tonight.
This is what some of the houses along the highway look like.

 

 The flowers and fruit at the local road side stands are magnificent.









 The road to Chi Chi is very, very windy and steep at places. The switchbacks are amazing with the van having to make some very sharp turns - you can't find roads like this in Canada as they would be lethal in icy conditions. We did see a few spot where vehicle had failed to navigate the corners evidenced by missing and mangled guard rails.

Once in the market at Chi Chi we saw people bartering with live foul. Here the negotiation is going on to trade a chicken for some corn. The shop keeper is weighing and checking this chicken out. After she tool some corn from one of the sacks and fed it to the chicken. The lady at the right who was hoping to barter the chicken then wrapped it up in her wrap and continued on her way.

The market is a very busy and crowded place with both store or booths on the side and vendors walking in the street who if they can catch your eye and think that have even a slight possibility of a sale will follow you for blocks trying to get you to barter for their goods.

The weather today was magnificent and the country side is incredible.

When we got back to Al Rufugio we had some vino tinto and cerveza before dinner.

Tomorrow we're off to our next village.

Saturday - visit to the coffee plantation

HHere we are at the coffee plantation which is much more than that and has a very interesting story.

Not too many years ago this plantation went bankrupt and was eventually bought by a group of employees with some help from some organizations.

The employees diversified and have been quite successful. They now grow macodenia nuts which the harvest year around and whose slower season is October to January when the coffee is being harvested. They have also taken advantages of the four springs on their land and bottle and sell about 300 large bottles of spring water each day. Their forth business area is bamboo  - they make furniture and crafts to sell to the tourists.

All along our travels we see pickup trucks with people and other things packed in the back.

We went to Clara's house right after the visit to the plantation as she lives on that side of Xela and it didn't make sense to go all the way back through Xela and then have to return to her place where we were invited for dinner.

We were welcomed into her 'Friendship house and were honored to meet her family and the families of our translators. There were speeches and presentations of gifts to each of us. She has a very loving and compassionate family and we were touched by their hospitality and overwhelmed by their kind words for the work that we were doing on this mission as well as the other many projects that they wanted to thank us for.

Ev

\FRIDAY - Every day is an adventure

We saw more than 80 patients today.
When we arrived  there were people waiting for us who had walked 4-5 hours from another village, starting out in the dark, to come to the clinic.

Our vans left immediately to make the 1.5 hour drive to another village to bring some 40 plus people for the examinations.

We gave out soap, tooth brushes and paste to each family. Everyone got a banana as many people hadn't eaten in hours nor would they eat again for quite some time as their return trips home would take many hours.

Our excitement for the day was the weather, In the afternoon it rained very hard and we got a report that the vans we stuck on the road and were not sure they would be able to make it to the village. We had thoughts about what it would be like to stay in the village for the night and how everyone, including the villagers would manage.

As fas as it had clouded over and rained, the weather cleared up, the sun came out and things started to dry. We were optimistic that we would get back to Xela tonight.

These two boys mugged for the camera with this magnificent view behind them.

At

At the end of the day before we left the village there were presentations and speeches.
In this picture Manual thanks the Rotarians for the help that has been provided to the indigenous people

We packed up all our equipment and then had to carry it to the other end of the village as this was the only road that was accessible after all the rain.

We were entertained by our resident turkey whisperer Sue who called these birds from across the field and they "came a running". The talents that our team members have never ceases to amaze us.

Thursday April 15th - More than 60 patients today

Today's blog will be mostly pictures from the village.

Here is a drip irrigation system in use. This simple but ingenious system of a bucket and some piping provide the opportunity to irrigate a garden with one bucket of water a day as there us much less evaporation and the water goes directly to the plant. These systems were brought to the village last fall by Carl Whitehouse and Melissa Ekdom-Delorrne when the came to Guatemala on a recognizance visit last fall.

This is Chris Hale and a local standing by one of the new green houses that are under construction. These help extend the growing season which is so very important for their food supply and livelihoods.

Overhead of this group you will see some piping which is part of the Ryan's Wells project. Pure fresh water is being brought to the village from the top of a near by hill ( a VERY LARGE HILL) through a series of pipes. When Chris Hale asked to see the source of the water a contingent of the villagers were only too pleased to make the long trek up the hill. They are so very pleased and proud of their new water system.

Each house now has an outdoor sink and running water.

This not only provides safe water for them to drink it saves many hours of travel to get water by the bucket from local streams.












We were invited out to lunch at one of the local houses and the group made their way through the mist as the cloud often envelope the village any time after 11 in the morning.

We were offered a nice lunch which included a boiled egg, some beans and fresh hot tortillas.

On the way back from lunch I stopped in to have a look at one of the stove that the Guatemala Stove Project built in the village.

We also visited with this little girl who is being held by her Mom. This sweet thing had a hole in her heart and it was surgically repaired thanks to the generous donation by one of our wonderful sponsors. Clara, who is on the left explained that before the operation this little girl hardly had the energy to walk. Now she's running around just like the other kids - amazing and so very touching.





Here's a peak inside the local church. Note the huge sound system, we're not sure how they powered it as there is no electricity in the village - perhaps the have a generator somewhere they are able to borrow or they run a very long extension cord to the neighbouring village.

This picture is of the villagers that were waiting outside the clinic when we returned from lunch.


We completed about 60+ more patients today with about 25% getting glasses, some referals for cataract surgeries and dispensing of medicines. Each family received a hygiene pack with soap tooth brushes, paste and some bananas.
We ran out of cream for scabies, we though we had lots but there were several large families (one with 7 kids) who needed treatment. One of our Rotarians donated $200 on the spot so that more cream could be purchased so any who needed it tomorrow would have some. And that's how it goes, the generosity of those who helped us get this far has been amazing and the dedication and generosity of our volunteers is overwhelming.

Tomorrow is our last day at this village and Monday we move to a second one.

This last picture is near our hotel and shows the rain which was just teaming down. I wonder what this will do to the roads into the village that we will be driving on tomorrow morning? 

Stay tuned for more - thanks to those who have provided comments and word of encouragement.