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.

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\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.

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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.

Wednesday April 14th - First full day of the clinic

This is Wednesday our first full day of the clinic.

Our hotel is on the outskirts of Xela and it operates as a training centre for various trades and other educational groups.

We get up each morning and meet for breakfast at 6:45 a.m. so we can be outside waiting for the vans to pick us up at 7:30 Guatemala time - which usually translates into 8:00 a.m.

We chat while we're waiting and watch the field workers planting the potato crop. They do everything by hand and it's amazing what they get done between when we leave in the morning and return in the early evening.

It takes us about a 1.75 hours drive to get to the village. We start from the outskirts of the City then travel into the Xela through the winding streets most of which as just wide enough for two cars. The surface of the roads is very inconsistent – from smooth pavement to no pavement, no garvel and a sea of potholes and mud – they make Wilson Street in Perth look like a new super highway. The terraced fields are magnificent and one can't help but wonder what it is like working on fields on such steep slopes.

Once we get out of the City it’s about 10 km to one of the outlying Towns and then we start the long climb up the mountains. Switchbacks are the order of the day, this is a new highway however the drivers are careful as there are many tight curves that take gearing down to get around them safely. 

At mile sign 171 kM we leave the highway to start down the bumpy, windy road to the village. 

Both days there were people waiting for us at the highway who had arranged rides with us. Once they are on board and we leave it’s a bit like entering another world with the narrow roads and the looks to infinity over the banks at the slide of the road.

One section of road is quite new and the surface is mostly soil and not gravel which make for rather smooth going, Add a little rain and you've got "no-going" which is what happened to us today, "How many Rotarians does it take to push two vans up a greasy hill" you ask? Luckily with a few pine boughs on the road and a good run at it both vans were able to make it to the top of this hill much to the relief of those Rotarians!

People were waiting for us to arrive in the village and not long after we got there people of all ages started to gather in front of the clinic.

This 77 year old man in his native dress seems to be very pleased with his new spectacles. Today we saw over 60 patients and Dr. Carl gave the Team a seal of approval as our plan was 48 or one patient every 10 minutes. Our goal isn't really how many we get though it's doing a good job with them and trying to be efficient at the same time.

This village is literally in the clouds and we watched the mist move in through the open door. This made things rather chilly at times, so chilly in fact that Sue and Barbara had to do a little jib to try and warm up.

On the way back in the van the clouds or fog was so thick it reminded us of the blinding snow storms back home.

Stay tuned for more adventures tomorrow......

Tuesday - Practice Clinic Day

Tuesday was our day to get to the village and set up for a test run of our clinic.

We started out with a visit to the school where we were welcomed with speeches thanking the Rotarians for the new furniture and whiteboards that we provided.
In this picture Pat Batchelor is reviewing some of the schoolwork that the children have worked on.

Here's some of the smiling faces of the children standing in front of their new white board. The only thing that the kids like more than having their pictures taken is seeing the picture after it is taken on the digital camera.

When we arrived at the village there were speeches welcoming us by the village leaders and introductions of the Team.

Then we got busy sorting through the big suitcases that had completed their long journey from Ontario with the glasses, medicine and equipment that we needed for our clinic.

Barbara Whitehouse is conducting the basic acuity test with Basilio Chay. Basilio is one of our four translators and we put all of them through the process so that they can provide first hand information to the people who will be going through our 7 days of clinics.

Susan Geoffreon is at the other end of the classroom pointing to the letters on the chart.
At lot of our patients were seeing 20/30 which means they see at 20' what the average person can see at 30'.

Here Pat Batchelor administers putting drops in Basilio Chay's eyes to dilate them for testing. It take about 15 minutes for the eyes to become fully dilated.

While we're waiting for the 15 minutes to go by Barb Gutherie oversees a basic health check. First Barb takes their blood pressure.

Then Sue Landry takes and checks a blood sample to see if there are any concerns about diabetes.

Steve Brown is using the autorefractor to determine the strength of lenses that the patient may need. Dr. Carl uses this information as part of the diagnosis to finalize the prescription for any corrective lenses required.

Here Dr. Carl Whitehouse examines the inside of Salone Huinac's eye and then prescribes the type of glasses if they are needed.

After the glasses have been selected from the 2600 odd pairs we have brought with us Janet Batchelor fits them to the patient and has them do a quick test to see how they work.




Tomorrow we return for our first full day of testing.

Stay tuned for an update........

Monday in Antigua - Day 1

This was out first full day in Guatemala.

People got up early and made their way to the roof-top of our hotel to enjoy the views and sounds of Antigua.

After breakfast we went on a walking tour of the Antigua and made a long climb up to the cross that overlooks the City.

This City has a lot of history with many derelict building that are left over from various earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural disasters.

After our tour we loaded up the two vans that had come all the way from Xela that morning and we made the 5 hour return trip to our new base. The Team was glad to have arrived and start to get settled.

Here we are in Antigua