Our October-November US team had to delay their trip for a couple weeks as political unrest in the country had closed most of the roads in Guatemala for the majority of October. In August Bernardo Arevalo was elected future president of Guatemala. However the current president contested that the election was not fair and threatened to not allow Arevalo to take office (which he is set to do in January 2024). This caused much anger throughout the country and mass protests and road blockades ensued. While there is still much unrest, most of the protests have moved now to Guatemala City and the roads are now open. Thus our team made it in to Camotan in early November instead of early October.
As you can see we had very muddy and rainy conditions. November is quite late for there to be so much rain. Usually it is dry season in Camotan from October to April. But all residents will tell you that there has been a real change in the past 10-15 years in the seasons in Central America. This November trip was evidence of that. The rains were so torrential that our teams struggled to make it to the remote villages above Camotan. However they did make it. The aldeas (villages) of Tular, Nearar and Tisipe all were able to receive care from the team despite the weather.
Dr. Jeffrey Meija our current medical resident working in Tular
Each of our trips is always a time of togetherness with our clinic staff. Our US teams love to spend time with our staff. We eat together, work together and do the important work of caring for patients together. And because we have Guatemalan medical residents who staff our clinic, our doctors from the US are able to teach them. It is an exciting part of our work in Guatemala: doctors and providers from the US working alongside Guatemalan physicians, collaborating and learning together. It is a wonderful experience for both us and them.
A young patient and his mother are cared for in Nearar
We were fortunate to have a photographer and videographer come along on our November trip. Michael Stahl was able to capture many pictures (like the one above) and videos. Many of these will be on display at our 3rd annual Fundraiser on December 8th in Denver, Colorado. A great picture Michael captured was the restaurant across from Camotan Clinic. Each day our staff eats there for lunch. And for our US teams it is a highlight of each work day to have authentic Guatemalan food. See the picture below of the ladies working in this restaurant’s kitchen. Believe us when we say the food is excellent!
So thank you again for reading! We have our 3rd annual fundraiser December 8th at the SpaceGallery Art Museum in Denver, Colorado. If you want more details or would like to come please visit our Evite invitation:
See you there!