April 5--A Trip to the Coast

Today we went with Dick Rutgers out to one of the villages near the coast to pick up Julio's mom to visit him in the malnutrition ward of Hermano Pedro. I've been to this part of the country before, but was interested to see what Laura, Brianna and Cameron would think of the experience.

Much of the drive is on highway, though the highway experience in Guatemala is much different from the US. I think Dick only has about 2 new cracks in his dashboard from where I grabbed on when things got exciting. The back roads, however, continue to be my favorite (especially since I'm not the one driving) and I loved it as we drove past miles and miles of sugar cane, seldom meeting another vehicle.

On our way we stopped at the clinic at La Gomera to visit Dr. Jose. He is a Cuban doctor who came to Guatemala as part of a government program and fell in love with the people and stayed, even though he has not been able to bring his own family from Cuba. He sees about 70 patients on most days, but always takes time to visit when we come. In fact, I think he is just as patient and relax with every person he sees. He runs his clinic on a "shoe-string" (a very THIN shoe-string) but gives quality care to all who need it. Dr. Jose has a great deal of respect for Dick and the work he does (Dick feels the same about him), and took time to lecture Dick on making sure he is taking care of himself as he does his ministry. The doctor mentioned he could use a new sphygmomanometer (blood pressure device) and shared that he was totally out of vitamins for his patients. Vine International provides many of his vitamins, but he said he never has enough given the number of children he sees. Considering the great need we saw, his requests were incredibly simple.

Our next stop was the grocery store where Dick bought food to take to two of the families for whom Bethel Ministries has built new homes. Each of these families receives a food donation monthly through a sponsor working with Bethel Ministries. This month, we had the privilege of delivering the food ourselves. Both families live in extreme poverty, and the new homes (which would be considered nothing more than a garden shed to us in the States) dramatically improve their life-style. The food was warmly received by each family and it was humbling to have the small gift of basic food staples be so greatly appreciated. The difference this food makes to these folks is incredible, especially when you consider it costs not much more than what we would spend to take our families out to eat at a fast food restaurant. How much we take for granted.

Rosa's Old House

                             

             

Rosa's New House

We did visit for a while with Julio's family before leaving to return to Antigua. I discovered that not only did she have a seven month old daughter, Maria (who is too cute for words),  three of the children running around her yard were her grandchildren! They are with her much of the time due to the poor conditions in their own home.

Julio has returned recently to the malnutrition ward at Hermano Pedro after a short trial time at home, during which he lost a significant amount of weight. He quickly has regained weight, and Dick has many concerns about what will happen the next time he returns home. I talked with Momma about her plans for Julio, and she seems determined to bring him home again. You can see in her eyes how much she cares for him and misses him. What is uncertain is if she will be able to provide sufficient care for Julio to stay alive and well if he comes home again. Dick promises, though, that Julio’s condition will be closely monitored, and support will be provided to make sure he continues to stay well.

On the way back to Antigua, the young folks seemed unusually quiet. While they were worn out from the trip and the heat, they had much more on their minds. They had just experienced first- hand what it means to be poor, and now the “poor” had names and faces for them to take home in their hearts. This is hard for me, and I’ve been here so often before. I’m really proud of how they handled this experience. They faced overwhelming feelings during this trip, but this never interfered with their ability to reach out with compassion to those we visited.

Hermano Pedro was our first stop in Antigua. We got Momma registered to spend the night at Casa de Fe (a free hostel run by Faith in Action for parents of children receiving care at Hermano Pedro), and then took her up to see Julio. My teenagers didn’t mind a bit that Maria could not go into malnutrition, and they would have to “sacrifice” their time to watch her. The kids downstairs in the ward at Hermano Pedro really seemed to enjoy having a baby around for a while, and were remarkably gentle with her.

After dropping Momma off at Casa de Fe, we walked the short distance home. Dick suddenly didn’t either look or feel very well, and we decided we would take care of getting Momma back to Hermano Pedro in the morning. I think maybe our kids didn’t feel so well, either, though they were just experiencing the side effects of staying up WAY too late at night. They crashed immediately after returning home, and Mari and I weren’t able to wake them even for dinner. I do have some cute pictures of this, but value Cameron, Laura and Brianna’s friendship too much to post them!  Then, again, why not!

Mari and I were able to spend a nice, quiet evening eating supper by ourselves in the kitchen and just catching up on each other’s lives. As we chatted it seemed any stress from the day faded away, and I went to bed completely relaxed. I look forward to many more of these evenings with her after I moved down in June.