Jimena's Story: Medical Team from the Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota

Guest Blogger: Jimena

Jimena is a high school junior at Inter-American School in Xela, Guatemala. Jimena and four of her classmates volunteered to translate for the medical and dental teams from the Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota. This is the story of her experience, in her own words.

Community Service really opened my eyes. I learned to appreciate what I have. When I saw all of those people making a line to see the doctor I just thought about one thing. I am so glad I don`t have to pass by these to go to the doctor or the dentist. But then I thought how selfish I was being by thinking that and I realized that we were all here to help all of these people and I really got excited to start because I wanted to help this people get better.

I had some good times, Some bad times, some fun times, and some hard times. I really enjoyed to have had the opportunity to be in the Community Service of North Dakota. I learned many things while being in the mission. Some of the most funny and good times while being in the mission for me was that when we went near Solola, there was a hill in which our vans couldn`t pass through and so we had to walk down hill to get to the place were we were going to do our service. When we finally finished our job there, a big rain storm started pouring over us and we had to carry all of the equipment up hill again. So we started carrying all of the equipment and since we were down hill a huge river started flowing down hill. All of the village was made of dirt and so when it rained all of the dirt was made into a great puddle of mud. I honestly didn`t see a great lake of mud and so I started walkinh faster because it was raining harder. When I finally got near the vans I just felt that I started sinking. I didn`t know what was going on until I looked down. I was sinking in a mud lake. I started to force myself out of the mud lake and found out that my friends had not seen me. So I told them about what had happend to me in the lake and they started laughing at me. We laughed about my accident all the way home. Some of my hard times over the mission was getting up so early to be on time. I had to wake up at 6:00 a.m. every day to get dressed up, eat some brakefast,and brush my teeth. We had to be at the church by 7:30 a.m. to be ready to live to our next mission. Another hard part in the mission was being able to support the change of climate in the places we went.

This Mission really taught me to appreciate my style of life more. It also taught me to help people when ever you can, because there are some people that really need help. They don`t even have money to buy food, a toothbrush, or medicine. I would defenetly do community service again because you can learn alot of stuff about it. For me I learned to be greatful with the things I have because there are people that don`t have food everyday, and it was so sad to see. I can`t wait to go to the Florida mission. I liked helping people with some of thier problems.

1) June 1 Monday: 8:00a.m- 12:00p.m. (Medicine Inventory)*This day we had to be at the Saint Marks Episcopal Church at 8:30a.m. We had to organize all of the medicines that we were going to use in the medical mission. We had to count all of the medicine that was on each box. We finished at 12:00p.m.

2) June 29 Monday: 10:30a.m-6:30p.m. Medical Clinic(Xela)

* When they arrived we started working right away.I worked with Jennifer Risan, a medical student, that day. She was a nice lady. I had the honor to translate for her.

3) June 30 Tuesday: 7:30a.m.-8:00p.m. Medical Clinic(Chuguexa)

* Tuesday we had to be at the Episcopal Church at 7:30a.m. to go to Chuguexa and start working again. When we arrived I had the pleasure to work in the Dental station. I got to watch how they pulled people's teeth out.

4) July 1&2 Wednesday&Thursday: 7:30-9:30 Medical Clinic(Nuevo Chuatuj)

* Wednesday and Thursday we went to Coatepeque and I had the pleasure to work both days with Pam Pranke, a nurse. I was her translator and we told people how to take there medicines.

5) July 3 Friday:7:30-9:30 Medical Clinic (Pachaj)

* We were going to go to Santa Maria but the place were we were going to was occupied so we went to Pachaj! I once more had the pleasure to work with Pam Pranke.

6) July 4 Saturday:7:30-2:30 Medical Clinic(Xela)

* This was our last day with the Medical Team and we worked at the Episcopal Church. I worked half time with Jessica Risan helping her translate to the patients. Then I went to work at theDental Station with Anna Pranata, a dentist, and her assistant Jamee Weibe.

7) July 6-9 Monday- Thursday: 11:30-1:30(Ancianos)

* We got to eat Lunch with old people and got to know them a little. we spoke to different people there.

8)July 10 Friday: 8:00-12:oop.m. (School)

*We got to school at 8:00 and wrote in our blog our experiences in this Community Service.

Maggie's Story: Episcopal Diocese of Guatemala Medical Mission 2009

Guest Blogger: Maggie

Maggie is a high school junior at Inter-American School in Xela, Guatemala. Maggie and four of her classmates volunteered to translate for the medical and dental teams from the Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota. This is the story of her experience, in her own words.

The IAS Community Service Summer Program was one of the best experiences in my life.

Atfirst, I wasn't sure on taking the class, but I don't regret it. I had so much fun and I learnedmany different things. At the end of the IAS Community Service Summer Program, I realized that I had a chance of a lifetime.

The Community Service Class took one day, instead of two, on the medical inventory. With the medical inventory done; we would start our translating in the week of June 29. The week of June 29 turned out to be a really hard week for us. Some days we would arrived at 7:30 A.M. at Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, and we would come back as late as 9:00 P.M. It was a pretty long and tiring week. On my first day of work with the Medical Team from the Episcolpal Diocese of North Dakota, I was assigned to Dr. Susan Maloney, but the medical team needed help in pharmacy, so

Dr. Susan Maloney helped with that. I had no translating to do, so I decided to work with Miss Laine Milburn and Miss Shanna Maloney, who were working at the blood pressure station. I had a really good time with them and I learned many things from them.

The next day, we went to Chugüexa, near Chimaltenango. Chüguexa, is a really small community beside the road to Guatemala City.

We had to walk down a pretty long dirt road. I worked with and translated for Dr. Bryanne Hildebrandt and her assistant, Miss Kaitlin Ward,

in the dental clinic. I had the chance of seeing lots and lots of blood, and at a certain point I felt pretty dizzy. When we walked up the dirt road, we faced a severe storm. By the time we hopped on the vans, we were soaking wet. I was glad the day was over.

It was day 4, and on our way to Nuevo Chuatuj, two of our vans experienced some mechanical problems. Finally, we got to Nuevo Chuatuj, Coatepeque, where I worked with and translated for Dr. Susan Maloney. She was so cool! I learned many things from her, and I really enjoyed every

minute that ticked by. We had the chance of seeing many patients, and in my opinion, it was such a great blessing. Our two days at Nuevo Chuatuj, Coatepeque were very long and tiring, but the experience was worth it.

The next day, we were supposed to go to Santa Maria de Jesus, but there was a change in plans, instead we went to Pachaj, Cantel. Our arrival was ok, but when we started setting up stations, you could tell that there were some problems with the way people at Pachaj, Cantel had organized and set up things. In Pachaj, Cantel, again, I worked with and translated for Dr. Susan Maloney. It was great; I had a blast!

Day 7, our last and final day of work with the medical team. We set up the last clinic in
Xela. I worked with and translated for Dr. Susan Maloney. I had so much fun with her! I came up with the conclusion that Dr. Susan Maloney made my IAS Community Service Summer.

I am very grateful with Mr. McMarlin for having me on the IAS Community Service Summer Program. Working with the Medical Team from the Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota was one of the best experiences ever. I had so much fun, and I learned many things.

Summer Community Service

This summer Laurel is leading an Inter-American School summer community service class in Xela and surrounding communities. There are five registered students in the class: Jessica, Tamara, Jemina, Maggie, and Felipe.

The class will consist of three service projects: Inventory of medical supplies, translating for the Medical Team from the Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota, and working with the Los Ancianos Community Center Program.

On June 1, the first day of summer vacation, we

met at La Iglesia Episcopal San Marcos to inventory medicine and supplies for the North Dakota Medical Team. Photos and our blog about last years medical/dental team can be found at http://xelajournal.blogspot.com/2008/07/july-2008-medical-mission.html

The next time we meet will be June 29, when the team from North Dakota arrives.

Inter-American School PTA Family Day

The Inter-American School PTA gave all of us -- students, families, and teachers -- a wonderful family day picnic on the day before our Guatemalan labor day weekend. It was a day of good food with good friends. A day of fun and games. We had races, games, face painting, a wedding booth, and even a mechanical bull!

Good Food with Good Friends

An opportunity for teachers, students and families to have fun together

A Wedding Booth for the willing and unwilling

A Mechanical Bull

Races

Horse Back Riding

Face Painting

We are already looking forward to next year's Family Day. Thanks to everyone in the PTA who made this such a wonderful day for all of us.

Inter-American School Retreat

This year Inter-American School held it's annual Spiritual Retreat in Panajachel, Guatemala. We stayed at the Hotel Visíon Azul, on the shore of Lake Atitlan.

Prior to our departure from Quetzaltenango we began our Retreat with songs and games. Then we boarded our two busses for the two hour trip to Pana.

We arrived just before lunch, checked into our rooms, ate a wonderful noon meal, then had some free time.

The early afternoon was spent settling in, enjoying the beauty of our location on the lake, and playing in and around the pool and lake shore.

We got together and the students played "teacher trivia". They were surprized to learn that one teacher auditioned for American Idol and another was a three time World Champion in horseback riding.

During the evening hours, after supper, we began the "Spiritual" part of our retreat. We joined together while middle school teacher "Tank" Broyles (of American Idol Fame) led us in songs of worship.

The theme of this year´s retreat was "Our Faith Journey" and we explored the beginning, middle, and end of our faith journeys, from several perspectives. This year was different from past years, in that the entire retreat was led by the teachers and staff. In past years retreat leaders from the United States volunteered their time to lead the retreats.

One of the differences was that rather than having large group meetings, we broke up into to "break-out groups" of about seven students each.

Each teacher chose three topics: one for the beginning of our faith journey, one for the end of our faith journey, and one for in-between.

Each student could decide which teacher's session they wished to attend, keeping in mind that each group was limited to seven students.

During the course of each session the students participated in three different groups.

The result was, of course, races between sessions. The first seven to arrive at any teacher's location got to stay, the late arrivers had to continue thier search for a group.

The retreat was for the entire middle and high school at Inter-American School. Altogether their were about 70 students and 10 teachers.

We had a total of three sessions. One on Wednesday evening, "The Beginning of our Faith Journey"; one on Thursday afternoon, "Our Journey"; and, one on Thursday evening, "The conclusion of our Faith Journey".

The students told us that they really enjoyed the small group format. So did the teachers.

Each group consisted of different students, middle and high school combined.

The middle school is located at the entrance of our campus in Xela. The high school and elementary school are on the top of a very steep hill. The result is that the high school teachers and middle school students do not have much opportunity to interact. The same is true with the middle school teachers and high school students. So we all, students and teachers, enjoyed the time we spent together.

We returned to our campus in Xela on Friday afternoon. The staff had Dominoes Pizza ordered and waiting when we arrived. So we concluded our retreat with a Pizza Picnic on the soccer field and play ground enjoying Pizza!