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!

Faith Formulas Workshop

Faith Formulas Workshop is an elective class that Laurel leads at Inter-American School this semester. The class allows each of us to develop our own individual "Faith Formula" -- discovering ways in which we can grow in our faith. As a class we identified 25 different approaches to help us on our individual faith journeys.

The top three items almost all of us identified were: daily prayer, reading the Bible, and attending church. The elective is really a workshop (as opposed to a teaching-learning environment). We created our own class "sacred space"; discussed developing our individual "sacred times"; chose prayer teams; identified people, groups, and causes that we will prayer for (and incorporated them on intercessory prayer wheels that we made in class; and listed what we thank and praise God for. During our weekly class media lab day we created our own blog at http://www.faithformulas.blogspot.com/ , and have our own Facebook Group.
The class decided that as part of each class session we will spend a few moments of quiet time, pray and read scripture. We plan to explore and experiment with each of the twenty-five "faith formula" elements that we identified during our first week.

We also have fun. We order a Pizza, or bring in cookies and chips, at least once a week.

Los Ancianos Xela

Audrey, Donna and Laurel participate in this program which is jointly sponsored by La Iglesia Episcopal San Marcos, our parish in Guatemala, and Saint John´s Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida.

The Vision
Unlike in the United States, facilities and programs in support of senior citizens (Los Ancianos in Spanish) are not common in Guatemala. Padre Roberto Armas, the rector of San Marcos Episcopal Church in Xela, Guatemala has the dream of providing a community center for elderly members of his city.

The Program
The program provides participants with a free hot lunch, a comfortable "living room" environment for relaxation, friendship, conversation, television, movies, games, and various forms of entertainment. The center is open daily, Monday through Friday, for sponsored members.

The Facilities
The education building of San Marcos Church will be converted into the community center during the weekdays. Initial furniture and appliances are being donated by local contributors. Restroom facilities are located in the building, and Padre Roberto has recently constructed a wheelchair ramp for the entrance. The church kitchen is already equipped to cook daily hot nutritious meals.

The Staff
All staff members in Guatemala and Florida are volunteers. Padre Roberto Armas is the founder and director of the program; Hanna Kim, a Young Adult Volunteer from the Presbyterian Church, is the on-site program administrator; Laurel is the program coordinator between Guatemala and the United States; Donna is the financial manager; and, Audrey coordinates translations in Guatemala. The only paid position is the cook. A volunteer staff from the St. John´s Cathedral, managed by Monica MacKenzie, manages the sponsorship program.

Funding
Since facilities already exist and the staff consists of all volunteers, all funds will go to the support of elderly participants. The primary funding will be provided by sponsors in the United States who will contribute $20.00 per month. The sponsors will receive a photo and biography of their elderly friend, along with periodic personal messages at least three times a year. Individuals or groups (e.g. youth groups, Sunday school classes, etc.) who wish to contribute, but not be personal sponsors, may do so in three ways:

• Contribute $20.00 a month (this will provide funds for when a regular sponsor is unable to continue sponsorship).
  
• Contribute any amount on a one-time or continuing basis.
  
• Make special contributions for specified items or projects (such as a new TV, a kitchen appliance, facility improvements, etc.).