The View from Laurel's classroom window

School has begun at IAS for Laurel!

This will be Laurel's first year of teaching at Inter-American School, and this will be the first time he has taught high school students in 36 years!

Laurel has five classes this year. The first period class is tenth grade New Testament with eleven students, the largest class!
Second period is Church History with six juniors (two boys, four girls).
The one guy and seven senior girls have third period World Religions.Ninth grade Old Testament, fourth period, has only three girls in the class! The day is completed after lunch with fifth period Community Service.

Community Service is a requirement for graduation at IAS. This year another teacher, who has been here for two previous years, and Laurel are co-teaching (directing, coaching) the class. She has terrific organizational skills, unlimited ability, and some fabulous class project ideas for the eight students ; Laurel will be coordinating the Individual Service Projects each student must undertake.

School has begun at IAS for Donna!

Classes for the new school year began on Monday, 18 August. Donna taught fifth grade for the opening week. She taught as a substitute last year, including this class. So she and her students knew each other already.

The school had opening ceremonies on the lawn on Monday morning. Each teacher was introduced individually, by grade. All of us received a polite applause as we walked to our place in front of the audience of students, parents, and school board members. When Donna's name was called she received cheers, whistles, and exhuberant applause from the children she taught last year as a substitute. Donna thouroughly enjoyed her week helping the fifth graders begin their year. The new teacher only had a week's notice to prepare; she flew in on Thursday from Virginia, and jumped right in on Friday! Donna will continue to substitute teach in the elementary school. She will also continue to tutor a few students, after school.

July 2008: Medical Mission from St John's Cathedral in Jacksonville, Florida

A medical mission sponsored by Saint John's Cathedral of Jacksonville, Florida visited Guatemala for the second time this year. However, this was their first visit to Xela.
The team visited the village of Santa María de Jesús on Tuesday, where they were welcomed by an experienced team of mid-wives who were trained by our parish priest, Padre Roberto Armas. Padre Roberto is also a medical doctor, he was the co-coordinator and primary physician for the mission. Laurel translated for the after-care team, which provided information to the patients concerning their treatment and medications. The mission group from St. John's Cathedral, assisted by the mid-wives treated over a hundred patients.


On Tuesday the we visited Chuatuj (near the border with Mexico). Chuatuj is a small, friendly village, still without running water. The hospitality of the people and the mayor was more than impressive. We were served an exceptionally delicious steak lunch.

The team treated over 160 patients throughout the day. Before we left the sector mayors presented each team member with a beautiful individualized Certificate of Appreciation. We were also provided with a police escort for the 2 hour drive back to Xela, since we were traveling after dark.

On Thursday the group from Saint John's Cathedral had a productive meeting with Padre Roberto considering the future relationship between God's people in the cities of Jacksonville and Xela. One of the topics discussed was Padre Roberto's dream of establishing a community center for the elderly at our church.

A typical day in the life of the medical mission team from St. John's Cathedral

Travel and Accommodations

Medical and other mission teams visiting Xela stay at COFA, a Catholic family retreat center. COFA is similar to hotel built around a flower filled courtyard.

Medical mission teams sometimes travel for up to three hours from Xela to visit remote mountain villages, or other cities in the region. Travel is in 15-18 passenger mini-buses with supplies carried on top under a tarp.

Setting up

When the medical team arrives at a site the first half hour (mas o menos) is used to determine how to best control the flow of patient traffic, and set up the stations. Sometimes the clinic is conducted in one room, other times it may be in school building where each classroom can be a separate station. Setting up the pharmacy is always the most time consuming operation.

Registering Registration begins shortly after the teams begin setting up their stations. There are always long lines of people waiting to be seen. A Guatemalan volunteer from the church, or the community, is the best candidate for this task. The registrar fills out a form listing the reason the person is seeing the doctor and conditions the doctor needs to know, such as allergies, pregnancy, etc. The registrar then directs the patient to the doctor/dental waiting area.

Doctor's Station
When the patient first arrives at the doctor's station a translator reads and translates the registration form for the doctor. The doctor then interviews, examines and treats the patient. Further treatment instructions and prescriptions are listed on the form which the patient (or team escort) takes to the pharmacy.

Pharmacy

The pharmacy team then fills the prescriptions, placing all medications in a bag. The patient (or a team escort) then takes the medications to the after-care station. The pharmacy also keeps the doctors informed of which medications are running low.

After-Care

The final station is After-Care where a nurse, or trained team member, helps the patients (through a translator) understand when and how their medications are to be taken or applied. The after-care team also insures that the patient is aware of any other treatments or diet the doctor prescribed.

July 2008: Medical Mission Team from the Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota

From Monday June 30 to Sunday July 6 we participated with the Guatemala Medical Mission from the Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota. The team of 24 doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, translators, and medical & dental students served over 2,500 patients in Xela and surrounding mountain villages.
The team's webpage describes their mission: "Every year a team of volunteers from the United States and Canada participate in this Christ centered mission. The team members pay their own travel and lodging expenses and help raise money for the mission expenses. This working mission can be very demanding but is a wonderful opportunity to interact with a different culture and help people in great need.

The Guatemala Mission team experiences the beauty of the country of Guatemala and is touched by the people we served. God’s people are the same all over the world. We leave each year with a feeling we had done some good and that we were spiritually enriched. We greatly appreciate the support and prayers of those in the Diocese of North Dakota and many other donors. The Lord works in many ways to draw us together and further his work in the world."

Laurel and Audrey translated for medical and dental teams (a different team each day). Edgar also assisted by registering the long lines of patients and recording their medical or dental complaints. Our parish priest, Padre Roberto Armas, is also a medical doctor. He and Dr. John Baird, from North Dakota, organize the annual mission.

On Sunday morning the team attended the worship service at our parish, San Marcos Episcopal Church. After the service the they departed for a few days of R&R in La Antigua Guatemala before returning to their homes in the USA and Canada.