Off to Guatamala !

Once again, Mom is leading another mission trip down to the country of Guatemala. Earlier this year, Mom wrote about the work that she does there with The Chance To Dream. A quick summary is that The Chance To Dream is a non-profit organization which was founded by a friend of ours with Mom as a co-founder primarily focusing on the improvement of education in Guatemala.

Bringing in teams with medical expertise and medication offered freely to the populace is already really good, but couple it with psychology trauma training for the firefighters, involving the community in recognizing and treating common maladies with sustainable methods, as well as supporting the teachers of the village schools with the team members trip expenses and you've got an efficient four-birds-one-stone scenario which everyone loves!

On this particular trip, the team is mostly nurses and nursing students who will be serving in Santa María de Jesus alongside the local Bomberos (firefighters) who've graciously assisted in the past by allowing the team to set up their clinic at the fire station with the Bomberos providing valuable assistance. The team is planning to spend five days seeing patients sharing love with the community in Santa María de Jesus. After the five days of clinic with the team, Mom is staying a few extra days in order to hold a seminar with the Bomberos regarding teaching about child trauma.

Trauma in Guatemala is a very serious and prevalent issue. Drugs and alcohol have long ago reared their ugly heads and they flagrantly disrupt the lives of many. Cartels have infused themselves within the society and scores of young children are recruited by them to carry the drugs, often times becoming the victims of gang violence which contributes to Guatemala having one of the highest child homicide rates in the world. This is night-and-day different from the trauma in Haiti--which is also everywhere you look--primarily because the poverty doesn't afford the chance for anyone to even
think about drugs and alcohol in order to make it a problem.

It is by no means a hopeless situation. Important, meaningful changes happen all the time and we are thankful each time we visit for the opportunities God has given us to be such positive influences on the lives of so many people both young and old. Thank you for all of your prayers and support!

God Bless!