Service Expedition in Guatemala

Beneficial Financial Group teamed up with Choice Humanitarian to offer a Service Expedition to those from Beneficial who met certain qualifications. The trip was 7-8 days; 2 days traveling (1 day there, 1 day back), 4 days in the village of Chimaxyat where the service would take place, 1 day in Antiqua and 1 day in Tikal (optional trip). There were 20 of us from Beneficial and about 8 from Choice.

The village is an 8-hour vehicle ride, or 45-minute plane ride and 2-hour vehicle ride. Our group took 2 small planes to the El Estor air strip then seperated into 3 micro-buses for the extremely bumpy ride to the village. The people in this area speak Q' eqchi' (Kay-Chee), an old Indian dialect. However, the children are learning Spanish in school because their financial future depends on it.

Once there we set up camp in the village church. Choice brought a cook for us (Delia). She cooked food native to Guatemala but she had knowledge of health codes that would help to keep us from getting sick. They also had latrines and bottled water brought in. Beneficial paid for a dentist and doctor to accompany us to assist the villagers with any needs they might have.

The service we would provide while there included:

• Dividing the one-roomed school house into three rooms. This meant chisling the existing cinder block walls and cement floor in order to lay a strong foundation and set the wall the right way.

• Trenching an area big enough to lay a foudation for a new storage building outside the school.

• Trail improvements. One of the main trails to the school was narrow, steep and washed out by rain. Work began to widen and stabalize it.

• Providing dental and doctor care.
  

My assignment was to assist the dentist. There is an existing health center in the village. We lined up four school desks in the main room and filled them up with villagers with tooth pain. We checked the teeth of the first person, numbed them up and moved to the next person. Once all four people were numb, we'd move back to the first person and pull the necessary teeth. The chair would be disinfected and replaced by a new person. The dentist even let me pull some teeth. I really enjoyed myself. It was pretty easy to pull the kids' teeth because they were baby teeth and new ones would grow back. It was much harder to pull the adults' teeth. Some of them were so bad and had decayed enough that they busted off right at the gum line. Those had to be pryed out. The only satisfaction in doing all this was knowing that the pain these people had suffered for months and months would finally be relieved. We didn't have the tools to provide teeth cleanings or any major work.

Sam wore many hats this week. He helped dig the trench, helped with trail improvements and also translated for the doctor. His largest role was actually running a triage center within the health center for the doctor. There were so many people lined up to see the doctor and because of the time it takes to translate back and forth, it would not have been possible for everyone to be seen. Sam was able to organize the people from the most severe on down. He also aliviated the need for everyone to see the doctor by giving out the necessary medication to those the doctor didn't necessarilty need to see (with the doctors approval, of course).

The people here are so amazing. We fell in love with them so quickly. They don't have much and yet are so happy. We were allowed to job shadow one morning. We went to one of the nicer homes in the village. They had a newly-swept, dirt floor, bamboo walls and a grass roof. Their beds were shallow wood boxes held up by 2x4's. Three beds slept seven people. Their only table was used for food preparation and a long, narrow bench was used for seating. We learned how they made tortillas and in return, taught them how to play the card game, Speed.

The children go to school from Monday through Thursday, year round. Primary school is provided by the government, through 6th grade. Basic schooling is from 7th - 9th grade and few children advance to this level because it costs the families Q35 (Quetzals) a month, which is a lot. Even fewer receive education passed Basic but if they are one of the lucky ones, the next level is at a University. My vision for all 150 children in this village is for them to be able to receive all the education they could desire.

The school teacher in Chimuxyat is Juan Carlos. He is married to Glenda and they have a 1-year old, Jaime Escubar. Juan Carlos lives in Pansos, a 3-hour motorcycle ride away from the village. There is a small apartment on the side of the school house for him to stay at during the week. On Fridays, he spends his time furthering his own education. He and Sam became friends and talked at length about the struggles he faces with wanting to spend time with his family but being compelled to work towards a better future. He gets frustrated sometimes, wondering if it is all worth it.

Beneficial Financial Group has promised Choice Humanitarian we would continue this same expedition once a year for three years (one down, two to go). Our hope is that we can qualify to return next year. This has been an incredible experience. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and can hardly express in words what we experienced. The people have such beautiful spirits and are so easy to love.