Fire-Rescue Instructors Get “Schooled” in Guatemala

AMEDICAusa and REDS Team Fire-Rescue Instructors deliver school supplies in Retalhuleu, Guatemala

Annual Fire-Rescue School Takes a Break

Retalhuleu, Guatemala- It is a tough job. It’s hot, humid and the days are long. The logistics are difficult, the equipment minimal. So, it takes some tough, experienced people to train fire and rescue personnel in Guatemala.

Our annual Fire-Rescue school in Guatemala is a joint project of the REDS Team, of Garner, North Carolina and AMEDICAusa. Twenty-seven fire departments, the Guatemalan army’s humanitarian rescue team (UHR) and the Red Cross attended this year for classes including Water Rescue and Fireground operations.

After several grueling days spent in the water and on the training grounds, the instructors and the Army were given a little break. This morning, we loaded up the military truck with supplies and headed off to visit two local elementary schools.

When Programs Collide

Life for a child in rural Guatemala can be rough. Most parents work as subsistence farmers or campesinos on larger farms. Money is scarce, most living on about $1.75 a day. Clothes, books and even meals are difficult to come by. The grim statistics are that in Guatemala there are tens of thousands of school age children who are not in school. Simply because they can not afford the supplies.

AMEDICAusa provides a supply program to elementary schools in rural areas in Guatemala. Placing the basic education supplies directly into the hands of the students ensures that at least one worry is taken care of. Each packet contains enough supplies for about three months of school.

This is the first such supply trip that our instructors have experienced. But the crossover between our programs is not at all unusual. Because we work closely with the local fire departments, and the firefighters know EVERYBODY, we get many referrals of schools in need from them. Local firefighters also frequently serve as volunteers on our missions.

“Tough Guy” Hearts Melt, and it Isn’t the Heat

Our previous Fire-Rescue schools have always been at the Air Force base in Guatemala City. Logistically this was easier, and the City’s altitude provides a more temperate climate. But Guatemala City has no river, and water rescue classes require, obviously, water.

Moving to the pacific lowlands, where there are rivers, but also extreme heat and humidity, presented some challenges. However, it also gave our instructors the opportunity to see a great deal more of rural Guatemala, and to meet people outside of the fire service and military.

A classroom wall built of egg cartons. You use what you have in Guatemala.

An escuelita in rural Central America bears little resemblance to a typical elementary school in the U.S.. Construction is generally primitive. Dirt floors are common, many have bamboo walls, and electricity and running water are often only a dream. Fans or air-conditioning are unknown, even in the heat of the lowlands. The Ministry of Education provides a teacher’s salary, such as it is (around $300 usd a month), and not much else. It is one thing to know about the poverty of the Guatemalan people, it is quite another to experience it first hand. No where is it more evident than in a rural escuelita.

Our instructors are both shocked and amazed. Seeing how little these kids have, and how grateful they are for a little help is a humbling experience. Several are so moved that they offer to come back simply to help with more school missions. We will be glad to have them.

Practicing AMEDICAusa Goggles with the kids (photo: The REDS Team)

Time to get to work.

The kids are a little shy at first. We are far from the Guatemala City or the tourist towns of Antigua and Lake Atitlán, so the children have had little or no interaction with “Gringos” before. Breaking the ice isn’t difficult, teaching the kids how to put on our our “AMEDICAusa Goggles” does the trick, along with taking their pictures and simply asking their names and speaking with them in broken Spanish.

A lollipop break with the kids

Each child is given his or her own package containing notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers and, as a small bonus, a lollipop. Everyone gets into the act, exchanging a smile, a brief word or a fist bump as the kids get their packet. The time is too brief. While all of us could easily spend the entire day here, but we have another school to supply, and classes to instruct this afternoon.

Teaching students and soldiers to put on AMEDICAusa goggles

Fire Instructor Captain Allen Jenkins distributes school supplies and smiles in equal measure

Firefighter & Water Rescue instructor David Thompson exchanges a fist bump with a schoolboy.

Water Rescue instructor Kirsten Steele, herself a teacher, with Guatemalan school kids.

UHR soldiers distribute school supplies with AMEDICAusa

AMEDICAusa president Neale Brown during school supplies mission in Retalhuleu

Teniente (Lt.) Angela Werner of the Guatemalan Army UHR

Water Rescue Instructors Kirsten Steele and Emily Harrison with some new friends

BLACK FRIDAY SALE! 50% MORE KINDNESS WITH YOUR DONATIONS!

Double Your Caring and Kindness with your Gift to AMEDICAusa.

140,000 Children in Guatemala Can’t Go to School in Guatemala due to Poverty. Every $2 you give allows us to reach one more child.

Its that season again, and we’re all absorbed in the question of what gifts to give. I invite you to consider a gift that lasts a lifetime…give a child in rural Guatemala a chance at an education.

Our program is designed to get elementary age students into school, and keep them there, by delivering the basic school supplies that they would not otherwise be able to afford. While this may seem a relatively low-tech program, it is actually a simple solution to a very large problem in Guatemala. At least 140,000 school age Guatemalan children are not enrolled in school. The principal reason: an inability of the families to afford the simple school supplies needed for their children. Most of these kids are in the rural and indigenous sections of the country where we are most active.

AMEDICAusa school supply mission in Champerico, Guatemala

AMEDICAusa volunteers, usually led led by Silvana Ayuso, our Vice President in Guatemala, deliver the supplies directly into the hands of the children. Based on the UNICEF “School in a Box” concept, we have modified it to suit the needs of Guatemala. Pencils, pens, notebooks, erasers…you get the idea. Even a small toy and a treat are included. Simple things, but a great boon to those who often make less than a dollar a day.

Rather than just send a box of supplies to a school, we have individualized the packets to ensure that the supplies actually reach the children for whom they were intended, and broken it up into amounts suitable for approximately 3-4 months. This helps insure that the items get used by the students, not sold or ruined in the often-challenging climate. We try and reach each school we supply three times during the school year.

We use our funds frugally. AMEDICAusa buys all of our supplies from wholesalers in Guatemala. This is not only vastly less expensive than in the U.S., but also saves us shipping costs (often more than the supplies themselves), and gives a little boost to the local economy.

Guatemalan firefighters delivering school supplies – AMEDICAusa

Besides the obvious educational benefits, this program also often serves as our gateway into the rural communities. It is the rare visit where we are not called upon to see, treat and/or transport a sick or injured child. This allows us to introduce our medical programs. Many of our volunteers are from the local fire departments with whom we work closely in our disaster aid and training programs. They aid us in delivering the supplies and help introduce us to the local population. It also the best introduction to Guatemala for our U.S. volunteers who are invited to participate in the school supply delivery missions.

We are in the midst of our annual fund-raising drive for next year’s programs. We are also soliciting partner agencies to help support the missions. If you, someone you know, or a group would be interested in helping, please feel free to contact me any time. Browse our website and let us know if you have any questions, and please…Give generously.

Thank you for your kind consideration,

Neale

Neale S. Brown

President, AMEDICAusa, Inc.

Giving the Gift of Education

.A Simple Gift That Makes a World of Difference.

AMEDICAusa school supply mission in Champerico, Guatemala

Guatemalan firefighters delivering school supplies – AMEDICAusa

Thank you for your kind consideration,

Neale

Neale S. Brown

President, AMEDICAusa, Inc.

Guatemala Hospital Saves Lives Despite Critical Shortages

**Babies, Sand and Machetes…*AMEDICAusa interns at the National Hospital of Retalhuleu***

A child clings to life in the Pediatric Emergency Room

There can be no observers here.
I am “bagging” a three month old baby girl. She has been brought into the hospital limp, pale and unconscious and with a obviously swollen belly. She hasn’t nursed for two days and was fussy and inconsolable yesterday. This morning her mother couldn’t wake her and rushed her into the emergency room tied to her back on a motorbike. Now she is no longer making an effort to breathe on her own.

She is in septic shock, likely the result of an intusseception, a rare intestinal condition that can kill part of the intestine and cause life threatening complications. Her life is dependent on a small tube inserted into her throat and continuing to squeeze the attached bag to inflate her lungs every few seconds. I took over the job of breathing for the baby when the nurse’s hands began to cramp.

The doctor and a nurse struggle to get an I.V. into the child. This is always difficult in a baby, much harder when they are in shock. I offer to start an inter-osseous line, a procedure we would commonly use in the States in this situation, but the hospital doesn’t have the necessary needles, and a regular catheter would likely break before penetrating the bone. I continue to breath for the baby. Finally they manage to place a very small IV. It will have to do. We’ll continue this until the infant goes into surgery and other staff will continue to manually breathe for her through the surgery and over the next two days. There is no mechanical ventilator available to take over.

Welcome to the Hero Hospital

The Weather Worn Sign of the Hospital Nacional, Retalhuleu, Guatemala
The first thing you notice here is the heat. Unsurprisingly, the western Guatemalan lowlands are hot in the summer. The daily afternoon thunderstorms raise the humidity to truly oppressive levels. A coastal breeze helps a little when outdoors, but it doesn’t reach into the hallways or exam rooms to provide even a little relief. Other than in the operating room, the air-conditioning doesn’t work.

Fanning with a notebook, Doctor Lorena Yancor. and student attempt to keep cool in the ER
The commercial fans installed to compensate are victims of overuse and age and have long given up the ghost. Doctors and staff have brought in a few personal fans here and there, but they are small, and ineffective beyond a couple of feet. The patients, family and staff, crowded in to cramped spaces, provide an additional source of heat…and without ventilation, a source of smells that are best left undescribed.

The Hospital Nacional of Retalhuleu is the primary source of medical care for the poorest of the poor in this part of Guatemala. Part of the country’s two-tier national healthcare system, it serves those who don’t have a regular paycheck: the campesinos (farm workers), the indigenous, and the unemployed. Like it’s sign, it is worn around the edges. Nicked and dented by uncountable stretchers, the paint could use another coat. But it is clean and kept so by a squad of mopping janitors, who make endless rounds of it’s floors. The hospital is chronically short of medicines, equipment and even routine maintenance supplies.

Reading x-rays by window light
There is one, elderly, x-ray machine to service the entire hospital and the waiting times are long. The films themselves are read through an open window…as the light-boxes generally don’t work. The lab, though reasonably well equipped, is dark…because they don’t have the florescent tubes to replace those burnt out. CT scans, MRIs, and the other modern diagnostic tools are a wishful dream.

The tools available here are primarily the hands, eyes and ears of the medical staff, and they are surprisingly good. Many of the senior staff have been here since the Hospital opened some thirty years ago. Eschewing the more lucrative practices they could have in Guatemala City (some 90% of all of Guatemala’s doctors reside in the capitol city), they continue to practice here where their talents can be put to the best use. All have become excellent diagnosticians and instructors for the medical students that often rotate through the hospital as part of their training.

AMEDICAusa is a supporter of the hospital, donating medicines and equipment in support of their efforts to treat the poor. (Among other things, AMEDICAusa donated most of the equipment for their gynecology clinic, where they had previously been forced to to exams on an office desk.) This time we brought several crates of pediatric medicines…and two talented students from the United States to serve a volunteer internship in the hospital.

The Pink Sand

Four kids come into the pediatric emergency room with their father. They range in age from 4-10. All have makeshift bandages, dishtowels, t-shirts, scraps of cloth, around their hands and feet. Dad is limping a little. A medical student unwraps one child’s hand and guesses she has a nasty skin infection of some sort. I look at the family. All the kids have the same infection and only on their hands and feet? Something isn’t right. I have another of the kids unwrap his hands. Under the dirty towel, and under the pink layer of calamine lotion that Guatemalans put on any type of skin disorder, his palms are shredded and blistered. Chemical burns?

A Child’s Chemical Burn in the Pediatric Emergency Room.
Dad is dressed in the unofficial uniform of a Guatemalan campesino, a farm worker. Worn, dirty jeans, a second hand t-shirt and a beat-up cowboy hat. A machete scabbard is on his belt. I ask if he lives in el campo. Yes, he says. He works in the fields. Do they use chemicals there? Yes, sometimes. Whats wrong with your leg? He points to the kids hands… el mismo..the same, he says. I call the chief pediatrician over and explain what I think this is. I ask the kids what they have been doing over the past couple of days. Playing in the new arena rosa… the pink sand…that they dumped near our house.

It is an industrial, urea based, fertilizer. Apparently, no one thought to tell the farm workers it was dangerous. The kids have been building sandcastles with it, and walking barefoot through the spillage. Dad has the same burns on his leg from repeated contact as he shoveled it into wheelbarrows.

Organized Chaos

The only formal waiting room in the hospital is in the outpatient clinic. All the other patients, for the emergency rooms, labor and delivery, OB/GYN and so forth, must wait patiently in the hallways, or under what little cover is available outside. Lines form in the hallways for each service, a mixture of patients and their families. All chat quietly while they wait. Well kids scurry about, playing improvised games underfoot. Mothers quietly nurse their babies while exchanging news with friends. None seem disturbed by the wait, even when the occasional fire department ambulance patient is rushed in ahead of them. They know the drill.

Dr. Gilberto Morales
Overseeing the operations is Dr. Gilberto Morales. A dapper man, he manages to appear calm and cool while nattily dressed in always-pressed shirt, tie and lab coat, despite the heat. It would be easy to rage in frustration at the job he is required to do, taking care of thousands of patients without sufficient resources, but he remains unruffled. He orchestrates the staff, building, equipment and patients with admirable restraint and aplomb. He has set up a rotation for our interns – Emergency, Pediatric Emergency, OB/GYN clinic, Labor and Delivery, and Surgery – where they will both learn the most, and be most helpful. After a brief tour of the hospital, the interns are handed off to the respective department chiefs.

Rites of Passage
In Los Campos, the communities of the farm workers, young boys at the age of 12 or 13 are given their first machete. This universal tool, kept honed to razor sharpness and carried in decorated sheaths, requires some practice to use efficiently and effectively. Like a baseball player with a bat, there are a lot of errant swings before mastering the hand-eye coordination necessary to hit consistently. The emergency room often sees those who have swung and missed.

AMEDICAusa volunteer Efim Oykhman repairs a machete wound
“Mario” is a thirteen year old boy who walked in to the ER with an embarrassed grin and his dirty, and now bloodstained, t-shirt wrapped around his right wrist. No longer attending school, he has joined his father in the fields of a local finca. He was chopping weeds out of a sugar cane field when an errant left handed swing hit his wrist, rather than the noxious plant he was aiming at. His is the third machete injury we have seen today.

It will be the first that our intern, Efim Oykhman, closes himself. He has assisted and observed in several previous procedures, and now is ready to do it himself. Under the watchful eye of the surgeon (called in to rule out any tendon injuries), he closes the wound with eight deft sutures, a little antibacterial ointment and a dressing. Mario goes home a little wiser, and Efim has successfully performed his first surgery. Both are happy…and a little relieved.

Treat ’em and Street ’em

Pediatrician Dr. Carlos René Jaime González, a native mexicano, very patiently explains to the parents of his tenth patient of the day that the pediatric emergency room is not where minor routine illnesses belong. First they should go to the local Clínica de Salud (Health Clinic) in their area. Second, for more serious problems, to the outpatient clinic. Only the really sick or injured are supposed to come to the pediatric emergency room. The lines to the emergency rooms are full of patients that really should be in the outpatient clinic on the other side of the hospital, but that area is full and the wait times are longer. Many of the patients have “self triaged” to the emergency room, and there is no staff to prevent that. The doctors are resigned to this, though it takes up valuable time. It also means that some very sick people are waiting outside, while less seriously ill manage to be seen first. Dr. Gonzales frequently checks the hallways to make sure a seriously sick or injured child isn’t waiting.

Dr Carlos René Jaime González and AMEDICAusa Volunteer Daria Smoliarchuk Discuss a Patient
The doctor’s at the Hospital Nacional don’t have the time to get to know their patients well. There simply isn’t enough time in a day to take detailed family histories nor fill out many forms. In Dr. Gonzales’ pediatric admitting room, the patients come in, get a quick once over and basic history, a rapid but thorough exam, then either medication samples off the shelves (yes, drug salesmen come even to Guatemalan ER’s) or a prescription for medicine from the hospital pharmacy (free) or their local farmacia if the hospital is out of medicines. Total elapsed time…maybe five to ten minutes for the average patient.

Few make it beyond the anteroom and into the three treatment beds in the pediatric ER. Those are reserved for those truly in need of emergency care. A asthmatic child working on his fourth nebulizer, a ten year old with a fractured arm, and our 3 month old with sepsis.

Our “Countess Dracula” Gets Her First Case

AMEDICAusa Volunteer intern holds retraction during surgery at Hospital Nacional Retalhuleu
Back in emergency a young woman comes in with severe abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and fever. She has been suffering symptoms for two days. Dr. Lorena Yancor, Chief of Emergency services, checks in on the patient demonstrating techniques for abdominal assessment for our interns, while I translate and explain what she is looking for and why. This is why our interns are here, to learn to examine patients without the diagnostic tools available in the States. The patient has all the classic signs of appendicitis . A surgeon is called and he demonstrates again the same skills, as well as a couple of advanced techniques to confirm the diagnosis. Off to surgery she goes for an emergency appendectomy. The surgeon asks our intern if she would like to assist. Daria, drawn to blood like a moth to flame, and who appears magically when ever a patient comes in with an open wound, readily agrees. As it turns out, the surgery was just in time, and was more complicated than first thought. As the surgeon opens the patient, her appendix ruptures.

Twin Problems for Hospital Births

Prenatal care is still a rarity for most women in Guatemala, particularly in the poor and indigenous communities. Often a woman will go through her entire pregnancy and delivery without any medical care at all. Health and sex education is lacking, brought here only by NGO’s like AMEDICAusa and it’s partners.

Birthing in Guatemala is often attended by midwives, comadronas, who are largely untrained in modern medical techniques. They often rely solely on traditional indigenous practices and beliefs. Some are very good, and have received additional training from NGO’s and limited government programs. As a consequence, many of the births done in the hospital are complicated, referred here by midwives skilled enough to recognize problem pregnancies.

During our intern’s rotations in the OB/GYN clinic, labor and delivery, and surgery, fully half of the births were cesarean and most of these births were performed on an emergency basis. Prematurity, age of the mother (both very young and very old) and undiagnosed maternal medical problems are common issues.

“Maria” is a 19 year old woman who came in to the OB/GYN clinic with painless vaginal bleeding in what appears to be her third trimester of pregnancy. She doesn’t know exactly when her last period started, but she thinks it was last November or December, either eight or nine months ago, and she has had no prenatal care.

Healthy twins delivered by emergency C-Section at Hospital Nacional Retalhuleu
This is her second pregnancy – she had a healthy baby girl two years ago. Maria has been “spotting” off and on for a couple of days, but has more bleeding today and is having some irregular contractions. Her external abdominal exam reveals TWO fetal heads and possibly two sets of heart sounds. She is sent for an ultrasound, which reveals not only twins at about 36 weeks gestation, but also Placenta Previa, a condition that threatens both her life and those of her babies. An emergency c-section is called for and our interns are there to assist.

Medicine in a Disaster Zone

Once delivered, our twins are moved to the neonatal ward. Like all the other wards, the patients here are grouped together in large rooms without walls or curtains to separate the beds. The neonatal ward is a stark reminder of the disasters that are often visited on Guatemala. A large fissure has appeared, running vertically down a structural wall. The crack is the result of a 6.6 earthquake that occurred in June and effected the stability of the structure. The epicenter of the quake was 35 miles from the hospital. One man was killed, crushed by a wall collapse about a kilometer from the emergency room. The entire neonatal unit is going to have to be moved for safety until repairs can be made.

Earthquake damage in wall (L) of the neonatal unit of Hospital Nacional Retalhuleu
Outside the hospital, ash and steam clouds can occasionally be seen rising from explosive Volcan Santiaguito some 15 miles to the northeast. The hallways in the hospital have discrete triage system markings denoting catchment areas for patients in case of mass casualties.

They are as prepared as they can be, but shortages of supplies and equipment are worrisome.

Did you know?

AMEDICAusa provides support and equipment to the Hospital Nacional of Retalhuleu and other medical facilities for the poor and indigenous peoples of Guatemala. We can’t do it alone. Your donations are what make our programs possible. Please give generously.

Be an AMEDICAusa hero and donate here.

AMEDICAusa, inc. is an I.R.S. 501(C)(3) registered charity, headquartered in Frederick, Maryland.

We are always looking for volunteers who wish to help in Guatemala. Get the details here.

Tens of Thousands of Guatemala’s Children Can Not Go To School

The village school house at Aldea El Manchón, Guatemala

Simple School Program Helps fill gaps in rural Guatemalan Schools

El Manchón, Retalhuleu, Guatemala – The little blue and white schoolhouse on the beach in the village of El Manchón (the Jungle) is incredibly picturesque. Touched by sea breezes on nice days, dotted by sea grasses, across a rough and rutted road from the thatched roof village, surrounded by palms and year-round flowers, it seems almost idyllic.

Aldea El Manchón

But look a little closer and you will note some things that are apparent only in their absence. There is no electricity, nor running water. The little school building is careworn. Gaps in its clapboard walls provide some light, but allow in rain and insects with equal alacrity. Within it’s tiny two rooms are some forty three children and two teachers who often struggle to make it through the school year.

The people of El Manchón mostly work the River Lxqulla (Lsh-cú-ya), poling shallow boats deep into its tangled mangrove jungle, in search of fish and shrimp. Others are campesinos (farm workers) on nearby fincas, harvesting sugar cane. Laboring in the intense heat of Guatemala’s pacific lowlands, none make much more than a dollar or two a day.

On such meager wages, the struggle for food, clothes and shelter demand the lion’s share of income. School books, pens, pencils and such seem a luxury.

AMEDICAusa always knew, from experience in villages like El Manchón, that many children in Guatemala are unable to go to school because they simply can’t afford it. Many families are forced to chose which, if any, of their children can go to school. Often this choice is made in favor of the boys, as has been traditionally thought that girls have less need for education. The new government study highlights the problem.

A young boy poles his canoa in search of fish, instead of going to school, near El Manchón, Guatemala.

An over-sized pick-up, accompanied by a cloud of dust and the ambulance from the nearest town, thumps and sways down the “road” that leads into the village. The ambulance, filled with Champerico’s off duty firefighters, isn’t here for a medical emergency. The firefighters have volunteered to spend their day off helping AMEDICAusa distribute school supplies to El Manchón’s children and then to another school deeper in the mangroves. Though the village is more than an hour’s drive from Company 13’s fire station, they represent the only emergency services in the area.

When the worst of the dust settles, AMEDICAusa volunteers and the firefighters unload and dust off the cargo from the bed of the pickup, and carry it inside the school. After introductions and a short classroom exercise, the children are each given a small bag. The bags contain all the basic school supplies for three months. Notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners, crayons, and, for each, a rare lollipop.

The idea is simple. Provide enough school supplies to keep a family from having to decide between eating or sending their kids to school.

“Education here is key to escaping poverty.” said Neale Brown, President of AMEDICAusa. “Those who think these folk’s lives are simple and intellectually undemanding, need to understand the problems that confront their communities.”

“Expansion of sugar cane and palm oil plantations near the river have expanded their job market somewhat, but the wages in the fields are very low. It has given them some choices in where to work, but not the ability to escape poverty. Unfortunately, the new plantations require irrigation and a whole lot of water. Increasingly, this water is being drawn from the river, sometimes illegally, and has dropped the water flows in the river significantly. Robbing fresh water from the river removes it from the mangrove. It is increasing the salinity of the estuary, killing the trees, poisoning water wells, driving away the native wildlife and significantly harming the fishery. ” he says.

Fishing Vessel in Champerico in better days.

This challenge will be difficult to overcome for a fishing village. The area was hard hit by the decline of the fishing port of Champerico, whose jetty collapsed in 2003. The failed attempt at rebuilding the port in 2008 – 2010 did further damage to the mangroves, and worsened an already disastrous situation. The declining ecological conditions are just one more thing to contend with.

“El Manchón is not alone. Whether on the coast, in the lowlands or in the mountains, rural villages in Guatemala all face similar problems. Solutions to these problems will take an educated local population. The combination of local knowledge, tradition and education is the only way these communities can find the answers. Fortunately, the people of Guatemala are really motivated to make things better. Programs that help keep kids in school can really help them move forward.” said Brown.

The village’s future leaders studying at the El Manchón school

“It really didn’t take a government study for us to know that poverty was forcing kids out of school. We hear that all the time in the rural villages. It is good to know we are on the right track with our programs, but, if anything I think the census data understates the problem. “

New census reveals almost 150,000 Guatemalan kids not attending school

(Prensa Libre – Translated from Spanish) After consolidating the data obtained through the school census, the Ministry of Education (Mineduc) determined that of the 141,337 children who are not attending school, 37,706 are from San Marcos, Quiché and Huehuetenango.

By Yanira Alvizurez / Prensa Libre/ Guatemala

March 13, 2017 at 2:58 p.m.

The school census was carried out from January 16 to February 3 and was conducted in coordination with the departments of Education and local teachers. They visited homes near schools in 12,850 communities in both the urban and rural areas of Guatemala.

Juana Morales, a native of the village of La Puerta, Chinique, Quiché, says that poverty is one of the factors that influence school drop-out rates (Photo Prensa Libre: Héctor Cordero)

According to Mineduc authorities, the survey was designed for data collection, and the data was entered directly by teachers into the Educational Registry System (SIRE). They interviewed 20,412 people in urban areas and 120,000 in rural areas.

Minister Óscar Hugo López revealed that, after consolidating the data, it was determined that the Departments with the highest incidence of children between 4 and 15 years old who are not attending or enrolled in the school system are: Guatemala with 13,272; Huehuetenango 13,331; San Marcos, 12,996, and Quiché, 11,709. Followed by Peten with 9,456; Alta Verapaz, 9,669; Escuintla, 7,865; Chiquimula, 7,865, and Suchitepéquez, 7,103; Chimaltenango, 5,635; Totonicapan, 5,126; Baja Verapaz, 4,901; Santa Rosa, 4,780; Jutiapa, 4,669; Quetzaltenango, 4,624; Izabal, 4,236; Sacatepéquez, 4,098; Jalapa 3,155; Sololá, 2,487; Retalhuleu, 2,289; Zacapa, 2,241 and El Progreso 1,487.

He explained that of the total, 73,000 between 5 and 7 years, have never attended school, and they have no formal education. The remaining 68,000, between ages of 7 and 14 , had attended some degree of schooling but had to withdraw for a variety of reasons.

The official said that a very important problem identified is that in 371 communities visited there is no nearby school, and children must walk up to three hours to reach their establishments. In addition, 6,629 children with special educational needs were identified.

“The census did not represent significant costs to the budget of the Mineduc, since it was done with our own personnel,” said Lopez.

Government Efforts

The minister said that they will work on programs to improve access to coverage, including conditional cash transfers to support children who are not going to school for economic reasons, and the expansion of educational coverage, which will allow more six year olds to enter elementary school.

He explained: “With the support of teachers, supervisors and the Ministry of Social Development, it is hoped to obtain positive results in the short term for children outside the education system.”

Mario Chang, department director of Education in San Marcos, said that they recently implemented an awareness campaign to encourage parents to send their children to study, as enrollment for the school year expires on March 31.

Most Want to Go to School

Raquel Juan Mateo, from the north of Huehuetenango, who would be in eighth grade, says that his parents are engaged in agriculture and that there is not enough money for food.

“My dream is to be a policeman to help protect citizens, especially those with limited resources who, like me, have no right to education,” he said.

Francisco Juan Ramirez, 70, father of the boy, says that because of the poverty conditions in which they live, they do not have the money to buy school supplies.

“The education of children is not free; On the contrary, it represents an expense for the parents, that is why many are left without going to school, “added Maria Mateo, the boy’s mother.

Valentina Rodas does domestic work, as she is not enrolled in school (Photo Prensa Libre: Whitmer Barrera)

In the village of Colima Dos, San Pablo, San Marcos, live the Rhodas-Chilel siblings, four of the 12,996 children in the department who, due to lack of financial resources, left school.

“I would like to go to school, but my parents do not have the money to buy supplies, uniform and do homework,” said Valentina, 17, who can not read or write.

The family is joined by Pedro Morales, 9, whose dream is to be a teacher to support the poor children of the village of La Puerta Chinique, Quiché, where he comes from.

The mother of the child, Juana Morales, said that her husband works as a day laborer on a farm on the South Coast and earns very little.

With information from H. Cordero, M. Castillo and W. Barrer

Read the Story in Spanish at Prensa Libre

AMEDICAusa school supply mission in Champerico, Guatemala

AMEDICAusa’s simple school supply program makes it possible for more of the the poor and indigenous children of Guatemala to attend and stay in school. By providing basic school supplies directly to the children and helping the teachers with materials, we can make a big difference in the lives of these kids and their families. With careful allocation of donated dollars, we are able to do this at a very low cost, but it is not free. Your donation is critical to our programs. Each packet we deliver provides a child with the necessities for three months of school. Every $2 you donate allows us to reach one more kid. Your tax deductible donation can be easily and securely made through our donation page.

Village Women Are Changing Their Future Together

Maria Esperanza Santino Esquivel – One of the women of Aldea Granada – AMEDICAusa

A group of impoverished women teaches us strength

Retalhuleu, Guatemala-
Near the western coast of Guatemala there exists a small village whose residents are almost entirely women. Widowed, abandoned or single mothers, despair would be easy. Instead, these women have found the strength and determination to band together and fend for themselves.

Aldea Granada, (Pomegranate Village) exists as a small by-way on the road from Retalhuleu to Champerico on the coast. It is surrounded by low lying sugar cane fields, two rivers and a scattering of mango fincas (plantations). At first glance, it appears very similar to most small Guatemalan villages. It is only when you get out of your car and meet the people that you notice something different. There are very few men.

Where are the men? Some are dead, some in the U.S. as laborers, others are “in the wind”, often after struggling with alcohol issues, and some were the perpetrators of spousal abuse.

Aldea Granada didn’t begin as a haven for these women. It got its start as a typical, small campesino (farm worker) village. Time and circumstance left an unusually high population of women living alone without spouses. Word of the women’s efforts to band together soon spread and women from other parts the region began moving to the village as well. Some are indigenous Maya, some ladina (of mixed Spanish and indigenous heritage) but all are poor.

Life in the Pomegranate Village

A Typical house in Granada

Many of the women labor in the fields, earning just a few Quetzales or so a day. (the Quetzal – Guatemala’s currency – is worth about 14 cents). Others do laundry, sew or make tamales for local stores at similar wages. They live in small, one room homes of adobe or bamboo, with dirt floors and hot, tin roofs. The women cook on open fire within their homes, running water is a dream, electricity is rare.

Aldea Grenada resident Maria Gertrude Lopez Cuculista, mother of 15 children

Almost all have children, many having four or more. The children attend a small elementary school about a mile or so to the northeast, a long walk in the humid, often 95-degree heat of Guatemala’s pacific lowlands. Food is largely sparse servings of tortillas, beans and rice -the standard low protein, high carbohydrate staples of Central America. Medical care, what little there is, is in Retalhuleu, 30 km away at the National Hospital. A trip to the doctor can take many hours and the trip is expensive by the Aldea’s standards. The hospital often lacks basic medications to treat even common illness. Major medical problems are often insurmountable, left until they are too advanced to treat.

Doña Elsa

Doña Elsa Calderón

Elsa Calderón, known as Doña Elsa, is the leader of the village. Officially she is the head of its COCODE (Consejo Comunitarios de Desarrollo – Community Development Council) whose official function is to guide and promote economic and social service projects within the village. Unofficially, she is everybody’s concerned aunt. Keeping track of everyone’s well-being, she is the prime motivator for the various projects within the village. Her own home doubles as the community center and meeting place. Well constructed, and on higher ground, her home also serves as the emergency shelter during severe storms and the frequent floods of the area’s two rivers. The community has planted new corn fields on her property over the last two years , growing maize that they harvest, grind and process for their own consumption as the omnipresent tortillas. On a separate plot, this year they have added a small mango plantation and hope produce fruit to sell commercially and help support the community.

Despite their challenges, most of the women remain upbeat

They know that, as little as they have, it could be much worse outside of their community. Videos of the women and children show happy, bright faces and waves of hello to the people they hope will see the video in the United States. Even fair complaints about absent husbands in the U.S. have a wry humor.

“Hi ______” one woman shouts happily at the camera to a woman in the U.S. she suspects to be her husband’s new girlfriend. “I hope he is treating you better than he did me!” The gathered women laugh.

Despite their common efforts, the women here remain desperately poor. The effort allows them to survive (not a forgone conclusion in Guatemala) but little else. New clothes come from second hand bins via donations. They often struggle for each days meal. School supplies and clothing for their kids are a significant burden.

Gloria Nicolasa Aj Pacaja-Cachajil is one such woman. A friend from previous visits to the village, Gloria has several children for whom she struggles to provide. Her daughter, María de Jesus Arce-Pacaja, is one of the difficult stories of Granada. While very young, Gloria’s daughter developed severe hydrocephalus. No matter where you are, hydrocephaly can be a devastating condition. In Guatemala, it can be far worse. Fortunately, Maria’s condition received surgical treatment early enough to save her life. The extra fluid in her head did cause a swelling of her skull and created her unusual appearance, but it was caught in time to prevent crippling effects to her brain function. She speaks well, has a sunny disposition and, though she has some balance and sight problems, otherwise seems a normal, if a bit shy, little girl. She does not, however, go to school.

Maria de Jesus with mom, Gloria Pacaja (center rear), and Neale Brown of AMEDICAusa in Granada

The last time we spoke with Gloria, 18 months ago, she told us that she was reluctant to send María de Jesus to school, as she still had balance problems and often fell. Combined with the sometimes cruel teasing of the other children, she felt it might not be in her daughter’s best interest to attend. Now things have changed. While she now wants Maria to go to school, she simply can’t afford it.

“Now I don’t have a house, and only a little to eat.” she said. ” Backpack, notebooks and things for school are too expensive.”

Inspired by the Women’s Efforts

Our welcome to Aldea Granada

As always, greeted with handwritten signs and big smiles, AMEDICAusa’s arrival here in Granada was warmly welcomed. Of course, pictures with old friends and discussions about everyone’s well being were the first order of the day. The women, proud despite their limited means, always press a gift on us as well, usually something grown or made in the village, elote (cooked corn on the cob), home grown squash and the like. This time we are treated to a bushel of fiercely spicy fresh peppers.

2016 Women’s Health Education Mission to Granada

Our last mission trip here was part of a program of women’s and children’s health education, when AMEDICAusa brought several volunteers from an American health project to teach prenatal and early childhood health practices.

Clothing and Supplies mission, Aldea Granada, 2017

This time we brought a truckload of donated women’s and children’s clothing and, as a special gift, rare toys for the villages’ kids. Our next visit will be a school supply mission to provide the basic educational supplies that are otherwise difficult or impossible for the women to afford. Each time we visit, we also take a small gift of rice and beans for each family. It isn’t much, but at least for one day they do not have to worry about where their next meal will come from.

In addition, between regular program visits, AMEDICAusa’s Vice President Silvana Ayuso stops by frequently to check on the community’s well being and pass a little time with her friend, Doña Elsa.

“I really admire these women.” said Ayuso. ” Their strength and organization has gotten notice from as far away as the Government in Guatemala City.”

That is a difficult feat in a country where poverty is always the rule, rather than the exception.

Meet some of the women of Aldea Granada

(Each interview is translated to English)

AMEDICAusa, inc. is an I.R.S. 501(C)(3) registered charity, headquartered in Frederick, Maryland.

We are always looking for volunteers who wish to help in Guatemala. Get the details here.

Donating to AMEDICAusa ‘s ongoing programs is easy. Get the details here.

When One Child Grabs Your Heart

Pascualita with AMEDICAusa V.P. Silvana Ayuso and Hogar Feliz staff

Life is hard for every poor and indigenous Maya child in Guatemala.

San Andres Semetabaj, Sololá, Guatemala-

Sometimes though, one child’s struggle grabs your heart and you know you just have to do something.

We first met Pascualita during a medical mission at the National Hospital in Retalhuleu. She was being treated for a very serious, rare and incurable genetic skin disorder, Ichthyosis. The disease is often fatal to infants in Central America, who suffer dehydration, infections, chronic blistering, overheating, and rapid-calorie loss due to the condition. Rescued from a a mother that was unable to care for her, often abusive, and was using her for bait while begging in the streets, at four years old, she has already beaten the odds by simply surviving.

On her best days, smiling is physically difficult and painful. On her worst, she bleeds through cracked skin, suffers innumerable infections, and has near constant pain. Hot weather (plentiful in Retalhuleu) is physically dangerous to her as she dehydrates rapidly and sunshine makes her skin dry and crack even more.

Medical treatment of her condition is mostly supportive. There is no cure, and few medications exist to help treat the disease. Those drugs that do exist in the United States are experimental, ruinously expensive – even by our standards – and are unavailable in Guatemala.

The “Happy Home”

Dr. Gilberto Rolando Morales, an old friend of AMEDICAusa and the director of the Hospital Nacional de Retalhuleu, worked with the the local social services to find a suitable home for Pascuala. They finally found her a spot in a Hogar ( home in Spanish, but in this context a combination of a foster care, orphanage and day care center) in the cooler highlands of Guatemala. Casa Hogar Feliz, (the House of the Happy Home) a Norwegian run orphanage in Sololá had the room and staff that could care for her, but lacked the special skin creams and nutritional support needed for her continued care.

When AMEDICAusa was asked for assistance, we simply couldn’t refuse. Acquiring the necessary salves, vitamins and other supplies in the U.S., we brought them down to Guatemala and a new mission was born. Our Vice President, Silvana Ayuso, put together a team of volunteers and armed with toys, clothing, personal toiletries and even piñatas, brought not only six months of medical supplies to Pascualita, but a little bit of Christmas to all the children of the hogar.

It might not be an ground breaking effort – it won’t fix hunger, alleviate Guatemala’s poverty or even provide a cure for her underlying disease – but if it helps make Pascualita’s life just a little bit better, a little bit easier, we consider it a great success.

If you would like to help AMEDICAusa aid the poor, indigenous and forgotten children of Guatemala please donate here.

AMEDICAusa volunteers bring a little Christmas to Pascualita and Hogar Feliz in Sololá, Guatemala

AMEDICAusa, inc. is an I.R.S. 501(C)(3) registered charity, headquartered in Frederick, Maryland.

We are always looking for volunteers who wish to help in Guatemala. Get the details here.

Donating to AMEDICAusa ‘s ongoing programs is easy. Get the details here.

Sharing a Post Has Consequences… like a new school.

A Reporter’s Simple Story Gets Big Results

Aspiring Guatemalan reporter Brian Quevedo visited the small village of El Xab (pronounced El SHAB) just to do a little piece about their school. The impoverished community had banded together to build its own elementary school. Quevedo wanted to document their struggles to educate their children.

When the story appeared on Canal 46 TV in Retalhuleu, it caught the attention of AMEDICAusa. We contacted Brian to get the full story so that we could aid the school. Within a few days AMEDICAusa volunteers were in El Xab delivering educational supplies and evaluating the needs of the school with an eye toward improving its construction.

AMEDICAusa volunteers deliver school supplies to El Xab in March

The school’s needs are many. Hand built by local volunteers, it is constructed largely of bamboo, has no running water (and its well has since gone dry), no electricity, only improvised outhouses for sanitation, and dirt floors. Its tables and desks are mostly improvised from discarded wood and cement blocks.
Even pencils, paper and books are in short supply.

The community is made up largely of indigenous Maya campesinos, subsistence farmers and field workers who often can not afford even shoes for their children, much less the school supplies for their education.

Quevedo’s follow up story about AMEDICAusa‘s mission to “the School Around the Mango” aired in Guatemala on March 14th. Widely shared on social media, the story made its way to the offices of Fundación Tigo , the charitable arm of the Latin American telecommunications giant.

Even Guatemala’s President Gets Involved In New School

Inspired by the story, Fundación Tigo moved with astonishing speed. Committing themselves to building the new school, they planned new buildings, with ten classrooms, utilities, modern sanitation, two sports fields and even a computer lab. What could normally be expected to take a year or more was accomplished in weeks.

President Jimmy Morales and Tigo set the first stone at the School Around the Mango (Courtesy Government of Guatemala)
On July 15th, Tigo officially broke ground on the rebuilding project, with Guatemala’s President, Jimmy Morales, ceremonially setting the first stone of the new building. Construction is scheduled to be completed by October of this year. The students will be in their new school when classes reopen after the winter break in February.

“We are proud to have been a small part of this,” said Neale Brown, President of AMEDICAusa “but this is really a story about how one reporter’s efforts and the power of social media can come together to create change in a community.”

“Brian’s stories reached people, even across different languages, in a personal way.” said Brown. “They inspired people to get involved and to do something, even if it was something as simple as sharing the story on Facebook. That made all the difference.”

AMEDICAusa, inc. is an I.R.S. 501(C)(3) registered charity, headquartered in Frederick, Maryland.

Donating to AMEDICAusa ‘s ongoing programs is easy. Get the details here.

AMEDICAusa Volunteers bring badly needed supplies.

Colonia Santa Elena, El Asintal, Guatemala-

With clapboard walls, dirt floors and some classes forced outside by the lack of space, The “Escuela Oficial Rural Mixta” (Official Co-ed Rural School) of this small village is typical of the elementary schools of rural Guatemala. Rain and insects enter the class rooms with equal alacrity, light streams in only from the roughed-in, uncovered windows and the spaces between the wall boards and tables are largely makeshift affairs, fashioned from cinderblock and unfinished boards.

The people here are “campesinos”, subsistence farmers or field hands of Maya decent, who, on those rare days that they actually get folding money, must make their living on around $1.50 a day…. The children wear second or third hand clothing, washed in the nearby creek beds by their mothers, rubbed against a rock to remove the worst of the stains. The diet is beans, rice and corn tortillas…the diversion a pickup game of soccer played on a field shared with cows and the odd horse.

Even elementary school here is a luxury that many families cannot really afford. The school uniforms meant to muddy the difference between the “haves” and the “have-nots” are beyond the reach of families in a village that has no “haves”, and basic school supplies are much too expensive for most.

The drop out rate is extreme, with less than 18% of the children going on to high school, and even fewer graduating and going on to any sort of trade school or college programs.

AMEDICAusa Volunteers with students in Colonia Santa Elena, Guatemala

AMEDICAusa volunteers arrived today bringing boxes of notebooks, pencils, pens, crayons and other basic educational supplies for delivery directly into the student’s hands. It is the tenth such mission to Guatemalan schools this year.

“By easing the burden on the families and assisting the teachers with basic educational supplies and equipment, we help the kids to stay in school.” said AMEDICAusa President Neale Brown. “Every kid who goes on to high school and beyond is a victory for us, and more importantly, a victory for his or her village.”

AMEDICAusa, headquartered in Frederick, Maryland, brings more than supplies to these educational missions. Dovetailing with their medical programs, these visits also bring basic health and dental education to the students and provide an opportunity to assess the health needs of the community, as well as identifying health concerns for particular students.

“We’ve seen everything from eye infections to broken bones and other traumatic injuries on these missions.” said Brown, a retired Fire Officer and Paramedic. “It’s a rare occasion when we don’t find at least one child or village resident who is in need of medical care, and whom we either refer to a clinic or, in the more severe cases transport ourselves.”

Anyone interested in volunteering on a school mission can get the details here. Those kind enough to donate to AMEDICAusa ‘s ongoing programs may do so here.

AMEDICAusa, inc. is a I.R.S. 501(C)(3) registered charity.

AMEDICAusa, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) Tax Exempt Public Charity.
IRS # 81-0842688

Donations to AMEDICAusa, Inc. are tax deductible under IRC section 170.
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