Monday 14 September

 

It's amazing how fast time flies the older you get.  The past couple of weeks have been filled with the usual clinics, worship rehearsal, and church activities.  We are really happy about the monthly clinic that we started in Tabil.  Consistently there have been over thirty patients and each time a lot of them are new.  They are very appreciative of what we do.  One note.  Remember the baby I mentioned a few posts back that has spina bifida?  Here's a picture of his problem:

 

 

Anyway, we got word of a Neurosurgical team coming from the U.S. to Guatemala City in October.  Today we finally got a hold of the family to give them the information.  It is interesting that most Mayans independent of how traditional or poor they are have a prepaid-type cell phone.  They may not have any credit to make calls, but to receive calls here is free.  The first time I called a boy answered.  I told him I was the doctor from the clinic in Tabil and began to tell him why I was calling.  He said something in Quiché and hung up.  I thought Areli would have better luck so she called back and this time his mother answered.  She was the aunt of the patient.  She didn't realize how well her cell phone picked up her voice and was yelling into the phone.  When Areli explained the situation she asked her to take down the number of the social worker to call for the details.  She obviously did not read and write so she said that she would go get someone else and call us back.  Yes, all cell phones here have caller I.D., which is why we've implemented a new "clinic" cell phone instead of giving our personal cell phone numbers to our patients.  So Areli sent her a text with the details and a little while later a man called back and she gave him the details.  I think they got the info.  We'll continue to follow up with them to encourage them to go.  I'm not sure that the team will operate on this child but a least they will get an expert opinion about his condition.

 

Thanks to those who have been praying about our Tuesday clinic day.  We have clinic tomorrow!  It will be nearby at a small village near our church.  It is an area to which our church has been doing outreach.  They have a cell group and will hopefully begin having a regular Sunday service soon.  Any new clinic is a wild card not knowing if everybody will show up or nobody.  Tomorrow is even more unpredictable because it is Guatemala's Independence Day.  This means that most businesses will be closed but the people may take off to Independence Day celebrations.  We are praying and hoping that a lot of people will show up.

 

Here are some pictures from the Tabil clinic a few months back.  Remember, this is the one we need to walk a lot to get to.