Clinic in Chicabracan

We mentioned yesterday that we were going to have dinner with the eye team from Houston who is here this week (SOS). It was wonderful. They are such awesome people and we were honored to hang out with them for a few hours. As an extra added bonus, we were in clinic today about 100 yards from their eye clinic.

It's always a treat to work with other health care providers, and today we spent some time with a Family Practioner who travels with SOS. Dr. Varela sat in with us on a few patients and then stepped out to help with some folks who were waiting outside. The first picture is of him removing a young girl's stitches in the back of our pickup truck!

The second picture is of a young family who came to see us (sore throat, sniffles, etc.) and they were so cute we couldn't resist taking their picture!

The third pic is one we took on the way to clinic. A note on Guatemalan culture here. The absolute most important thing in the entire world to them is the corn tortilla. They taste a bit like rubber and have about the same nutritional value, but they LOVE them! If a child eats 2500 calories a day but doesn't want his tortillas, they will bring him to see us and tell us he has no appetite. No kidding.

Anyway, there are diesel powered grinders all over the countryside (electricity can be a little less than 100% reliable and, heaven knows, you have to have your tortillas). The women carry baskets of corn to the mill on their heads every morning (remember that commercial, "Time to make the donuts"?). The ground mixture they leave with is called mush (pronounced "moosh"). This, they also carry on their heads.

The picture is of the building that houses the grinder in Chicabracan. There are a few women standing outside with their corn and one walking towards us with her mush. Note the electric line running in the door - that would be for the bare lightbulb that's probably in there - not the the grinder. Also note the soccer goal on the left hand side of the picture. There are probably a million of those in this country - and that might not be an exaggeration!

The fourth picture is of Heidi holding a little boy in our exam room. He was a very funny kid, too, so we had to take a picture!

On another note, we're up to four babies now with cleft palates. Two are in Chichicastenango, one is in a village outside San Andres, and now one in Chicabracan. Please pray that we are able to help these kids. We are hoping to take them to Antigua in November for a consult and some pre-operative prep work, then back to Antigua in January for their surgeries. Today's baby is only a week old and cannot eat well. We told them if they go to ASELSI in Chichi tomorrow they'll be able to get a special bottle for the baby.

Tomorrow is clinic here in Quiche.