Zona Reyna

Well, we made it up and back with only minor truck problems to show for it.

This week was our second trip up into the jungles of Guatemala to work with the people of Zona Reyna (formerly incorrectly called the Ixcan - oops).

Last time we were in a village called Saquixpec, the place where Duane and the boys crashed the plane. This time we were about 30-45 minutes further down the road in a village called La Tana. It was a similar situation - there is no power, very little running water, and a whole lot of medical need. There are no pharmacies and the nearest hospital is about 3 hours away on a REALLY bad road. We drove through one river and over a handmade wooden bridge about 6 inches wider than our trucks to get there.

It's only about 150 kilometers from Quiche by road and much, much closer by air. The six to seven hour drive shrinks down to a 15 minute flight. So please continue to pray for the airplane repairs to go well. (The guys work on it nearly every day but we're still missing two propellers, valued at about $25,000.) Also, to prevent a similar accident from happening in the future, the runway in La Tana will have to be graded with a large bulldozer at some significant cost.

Anyway, enough about that. We drove up Wednesday afternoon and set up, mostly before dark (remember, no electricity). We had brought two generators, so it was nice to get some lights up in the building shortly after dark. The government has built a beautiful building there to function as a Centro de Salud (Health Center) but it sits completely empty. That's where we lived and worked for three days.

Ever wonder what the monkeys feel like at the zoo when they look out and see people staring at them? Well, we know now. From the minute we got there, we were the monkeys. In three days, there was hardly a minute when at least some people weren't standing outside the building looking in the windows. Apparently our daily routines are quite fascinating.

So, since setting up was a spectator sport, we knew that clinic would be, too. We were right. On the first day, we saw just over 600 patients. This was pretty much in line with what we had been told to expect (about 1100 in two days, we were told). The first day was all people from La Tana. Consults ranged from headaches and belly aches to some pretty sick kids, lots of skin conditions, lots of prenatal patients (a few with dangerous pre-eclampsia), and at least two machete accidents.

The local "committee" (picture a very laid back city council) did all the organizing and they were fabulous. They provided all the translators (Spanish to Ke'kchi) we needed and also handed out numbers and kept people in line and outside the clinic building until it was their turn (quite a task, that). We ran five simultaneous consult rooms. Katie had prenatals, Heidi had women, Leslie had kids, and Hannah and Megan saw men, women, and kids.

Our pharmacy students, Justin and Steve, ran the pharmacy (imagine that!). The consult docs would see the patients and send them out with "prescriptions". Justin and Steve would fill them, dispense the meds, and get the patients on their way.

Duane, Aaron, David, Joe and Adam (Hannah's boyfriend) spent much of the time scoping out runways, keeping generators running, cooking, putting up sun shelters for the people in line, and basically keeping the place clean and running. Craig and Tomas spent a good part of the days evangelizing, and Matt helped with consults, cooking, cleaning, and even did some housecalls with Duane (we couldn't spare a doctor or nurse, so we sent those two!)

Anyway, Day One finished after dark and found the entire group headed down to the river to wash off the day. We were down under 2000 feet altitude, so it was nice and hot. No fans, no A/C. The river was very welcome!

That night, we set up the projector and a small sound system and showed the "Jesus" movie overdubbed in Ke'kchi. SEVERAL hundred people showed up and sat in complete silence for over two hours while the movie was projected on about a ten foot wide screen we brought.

Morning of Day Two started with a meeting with the local "Committee", who wants us to start coming much more regularly. We would love to. We're praying that some of the barriers start getting knocked down (a better runway, a working plane, some budget issues, etc.). Our hope is that these people will not have to live the way they do now forever. One committee member told us about a woman they loaded in a truck to send to the hospital just a few days earlier who died in transit. This is not an uncommon event and we really hope we can help change that.

Day One was all La Tana people (as patients) and Day Two was supposed to be the surrounding towns. Apparently, word did not get out quite as widely as expected and/or there are some trust issues with the local populations. "Only" 300-400 people showed up for clinic, so we were done by 1:30 or 2:00. Then it was "pack up and go". We got home last night around 10pm, exhausted, but happy!

Okay, pictures. Picture one - we're the monkeys in the zoo... Picture two is Craig evangelizing to some of the local men. Three is Megan with a patient who seems to find the camera pretty funny. And four is Aaron, David, Joe, and Rachel cooking lunch - or waiting for it to cook - it's hard to tell!