Day 2 - Reflection

Today’s trip took us through morning traffic, one hour and forty five minutes out of town up the mountain and then down, down, down, on dusty roads only wide enough for our bus. This clinic location was chosen to help Guatemala’s Mayan people who live in a province that merges three different cultures and many different dialects. Long woven skirts and embroidered blouses are the typical dress of the women and girls – they are a proud people, humble in their surroundings yet unusually proud of their children. Gentle children demanding nothing bravely sat in the dentist's chair without ever having seen a dentist before today. While his parents worked, one six year old boy arrived alone sent to visit the Canadian dentist without even knowing what a dentist was. What this boy received today goes beyond words. What he received from Dr. Jack and his lovely wife Michelle as they spoke softly to him and gently wiped his tears, was much more than the fixing of cavities – it was compassion at its finest.












Dr. Steve Russell…
“Today we saw survivors – people who eek out an existence in very difficult circumstances. Not just issues of food security and poverty but also the hardships of life. Women who have been raped, orphans who have been left with relatives, children who are at work despite their youth, and yet, they find a way to carry on. In a life where the world can seem pitched against them, today we were able to offer them the hope that God is with them.”



Paramedic Glen Canavan…
"So much planning is put into these trips and on this second day, I am amazed by the fact that we have already treated over 1500 people. That is almost as many as we saw during five days last year in Honduras. Every day we pray for the safety of the team and for the communities that we are visiting. It is mind boggling to think that right now there are 1500 hundred people thanking God for us. The little things that we do for them will make noticeable changes in their quality of life. People like Victor who had stopped taking his medication because it upset his stomach, while his diabetes ran out of control. An alternate medication was selected for him and his diabetes is once again in check. It doesn't get any better than this."



Dr. Tony Brown…
“I find that we are seeing so many more people than we have ever seen before. Today’s Mayan people were so beautiful and so grateful. After receiving the 50th hug and kiss from mothers and their children, I realized that I had dispensed a new kind medicine called Amistad and Esperanza (Friendship & Hope).”