Guatemala - Day 4

Dear Evan and Nathan,

 

     We started our day with a visit to a daycare center in Tecutlan.  You might remember me telling you about a lady named Maria.  She had polio as a child and was left with severe problems with her legs.  When she was 9, she went to live in the United States with Karen, the founder of Hearts in Motion, so that she could have corrective surgeries and a cochlear implant.  She lived with Karen for three years through several surgeries and a lot of physical therapy.  When she returned to Guatemala, she was a translator for H.I.M.  As an adult, she saw a need in her community for a daycare.  She saw that kids were not attending school because they were taking care of their younger siblings while their parents (or single moms) worked.  She partnered with H.I.M. to start her daycare so that the younger kids would get quality care and the older kids could go to school. 

     We spent eight hours seeing patients at the H.I.M. house in Tecultan.  We saw 18 patients.  Once again, we saw a lot of different diagnoses and my students did a terrific job. 

     I miss you!  I hope you are being extra good for Lauren.  I know I can count on you both to help her out.

     Love you, Mom

 

A rousing game of pato, pato, ganzo (duck, duck, goose) at Maria's daycare.

 

Danny chasing down a little girl in pato, pato, ganzo.

 

Bonnie is treating a young woman who had a stroke.  Otto, our driver and translator, is beside her.

This is a busy clinic!

 

The end of another long, but productive day.  The girl to my left is Taylor, a pre-PT student at WSU.  She was a big help to us.  I hope to see her application come through at UPS.

Look at this beautiful bird!  It was really big, and there were two of them together in the same tree.  The second one is on the branch just behind this one.  You can see his tail feathers through the palms if you look closely.