Update on Camellas progress

Carmella is now walking "flat footed" with crutches. Her surgeries have been going well. The malnutrition in her past has made her bones "soft". Right now they are giving her vitamins, feeding her, and waiting for her bones to strengthen.

See the difference in Carmellas overall health!

Orphanage in Playa Grande

Association Santa Domingo Savico

Playa Grande, Ixcan, Quiche

Founded in 2002, director Jose Luis Zepeda has requested our support over the years. It is amazing to see how the kids have grown up!



Marisol
3 years old in 2002 :
Daughter of a mother repatriated for the situation of violence and war of our country. Marisol was abandoned at birth. She was left in the care of her father whom also abandoned her. She was received by a family in Buena Esperanza, Ixcan for 3 months time. Upon her fathers union with a second woman, Marisol was returned to him. The situation was worsened for the maltreatment by her step-mother. How this transpired: Pulled her hair, threw her, hit her, left her exposed in the sun for long periods of time, this are the causes of her situation. She can not walk because of malnutrition and she is passing through psychological problems.



















6 years old
Normal development
Very helpful with younger the kids
























Maria Juan
3 years old in 2002: Daughter of an alcoholic mother. Her father is very poor working in agriculture on his own land. Upon entrance in our center we encountered her abandoned en the park of the church of Christ the redeemer of Playa Grande. Maria Zepeda is now in charge of the care of Maria. Her stated of health was malnutrition and the psychological problems that presented because of her situation since birth.




2002 3 years old 2009
Good emotional health




Lizandro
2 years old in 2002: Son of alcoholic parents in a family of 6 sons, 5 brothers have been separated for the same situation and two of them are unaccounted for. Upon entrance he was 6 months and his health situation was grave when he presented. He had an intestinal infection caused by a diet that was not hygienic like eating tamales at the young age of six months and while breast feeding mother was alcoholic and dirty.



2005
4 years old
Very active and healthy



Maria Cristina
2 years old in 2002: Daughter of single mother, with strong emotional problems, like alcoholism and prostitution. She was abandoned at birth. She was received by a woman that mistreated her, she returned to her mother for a time. Her other siblings also mistreated her psychologically and physically. Upon entering she was malnourished, aggressive, and on account of her family situation she has psychological problems.



2005: 4 years old and in good health


Wendy
In 2005 ~ 2 years old



Elena
7 years old
Emotionally unstable


Landon 2009



Magdalena 2009



Leslyn 2009



Kimberlyn 2009



Jose 2009



Fernando 2009



Guadalupe 2009




Anselmo in 2002
Anselmo represents the situation that we are living en our community malnutrition and death. Children like him that we wish to rescue with our mission and the inspiration of God en the Guatemala we are living under the structure of injustice.





This is a picture from my visit to Playa Grande in 2006.


There are now 13 kids in the care of the Orphanage. We hope to continue providing them support in years to come.

Carmellita

In December 2009 I took a trip to see Fr. Bernie in Coban. The goal was to check on the two containers of aid sent there. Apart from verifying that the cargo and handling was just fine, what I encountered was a chance to learn about the community that two priests, Fr. Bernie and Fr. Basil had built.

Fr. Bernie and Fr. Basil were sent to Guatemala in the early seventies to establish a Benedictine community much like the one found in Collegeville, MN. The Benedictine Association of Coban was founded and they established a monastery, raised a church, and built a following.

Currently on the "compound" they are working on finishing off a two newly constructed buildings dedicated for a Multimedia Training Center. Beds, chairs, and tables included in the cargo will help fill the buildings.


We also toured some communities northwest of Coban. In one, where Fr. Bernie already built and established a school and now they are building a chicken coop that will hopefully house 1000 birds.

In another, named Las Palmas, they were pouring the concrete floors in a structure that will become the school. After viewing the school we were walking back to the truck when I was told the caretaker of the school wanted me to meet his daughter. She had received a walker from us. Her father said since she was gifted the walker her attitude changed dramatically. She is up and around.

They told me that beforehand Carmella was not actively walking on her own. Her parents had tried to have a medical team operate on her clubbed feet but the doctors detected she had a cold on the day of surgery. He said because of her malnutrition and a lack of money they stopped seeking care.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
UPDATE from Fr. Bernie 2/2/10:
Hi Karin, Oscar my helper is in the city with Carmelita who has her feet twisted. He is doing the rounds with the head of Pediatrics in the hospital San Juan de Dios. She will go to the city on the 19th of February and have her operation then. We had the idea of having the gringo doctors do it but they do not do this type of operation since it needs followup etc.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A MESSAGE program volunteer has kindly pledged a donation of $150 towards the expenses for transportation, food, and lodging to support Carmella and her family during her surgery!

From Fr. Bernie

Hi Karin, I´ll bet you are busy with getting things shipped off to Haiti. Things are going well here. We gave away all the clothes and most of the medical equipment. There were enough stuffed toys for the three schools. Here are some photos you can enjoy. I will send more with a DVD when the visitors leave for the states. I thank again all the volunteers who made such joy possible. Bernie

weesh

During my trip in fall of 2009 Gladys, the health promoter from Palin, Escuintla, invited me to the baptism of her granddaughter. After the lunch reception Gladys pleaded for me to review the case of a two year old boy that lived along the rail line up the road. I was told the child could not “pee” and apparently the child had this condition since birth. I was also informed that the mother had sought care numerous times without success at Roosevelt the largest public hospital in Guatemala City. Gladys explained that the parents had nothing and were “squatting” in a make shift house in the corner of a lot of some friends. As we approached I did notice a little boy dressed in just a shirt with his hand stuffed down his cloth diaper. What struck me was the look of an irritated frustration on the little boy’s brow it spoke to me loudly. I met, interviewed the mother, and obtained some general medical information and paperwork. As we departed my skin crawled with goose bumps as I tried to shake off the powerful sympathetic sensations created by idea of not being able to urinate properly for TWO YEARS! Luckily, I was able to arrange a consult for the child in the city the following Tuesday. The family did show up that Tuesday afternoon after the mother had sold enough tamales to pay for bus fare. Dr. Lopez ordered an emergency kidney ultrasound and the child’s left kidney was obviously inflamed. Dr. Lopez diagnosed him with a “bladder valve” which is extra tissue that forms a flap over the tube that lets urine exit the bladder. If the child tried to urinate the stress caused the flap to close the tube, when relaxed urine dripped out slowly. A urologist was consulted and the procedure was arranged. The next week urologist cauterized the flap but ran into problems as the camera entered the bladder. They learned that unexcreated minerals had formed a stone that filled the entire bladder space. Formal surgery was done the next day to remove the stone and the child was set home with a catheter while healing. I went to visit the child shortly there after and was able to watch him play from a distance, I tried to get a photograph but he wasn’t going to let that happen. I was informed that the parents had taken a special trip to the church in Esquipulas to visit a famous statue of Jesus in order to give thanks to God for healing their child.

Guatemala 2009

The containers were released on Saturday 9/26/09. All seven left from port in a convoy. I was able to send the two containers for Fr. Bernies project directly to Coban. We unloaded five here in the city from 1am to 11am Sunday. We had 55 firefighters show up to help unload them all at once, thank God because we were up to the doors of the warehouse. There was NO space to begin unpacking. It was such a relief after we were all done, it hit me hard as I broke down in front of a small group of firefighters that were waiting for their ride. I can't express to you how hard the fight was but in the end it really was worth it, there are soooo many people that truly need the aid. Everyone was so anxious to begin distribution. I am also amazed at the support that we received from some good people down here. Really it was a lot more then I expected, but with the country in a tailspin there are few other options.

A realtor in Guatemala City named Yoly de Soch generously donated us the use of her warehouse in Zone 14. It was a three story building so coordinating the unloading was a challenge, rice bags packed full of clothing, shoes, linens, and scrubs went all the way up to the top floor, crutches, canes, walkers, wheelchairs, and loose boxes up to the second floor. All pallets, gurneys, and heavy equipment stayed on ground level. A local businessman donated us use of his forklift and an extra pallet jack.

What an advertisement for McDonalds! We had to feed our volunteers twice, they worked so long, hard, it was incredibly humbling to see, even concrete made a comfortable seat.

Nomination

The St. Cloud times has just nominated me as one of the 10 most influential people in the St. Cloud area in the past 10 years. If you agree go VOTE on-line at:

www.sctimes.com/influentials

If you load them, they will come....

8/24/09
Day Four
Sunday - A day of rest
(For volunteers that is....)

8/25/09
Day Five

Container #7 Loading
The MESSAGE Program
Cargo included: Disposable medical supplies, SCRUBS,
walkers, canes, wheelchairs, and general aid supplies

Go Johnnies!

8/24/09

Day Three

Students and ROTC Members from St. Johns University
loaded Containers #5 and #6
Cargo included: 150 dorm room beds, mattresses,
tables, hygiene and school supplies, and shoes

Two down with five to go

8/22/09
Day Two

The MESSAGE Program Crew assisted by

Container #3 Loading Crew
included volunteers from
Kids Against Hunger- Stewart and Team Pflipsen
Cargo included: Dialysis machines, dialysis chairs,
linens, general aid supplies

Container #4 Loading Crew

included volunteers recruited by
The Central MN United Way
Cargo included: fire gear & equipment, exam tables,
desks, disposable medical supples, and linens

Good things come to those who wait.....

On August 20th, 2009 we finally got the call.....
It was a GO for loading!

The Mission: To load Seven 40' containers of humanitarian aid in 5 days

Where do you get enough volunteers on such short notice?

Loading Crew Container #1
Cargo included: hospital beds, impermeable mattresses,
IV poles, wheelchairs, maternity beds, linens, and clothing

Loading Crew Container #2
Cargo included: hospital gurney's, carts,
disposable medical supplies, IV poles, wheelchairs

On 8/21/09 Americore volunteers loaded two containers in one day.
And they packed them well!

bandaids, walkers, and sheets, oh my!

The MESSAGE Program is really just a huge rescue program. We prevent many usable goods from ending up ending up in landfills or being recycled before their due time.

IV Poles

Patient Gurneys

Crutches

We collect a number of items such as such as exam tables, crutches, walkers, canes, wheelchairs, hospital beds, linens, disposable medical supplies, nebulizers, dental chairs, instruments, blood pressure cuffs, fire gear, back boards, and clothing. We pack everything up and ship it to areas in desperate need were the donations and recipients are given a second chance.