THE EL ARADO CLINIC

Dear friends,

In this and the following newsletters, one of several ministries in which we are involved will be highlighted.

A special place of ministry to which the Lord guided our steps is the medical clinic at El Arado. Located five-six kilometers off the paved road forty minutes from Guatemala City, the El Arado clinic serves over 8,000 very poor Mayans. It has been in existence for three years and is well run by people of Mayan and American and Spanish ancestry. Anita and Greg Gianacavo came to this area nine years ago and saw the great need in this underserved area. They first began ministering medically from a mobile clinic (bus), but soon saw the need for something permanent and built the clinic.

Here on a typical clinic day, the people line up early outside the door. The clinic is located in the middle of three villages, and some women have walked with sick children from the surrounding areas. They often can be seen walking with a child tied to their back, having one or several others by the hand and carrying something in a basket or wrapped in a cloth on top of their head. Talk about multitasking! Because of the number of children here, often nine-year -old girls have a baby brother or sister tied to their back, and they are responsible for that child all day, until mother returns from the fields.

The people who arrive early receive a number and enter the clinic after telling a nurse why they have come. This triage helps to get those sickest seen first. Throughout the day many women and babies and children will be seen with complaints ranging from diarrhea and abdominal discomfort to respiratory problems, resulting from the dust and the open fires in their homes where tortillas and meals are cooked.

The men are usually working in the fields and will come only with a serious machete wound or something equally dramatic. One man recently came with a badly infected thumb. His brother had bitten him while they were both drunk and arguing. He was sent to the hospital and admitted, which is unusual. Though the patients we send are always very sick, unfortunately, many are sent home without being admitted.

The clinic will see each patient and then dispense medicines as needed from the pharmacy within the clinic. The people are very poor and unless meds are given them, will have none.

Then, the patient(s) move to another room where the administration of the medicine is explained to them again. The first explanation was in Spanish as was the visit with the doctor. But this time, the explanation will be in Cacquichel, as will the prayer for God's protection and care for them. Since Spanish is a second language for these people, this explanation insures that they understood what happened in the visit and the proper way to take the medicine.

The women who come to this clinic are all dressed in traditional Mayan attire – a huipile (blouse) with much beautiful embroidery work on it and a skirt which is fabric wrapped around them several times and belted on. One size fits all with the larger women having fewer wraps. This is really ingenious. The huipile and skirt do not necessarily match, but they are always very bright. The Mayan women have a very strong textiles tradition passed down through many generations. The design on the huipile designates the village of their origin. Following the visit to the clinic, the walk back home can take sometime.

When the seriousness of the patient demands it, an ambulance (bomberos) is called, and the patient is taken to the hospital. Of course, the bomberos must be paid to come, and the clinic must pay this cost. Then, the patient is taken to Antigua, about 1 ½ hours away by vehicle. There is a town much closer with a hospital, but these people must be taken to the seat of their department's county government. There, they wait long hours to be seen, regardless of the seriousness of the need. Then, as often happens, women with very small, sick babies or children are told to take them home. They may or may not be given medicine. Their only transportation back home is a public bus. The last one leaves at 7 p.m., but the message from the hospital doesn't come in time to catch this bus, so they are stranded far from home with a sick child. The staff at the clinic in El Arado then will receive a call from these stranded people and someone is sent to return them home. This poses a problem, though, because it can be dangerous to be out after dark, and it can be very dangerous driving back into the mountains on the unpaved roads.

The treatment of the very poor in Guatemala leaves much to be desired. Because of this type of situation, much fear and prejudice must be overcome in order be able to minister to them effectively.

Driving into the area where El Arado clinic is located is to take a trip back in time. The men are seen early in the morning walking to the fields with a hoe over one shoulder and a machete somehow tied to the waist. Using these implements, the men tend the fields and produce crops. Tractors have never been seen. One passes by fields of corn and green beans and various other vegetables located on the sides and at the bottom of very steep gorges. The road dips and climbs accordingly over very rough terrain. The road is not paved and during the dry season, clouds of dust fly as vehicles pass. In the rainy season, news of the weather and possible safe passage of a vehicle on the roads must be passed by word of mouth. The dry season causes so much dirt to be in motion in the air, one wonders how there can be any left to make so much mud in the rainy season.

The women and children who need to go to the clinic will be waiting in the first village for a possible ride, if the car isn't already full. When given the o.k., they quickly pile in with more children and people than originally had been counted for space. Once, when returning from the clinic in the evening, Jim was asked to take a group back to the main road and several piled in with live chickens being held upside down by their feet. It is always an adventure when the Lord is leading.

The clinic at El Arado stands as a testament to a combined effort of many to provide help to some of those here who cannot help themselves.

Many thanks to Karl Zick of Grace Presbyterian Church who designed and set up our new web page. WWW.gracepccc.com/gmm.htm

Your support through prayers and contributions enables us to continue to bring help and hope to these people and in doing so demonstrate to them the love of God. Your contributions may be to CTEN, PO Box 291307, Kerrville, Texas 78029-1307. It is always a delight to receive an Email. Please E-mail us at JCHINES@CTEN.ORG

Photo # 1 Anita triaging patients outside the clinic early in the morning. Note the typical dress and the women with the bundle on her head.

Photo # 2 Jim and Esther made a "home visit" to a man to sick to come to the clinic. He probable has Tuberculosis. Notice the walls of the home with everything hanging. It was the rainy season.

Photo # 3 Transporting patients is a daily occurence. We have had up to 20 in the car at one time. What you cannot see are the live chickens in a basket behind the lady on the right.

Photo # 4 Jim examining one of his favorite patients named Juan. Juan has had repeated respirtatory infections. He was given a small nebulizer machine to use at home with much improvment.

Photo # 5 A view of one of the many deep gorges we travel along to reach the clinic.