THE BEGINNING - June 2005
Dear Family and Friends,
It has been almost a year since we made
the decision for Jim to close his medical practice and begin the journey to do
medical mission work in
Guatemala
. Some of you have been more
informed of what has transpired, but we wanted to bring everyone up to date.
Last summer and fall, and now this
spring, we have been in
Guatemala
attending language school to begin to learn Spanish.
In July we will return to
Guatemala
to remain there on a full time basis. We
will be working in two different medical clinics that minister to the very
poor Mayan population of
Guatemala
. One of the clinics is associated with a home for girls "Prince
of Peace" and the other is in a remote village "Hands
of Hope".
The Mayan Indians are the
indigenous population in
Guatemala
. In the 1500’s the Spaniards
conquered the Indians. The Mayans
have remained a very oppressed segment of the population. They have within
their people groups many different dialects and although Spanish is the
official language, many of them do not speak Spanish.
Because of their extreme poverty and lack of language skills, it is
very difficult for them to seek any type of medical care.
These will be the people we will be working with not only to provide
medical care but helping with nutrition, water supply, feeding programs,
education and hygiene.
Guatemala
has a population of 12 million. Three
million live on less than 3 US dollars per day, another 6 million on less than
1 US dollar per day.
One such family brought their
little girl to the clinic in the remote village mentioned above.
She could not walk and was constantly crying because of the pain in her
feet. Examination of her feet
demonstrated multiple infestations (see photos) with parasites she got from
going barefoot. Their houses have
dirt floors, no sanitary system and usually the pigs and other animals are
brought into the house at night. The
only way to rid her of the parasites is to dig them out with a scalpel and
then treat her with antibiotics. This
is why it is so important to do add nutrition, sanitation and good water
supply to the medical care we provide to them.
You can see the need is great but
so is the reward when you see the smile on their faces when someone treats
them with dignity and love.
Of Course to help the people
requires funding. For those of
you who would like to help, your contributions are fully tax deductible and
can be sent to CTEN,
PO Box 291307
,
Kerrville
Tx
78029-1307
. Kay and I will use our own
funds to meet our personal needs (rent, food, monthly bills, ect).
Unless otherwise directed, all funds will go to meet the needs of
ministering to the Mayan Indians. Please
use the enclosed card for your response.
You can reach us by mail until July 12th.
The address is 5161
Cape
Romain
,
Corpus Christi
,
Texas
78412
. Our phone number is 361-992-4588. You can reach us anytime by E-mail at JCHINES@CTEN.ORG.
While in
Guatemala
we send periodic E-mails with
updates of what we are doing. If you are not on our list, simply send us an
E-mail and we will add your name.
We look forward to hearing from many of
you.
Sincerely,
Kay and Jim
