The final days for Team Guatemala

The last few days and evenings of our two-week clinic in Santa Cruz Del Quiche were extremely busy, making it difficult to post news. Of course plenty happened in those final days

One of our recipients this week was from Panajxit, the Quiche Mayan village we visited last weekend. Sixty-six year-old Santos Cescilia had never worn glasses, though she was profoundly nearsighted. Dr. Cathy from Wisconsin examined her. She teamed up with Dr. George, also from Wisconsin, to determine the best possible eyeglass fit from our inventory. The glasses were not her exact prescription, but we were able to greatly improve her vision in spite of her advanced cataracts. Stephanie, our team member from Utah, made adjustments to her glasses to make them the best they could be, and told Santos Cescilia that the glasses were such a change that it would take some time to get used to. As our team expected, when Santos Cescilia put the glasses on, she was shocked how the world appeared to her. She was overwhelmed, but managed to tell us that she was very happy, though things appeared different. As so many of our recipients do here in Guatemala, she gave blessings our team. In addition to helping her gain better vision, we hope we were also able to help her husband who was too sick to come to our clinic. We read his prescription from his cracked glasses that Santo Cescilia brought with her, and we gave her a couple pairs of reading glasses to take to her husband.

Peter, our team member from Kentucky, had a simply amazing experience in our final days, dispensing glasses to two adorable twins. It meant a great deal to him as he is a twin himself, along nieces and twin grand-nieces!

On Thursday, after our final day of clinic, we packed up the exam equipment, inventory computers and the remaining supplies and we said a tearful goodbye to our wonderful local volunteers, a group of high school girls from Colegio Utatlan School.

We then finished packing our own belongings at the hotel and made our final group walk together to a thank you dinner celebration at the municipal building in the town square.

The Lions Club of Santa Cruz Del Quiche treated us to Guatemalan music and a dinner of Pepian, the delicious traditional Guatemalan chicken dish.

The Lions Club, the mayor and other local officials, honored our team's service with individual "Reconocimento" certificates then finished the evening with salsa dancing (or for many of us, it was attempted salsa dancing!).

Our team came together over the last two weeks and became more than friends. The gift of sharing our work here will stay with us forever and many of us hope to meet again at future OneSight clinics. We shared our laughter, many overwhelmingly touching moments, our personal stories, our tears and supported each other in those moments when we were missing our friends and families back home.

Thank you for following our journey as we gave the gift of sight to thousands in Guatemala. We hope you enjoyed reading our updates as much as we enjoyed the whole experience. Here are more photos from our wonderful experience in Guatemala, and the beautiful people we helped in Santa Cruz Del Quiche.

The Ageless Day

Today was a very exciting day for our team! We knew that more people were expected, but were very enthused and energized as we approached the clinic site and saw that the line extended for two city blocks! We couldn't wait to get started... At 8:30 250 school children arrived and we knew we were on the right track.

Oggi e' stato un giorno emozionante per il nostro gruppo! Ci aspettavamo molte persone e gia' la vista dell'esterno della clinica ci ha confermato che la giornata sarebbe stata intensa. Non vedevamo l'ora di iniziare... Alle 8:30 250 bambini hanno invaso la clinica con la loro simpatia e vivacita'.

The flow of people remained steady through the day, keeping us all busy yet allowing time for special moments and photo opportunities.

Il flusso di persone e' rimasto costante per tutto il giorno, tenendoci occupati ma dandoci comunque modo di gustarci momenti speciali e catturarli con ottime foto.

Mixed with the children were a family including: grandson (60 years old), son (80 years old) and the parents Agustina 100 years old and her beloved husband Cristobal 110 years old ( we want to drink the same water)! After they received their glasses Cristobal reached for Augustina's hand and they strolled out like a teenage couple. The whole team was beaming and got many heart-warming pictures.

Insieme ai bambini e' arrivata una famiglia di cui: un nipote di 60 anni, un figlio di 80 e i genitori Agustina 100 anni e suo marito Cristobal 110 ( vogliamo bere la stessa acqua)!. Dopo aver ricevuto i loro occhiali, Cristobal ha preso Agustina per mano uscendo dalla clinica come una coppia di "giovincelli". L'intero gruppo si e' fermato per guardarli e per cogliere questa magica immagine.

We were proud to serve both young cadets and military personnel. Even the mayor of Santa Cruz del Quiche received glasses from our vast inventory of 30,000.

Abbiamo avuto l'occasione di servire anche giovani cadetti e personale militare. Addirittura il sindaco di Santa Cruz del Quiche ha ricevuto un esempio del nostro vasto inventario di 30,000 occhiali.

At the end of the day the whole team waited to hear the great news... We gave the gift of sight to over 1,800 people!

Alla fine del giorno non aspettavamo altro che ascoltare la grande notizia... Abbiamo donato la vista a piu' di 1800 persone!

Team Work!

Last night, after watching the Super Bowl in Spanish, the team had a silent auction. Items included donations from team members from the United States, Canada, Italy, Spain, and England along with local handicrafts bought during our excursions in the previous days. The team was able to raise close to $2500 toward our fundraising goal. Our progress can be tracked and donations can be made at our page here.



Local support for our clinic has been tremendous, not only on the part of the Lions' club, but also Peace Corps volunteers stationed in the area, local schools who have lent us students as translators, the local fire and police departments, and today we had a visit from the Mayor of Santa Cruz who toured our clinic. A local reporter came along and interviewed Doctor Kirk, from Utah and also fluent in Spanish, who talked about the clinic and outlined the schedule for our remaining days in Guatemala.



Patients today included 400 Students from Colegio Evangelico Metodista Utatlan, some of whom have been acting as translators in our clinic.

Pictured here is Doctor Nasim, from Illinois, and Carlos, a 16 year-old local recipient who received his first pair of eyeglasses today. Carlos is seen here smiling after having his significant nearsightedness corrected.

Juliana, from California, is pictured below with a recipient who received a stylish pair of retro eyeglasses. She was so excited to receive her glasses that she hugged and thanked everyone.

Today was one of our busiest days in clinic so far, but the team responded to the increased flow with everyone working together to give the gift of sight. It was a good day.

Touristicas!

Today was another awesome day of exploring the amazing sights, sounds, and shops of Guatemala. The Lions Club took us to the beautiful mountain lago called Lake Atitlan, where we visited the town of Panajchel and took a fast boat to the volcano town of San Pedro. We ate, explored, shopped, laughed a lot and took tons of pictures...

A view of Lake Aititlan from the road above Panajachel.

The busy streets of Panajachel.

Shopping for Guatemalan treasures. Our leader Scott found just what he was looking for!

Our seaworthy vessel to San Pedro for 25 Quetzales each.

Part of our team enjoying the boat ride to San Pedro.

The hillside of San Pedro.

Colorful shopping and lots of bargaining in San Pedro.

A typical Guatemalan street vendor displaying her goods for sale.

Another beautiful vista from San Pedro.