The Power of One

Children of the Americas volunteers are used to hearing this statement:
" I would like to help, but I don't know how." 

Becky never let the "how" stop her. As a recent widow, Becky could have  concentrated on her own issues. She made the conscious choice to do the opposite. Becky has no medical training, but she cared for her sick husband for years. Following Sonny's passing, Becky donated his unused medical items to COTA. She also took it upon herself to purchase many pairs of shoes so that little Guatemalan feet would not go bare in January when we host our next medical team. 

Forrest (below, right) took the "how" one step further when he traveled to Guatemala with us last January. At an employee at Toyota, Forrest had no medical training, but he has a big heart and knows how to network. 

 After spending several days in Guatemala in January of 2014 fitting children with donated shoes, he was impacted by the obvious need for adequate footwear in a country full of parents who could not afford to use precious income for shoes for their children. Forrest came home determined to make the miracle of new shoes happen for hundreds of children. He wrote to shoe companies. He posted on Facebook. He made phone calls. He made more phone calls. And it worked. Hundreds of children's feet will benefit from his diligence in January. 

Mary Cheek (L) from Indiana has amazing talents as a seamstress. She and her friend Marie Kerr have spent many  hours making hand-made quilts for our pediatric patients on our medical teams. Hundreds of blankets and baby bibs later, their care and concern has brightened the day of many of our patients. 

When we need Spanish translators in Guatemala for our medical teams, Bernice (R), a long-term resident of Guatemala, stays with us for some intense days of translating. She works countless hours, eats little and sleeps less so that our patients understand their discharge instructions and leave feeling secure in their knowledge of post-operative medical care.

Every person in this photo (above) is a Children of the Americas volunteer, using their financial resources and vacation leave to meet the needs of our patients for a week every January and many weekends of volunteer hours in-between trips to Central America.

Patients in Guatemala waiting in long lines for a chance at care


The need for our services in Guatemala is endless, but so is the enthusiasm and energy of our volunteers.

Children of the America's Services Needed Now More Than Ever

 Guatemala rarely creates international concern. So when stories like this (below) start inundating BBC, Reuters, ABC, Fox News Latino and other news services, those of us who volunteer on behalf of the well being of Guatemala's people take note. 
This recently published article does an excellent job of demonstrating the cause and effect of a current weather system that is causing deep concern in Central America. 
(Rest of story here) 

 Guatemala’s government has declared a state of emergency in 16 of the 22 provinces, as Central America suffers one its worst droughts in decades. The few dollars a month that a rural Guatemalan family earns is no longer sufficient for even basic nutritional needs as food prices escalate. 
During college, COTA medical volunteers studied Abrahan Maslow's pyramid of basic human needs. Maslow, a renowned psychologist from the 1930's determined that food, water, and shelter were the most critical physiological needs for a human being.
 In the many years of traveling throughout Guatemala with medical teams, our volunteers have seen thousands of examples of what happens to the human body when these three fundamental needs can't be met, and scarce financial resources are not available for medical care. 

Here are a few examples:

Wounds don't heal

Cleft babies who can't breastfeed become malnourished for lack of infant formula.

Mother's can't afford life-saving surgeries

Pediatric tumors can't be cured

Children of the Americas has stepped into the role of providing donated medical, surgical, dental and prosthetic care for the citizens of Guatemala who have limited access and funding for these essential services. Happily, all of the patients in the above photos were successfully cared for through our donations of care. 
With news spreading on the nutritional and economic effects of the Guatemalan food staple shortages, our work is more important than ever. We anticipate a busy and effective medical team in January of 2015 when we next travel to Guatemala. 
As medical volunteers, we are not equipped to deal with the food shortages in Guatemala; we nourish the body in different ways, and most importantly, we help save vital financial income for families through the donation of our medical care. 
The drought and ensuing food shortages that will come of this weather system are not for COTA alone to fix. We will do our part, using our talents and humanitarian efforts to ease the medical care burden on the women and children of Guatemala. 
We will go into Team 2015 doing what we do best, with hopes that the international news reports will create a call to action from other governments and organizations to help meet the needs of the citizens of Central America as they struggle with this historic drought.