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.