Mama Carmen’s – Guatemala

It’s been awesome to watch how various relationships and connections and conversations the past few months have led to this first TEAMworks trip to Guatemala. And on pretty short notice, a team of three therapists – Abby, Paige and Holly – agreed to be the first ones to go to Guatemala, begin building relationships, and assess the children and gather information in order to help develop a long-term plan for the work in Guatemala.

Before I go into a re-cap of Day 1, we want to thank everyone who has helped make this trip possible. A ton of the equipment we brought was donated – everything from standers and walkers, to a room full of braces that were donated from families in NWA whose children grew out of them. Although only 3 therapists are on this trip, about 20 more showed up to help us pack 8 giant suitcases full of equipment and supplies. We’ll even count Continental as a part of our team – the kind lady at check-in decided to waive our oversized/overweight bag fees (about $600) even though her manager said she couldn’t.

Needless to say, we are ever grateful for all the prayers, support, generosity and encouragement we’ve received!!

We arrived in Guatemala later than expected due to our delayed flight out of Houston. We went to Mama Carmen’s orphanage in Guatemala City our first afternoon, and were warmly received. Everyone was so excited and grateful that we are here. Due to limited time, we were only able to work with a few children. We were able to make a LOT of headway setting up equipment and adjusting chairs. Most of the children with special needs at Mama Carmen’s have speech delays, so Paige was able to initial screenings of most of the kids. Meanwhile, Holly and Abby became quite the mechanics working on Cesar’s wheelchair and stander.

Cesar has particularly received a bit more attention, even prior to this trip. A wheelchair was sent to him previously, but it needed some adjustment, which we were able to take care of. He is the sweetest little boy, incredibly smart, and has the most beautiful smile. At the end of the day, he tried to thank us before we left, but he was too emotional to get his words out. It was such a sweet moment… We were so encouraged to see Cesar already looking tons better by the end of the day.

Mama Carmen takes care of close to 100 children on a daily basis, 47 of which live there at the orphanage. Although the kids were told to stay in the TV room while we worked, several managed to sneak back to us and keep an eye on what we were doing. They are all so precious! Jorge, Mama Carmen’s son, gave a tour of the orphanage as well. Although the house seems big, they feel like it’s definitely not enough room for 100 children so they have plans to expand the orphanage.

Over the next 6 days, we will work with special needs kids at 5 different orphanages in and around Guatemala City, as well as work with families of special needs children in a community outside of the city. We go back to Mama Carmen’s for Day 2, and we are looking forward to evaluating the rest of the children with special needs!

Thanks again for your continued prayers!!

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