Blog / News
Mobile Clinic
- Sep 6, 2011
We didn’t quite know what to expect for our day at the farm… The plan was to inform families from the farm’s surrounding community that we would be there to provide therapy services for children with special needs. Mama Carmen’s son had put up flyers the week before to let people know that we were coming. But we had no idea how many families would actually come. Would it be 5, or 500?? Would we drive up and find a line of families waiting for us, or would no one come at all?
Well, we got to the farm around 9am and no families were there yet, so we unloaded our things and waited. Over the next couple of hours, only two people came by. So we began talking through Plan B. One of our translators said he knows the pastor of a nearby church who might know of some children in the community who could use our help. So, after lunch we loaded up the van with a few suitcases full of supplies, and took off in our little mobile clinic!
It turned out to be a perfect idea! There were several people that we visited that just couldn’t have made it down to the farm. This little community is up in the mountains, literally in the middle of nowhere. The roads are incredibly treacherous (and even scratched up our bumper), and families can’t afford to get to the city for any sort of medical care. It’s about an hour and a half drive outside of Guatemala City.
Not only were families appreciative that we came to help, but the children seemed to LOVE getting therapy, and were just so happy! One precious girl, Kayla, was smiling the entire time. Paige had trouble doing some of her oral motor exercises because she couldn’t stop smiling! And another sweet boy, Wilder, was just the cutest thing… He was super smiley as well. We were able to give him new shoes and a walker, and Paige showed his parents several exercises to help with his speech. As we were leaving, his mother thanked us and said she’s wanted to get him medical care for so long and just couldn’t afford it, and she knew there was no way anyone would ever come to their house to help them, so she said we were a miracle.
We were somewhat warned that most people aren’t very open to strangers or people outside of their community…so we figured that might be one of the many reasons why no one came to the farm to see us. In fact, we were told of a young man with special needs that we could visit. But when we showed up, he made it clear that he was scared of the “gringos”. Thankfully, he eventually warmed up to us, and all three of us were able to work with him. His face beamed once Holly put new shoes on his feet!
We may not have had a line of 500 people waiting for us at the farm at 9am, but it was still such a productive day. We made several connections that we know will help in the future when we come back to this community – through families that we met, a connection with a radio station, and a TV Cable host who randomly showed up and said he could help get the word out the next time we come.
