San Antonito Health Class and Clinic
Our planned service for this trip was to hold a nutrition health class as well as medical clinic for our sweet friends in San Antonito! We love this village so much, the people there are as loving and sweet as they come. We had some friends from El Dormido come along with us so they could visit their family members in San Antonito, and the wonderful Mauricio was there to help as well! We got to ride the ferry to cross the canal which is always a good time and battled the bumpy dirt roads until we made it there around lunch time!
We had two medical professionals with us, Janelle and Kaitlin Pace! Janelle, an ER tech taught the nutrition class and her and Mauricio figured out what items in each food groups were most prevalent in their area, so that they could eat a well balanced diet with the resources they already had local to them. She had them play a cute game where she handed out pieces of paper and paper plates and had them each connect to a plate to make a balanced meal. Everyone loved it and had fun mixing things around! We thanked our friends for their abundance of friendship and love and for letting us share our nutrition information and asked them to find 3 ways they could share some of their abundance with others as well. We then handed out some small first aid kits and multivitamins as well.
Next, Kaitlin and Janelle did the medical clinic where they could help those with injuries or sicknesses to know if their ailments were serious enough to warrant a trip to the city to see a doctor or if they would go away with time. Going to see a doctor is no small feat for those in more rural areas. The best medical technology and care they offer in Guatemala is in Guatemala City and thats hours by car which requires gas money and more money to stay the night in the city as well. While the clinic was happening, the rest of us played with the kids and tried to keep them occupied while their parents were busy. It was a lot of fun to connect with the children, as we had three of our own there as well! We played games like red light, green light duck duck goose and have the Spanish speaking kids say it in english and the english kids say it in Spanish!
After the clinic, our sweet friend Rosa fed us a delicious dinner in her home. It was the perfect way to end the day. We are so grateful to Rosa, Maria, Mauricio, Maya Jade and all of our friends in San Antonito for allowing us into their village and homes and leaving us feeling so loved. It was the best day!
