At the end of January, I realized I was going to have to do something to make money if I wanted to stay longer in Guatemala. One night I was going through my pictures and had an idea... I emailed my thoughts to our office to see what they thought and to see if they may be able to help me out. They loved the idea to say the least. The timing was cutting it close and I had 10 days to organize and order my pictures, find decent mats and plastic coverings, order them and get everything delivered to the office before my boss left to come to Guatemala. I made it happen and started selling my pictures to the volunteers that came down on the 10 day trips. For the most part they sold well, and it was fun for me to sell my work, as this has been a dream of mine for quite some time. It afforded me the opportunity to stay longer without having to ask family and friends for more money. I was also able to get a little bit of traveling in on the weekends. Mind you, it was budget traveling, but fabulous experiences and wonderful memories were made. Here are a few of the pictures I have taken during my time in Guatemala. They all hold special stories to me, thus I had them printed and decided to share them so others could also enjoy what I have seen and captured through the lense of my camera.

Project Pueblo Modelo

On the OB/GYN trip we did a clinic in a village by the name of Pueblo Modelo. As we entered the village it was obvious just how poor the people here were. There were homes made of sticks, plastic, cardboard, material, pieces of wood, tin, pretty much whatever could be found to make walls. When we got the the school where the clinic was to be held, the children were filthy. Absolutely adorable, but extremely dirty and poor. The school was in decent shape, but we didn't know the half of it. We started asking the teachers questions and ended up having a little meeting with a few teachers to learn more about their program. These were our findings:
There are 12 teachers working at the school teaching grades preschool - 6th. The state has promised them supplies, but thus far they have nothing. In the 3's classroom there are 37 children, Pre-k has 33 children and Kindergarten has 27. All these children are in the same classroom with 3 teachers and very little supplies. 1st grade is broken into 2 classrooms, has 4 teachers and a total of 120 children. 2nd grade has 2 classrooms, one is inside the building and the other is set up on the front porch/sidewalk of the school. There are 43 children combined and 2 teachers. 3rd grade has 1 teacher and 33 children that are packed into one classroom. 4th grade is actually taught down the dirt road a little ways in a tin shack because there is not classroom for them in the actual school. There is 1 teacher for 28 children. The children learn shoulder to shoulder with virtually no air. I was shocked at the heat inside their "classroom" But they were so excited to learn! The 5th and 6th grades are combined with 1 teacher and 30 children. As you can see, the numbers drop significantly from 1st grade (120 students) to 6th grade (15 students). There are differet reasons for this, but it is something we would like to see change. In March we had a group of education majors here for a week. We spent 2 days at the school making different art projects and sending penpal letters to a school that had written them from Wisconsin. The Education students from Arcadia did a fantastic job and the teachers were so very thankful. We have taken them school supplies twice now and will continue to take what we have when we have it. The teachers are amongst some of the most dedicated I have met! They have virtually zero supplies but continue to come day after day after day! Please take a look at how the people of Pueblo Modelo live their lives. If you are interested in making a difference here, please let me know!

PUEBLO MODELO

The School & children

Houses

The school kids with the Arcadia group saying goodbye after 2 fun-filled days

1st grade

2nd grade

4th grade

2nd grade

3rd grade

Preschool & Kindergarten

Penpal Letters

5th & 6th grades

5th & 6th Class

2nd grade class with their letters on the wall

OB/GYN/Bomberos Trip Jan 30 - Feb 7, 2009

Here are a few pics from my first week back with the OB/GYN/Bomberos trip. It was a great trip to start the year with and to be a part of. I met some amazing people and with their help, we were able to accomplish some amazing things for the Guatemalan people. We always keep a tally of how many people we see throughout the trips and here are the numbers from this trip.

*Totals for the week:
General Medical patients seen - 1,621
Cervical Cancer screenings - 239
Cryos - 12
Surgeries - 19

As you can see, it was a busy week, and just a touch on how much Hearts In Motion is able to help the Guatemalans. What a beautiful thing to be a part of.

~THE TEAM~

~VILLAGE VISITS~

Getting there and meeting people.
(This little girl looks almost identical to me when I was little.)

My tour guide around one of the villages. He was persistent to stay right with me but never spoke. When I asked him his name, I learned he was mute and unable to speak. So much love shined from his eyes though.

Freezing in the rain, but still waiting to be seen.

A typical shot of Jose with his patient.

The line for the General Medical Clinic

A home

Kara and I

John and I

John has done fundraising to get clean water to places in the world that do not have the privledges we do. This was his first trip to Guatemala and he brought 3 water filters that him and Kara set up in different villages. A huge help to the village people that often have no other choice than drinking contaminated water.

2 Firefighters from California with some of the Guatemalan Bomberos

Doing a training on decontamination

Then simulating Mass Decontamination.

The 4 firefighters from the states, 1 translator and all the local Guatemalans that participated in the days trainings.

Pins that were awarded to those Bomberos that had trained in the states with Hearts In Motion.

The group that has had the fortunate opportunity of training in the states.