A Visit to Santa Maria de Jesus

Post by Nancy Besa

Photos by Peter Obetz

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Santa Maria de Jesus is a small village about 20 minutes from Antigua. Situated at the base of Volcano de Agua and at an airy 7,500 feet above sea level, the village literally seems to sit amongst the clouds. The community here is composed of primarily Mayan natives who work the fields and are not particularly welcoming of tourists or visitors. However, our clinic team, led by doctors Sabrina Shih, David Kaplan and Gordon Kaplan arrived to a full house at the community medical building. As anyone associated  with a mission will tell you, nothing happens by chance, but chance encounters can make amazing things happen. We were invited to Santa Maria de Jesus through a relationship with a wonderful woman by the name of Judy Kerschner. Judy - who just happens to have been raised in Neodosha, Kansas - operates a school there called New Life. New Life is a non-profit missionary-operated Christian school for children with disabilities. (You can lean more about her amazing work by visiting www.newlifeguatemala.com) The entire team felt very honored to have been invited into this primarily-closed community.

While there are many mission groups who frequent Guatemala, this is one community that rarely, if ever, has the opportunity to take advantage of quality, free medical care. Poverty here is the norm. The average Mayan (which constitutes 98% of the village population)  has only a 3rd grade education and makes the equivalent of $3.65 a day.  While the clinic was spearheaded by three seasoned physicians, they were assisted by three enthusiastic and skilled medical students from the University of Kansas - Kourtney Bettinger, Bliss Hartnett, and Paul St. Romain. (I must also add that all three students had command of the Spanish  language that was quite impressive and helped immeasurably in diagnosis and treatment of the 100+ patients that were seen.) Together, with Pharmacist Joann Lacy and translators Monica Breziner, Dani Kaplan and Michael Arenson, they were able to take three empty rooms and a hallway (the end of the hallway became an exam room thanks to a strategically placed bed sheet) into a pharmacy and clinic. Taylor Obetz took on the daunting task of entertaining the dozens of children waiting to be seen with a stack of paper, box of crayons and her bubbly personality.There were many cases of dermatitis, ear infections, head lice and in the case of little 9 month old David, scabies. Scabies is an itchy skin condition caused by an infestation by a microscopic mite that causes intense itching. David had been suffering for weeks with intense itching and sleepless nights. Dr. Shih  suspected that with his intense case, chances were that the other 11 relatives living in his small home, were probably infected as well. After a trip down the hall to the well-stocked MMF pharmacy and instructions for treatment, we hope that little David will be sleeping better soon. My personal highlight of the day was the chance to hold a brand new baby - something about a baby's smile that just lifts the soul.

Lunchtime was interrupted by an impromptu house call. Yes, MMF doctors make house calls! A mother who had brought her children in to be seen, informed us that her elderly father was at home in great pain. In less than five minutes, the 86 year-old had the Doctors Kaplan (brothers David and Gordon) examining his, not one, but TWO hernias. Those of us who made the trip were not sure if we we were more sobered by his painful condition or primitive surroundings. The home was divided into three distinct areas, all with dirt, or presently from the rains, mud floors. The entrance to the home was a general area for gathering and for the family chickens to strut about. The next area housed the cooking area and wood-burning stove. The  thin tin roof in that room had a large opening to allow air to circulate and smoke to escape from the stove. The family's sleeping quarters, where we found abuelo (grandpa) was a large room with four beds separated only by makeshift half-walls. Throughout the home were stacks and stack of miscellaneous items - clothing, papers, tools, old televisions and computer monitors. The most eye-catching and puzzling was an old and obviously used IV bag and tubing, that was precariously dangling from the ceiling. When asked if it was his, abuelo replied, "No, that belonged to the woman who used to live here." That moment it really hit us all the type of poverty that these people endure. It's the kind where you save things, things that are obsolete or broken or in the case of the IV bag, used, because you just never know when they might become of value.