Monday and Tuesday in Panajachel.

Our days have been taken up with medical emergencies.

Laura , my new assistant has been violently ill over the week end and we had to send the doctor to give her a shot to stop the vomiting. She was back at work today, Tuesday but looking pale and not a 100%.



Monday, I had the meeting with the women who were organizing the International Women's Day celebration here in Panajachel. They were great women who really are trying to help their community and the women. They are organizing talks on HIV, violence against women and women's health issues. They are also teaching women to be able to make bread, jams and bake cakes.....but the main problem is that they do not have a

.permanent place to meet, nor do they have an oven. So I suggested that we could use one of the rooms at the pre-school, the old kitchen, that we were hoping to turn into another classroom but we do not presently have the money to be able to fund another teacher, so in the meantime, we could set it up as a kitchen for them. We would have to raise the money for a stove but that would be something that would help women to be able to make money.



In the morning the children from the Mayan Families Panajachel pre-school

celebrated Carnaval by dressing up in fancy costumes, many home made and with lots of clever ideas....the mothers were at the school giving out tasty snacks and drinks when the children got there.

There were also games.....and lots of fun.



We saw two babies that are having convulsions that they have been told that there is nothing that the doctors here can do for them. Another child about three who does not speak or hear..and has never had treatment, this child also seems to be having convulsions.



The father of the little baby that has its intestines exposed came to us for medical help. He is in very bad shape, he has a huge growth on the side of his neck. It has been diagnosed as cancer....and he is suffering a lot of pain. We have arranged with Dr. Peter Rohlof to come and visit him on Friday, Peter is hoping that if he writes him a referral that it will be much easier for him to access the treatment at the cancer hospital, INCAN in Guatemala city.



The baby is still in the hospital. It is not in an incubator. The doctors are giving him blood transfusions and trying to build up his health before they decide what action to take. The mother was with the baby today but is very worried about her other children at home.



Tuesday.... we had little Marvin, from San Antonio come in. We had his eye operated on at a clinic with American medical staff that was here for two weeks.

He had the patch removed today and we had to send him back for a check up. They found that an ulcer had developed on his cornea and that his eye is not in good shape. They even said that he may lose the vision in this eye. I feel really sick about this. We decided that we would not let him go to the Univ. in Solola to be treated but to send him to a very good clinic in Guatemala City. He is leaving tomorrow morning in a rented van along with the two babies who have seizures and a little baby from Santiago that has neurological problems that has not had medical treatment. The baby keeps passing out, going blue and the father gives him mouth to mouth resuscitation.



Eddy and Rodolfo, Mayan Families staff will be accompanying this group of people to the hospitals and clinics. They will also go to visit Cristobalina...the 15yr old girl who has had both her arms amputated above the elbow and probably half a foot by now. We are going to give the family a small amount of money that will help them to be able to pay their transportation and food costs to come and visit their daughter in the hospital. The family is very poor and cannot afford these ongoing expenses.

We have been communicating with Transistions , the group that helps disabled people in Antigua and they think that they will be able to point us in the right direction to get help for her. It will be a long road for this family.



We had the family of five children come in today.....they are the children whose mother was killed crossing the road, she was hit by a truck. The youngest girl is 4yrs old, the eldest is 12yrs old. The children were so sad.....it was heartbreaking to see their sadness and their eyes full of tears. Their sponsor had sent them a beautiful box of gifts before the mother passed away. They came into talk about their future with their father today and we gave them the box. We didn't realize that it had a photo of the whole family on it, the children with their mother, as soon as the children saw the photo, they all started crying. They don't see photos very often and this was a shock for them. The eldest girl is doing a great job comforting the little 4 yr old. The children say that they want to go and live with their grandmother in the next village. I think that is probably a good idea for them for the time being and then they can see if they want to go back and live with their father later.



Susie took sponsor John, with her to visit the San Jorge pre-school ...the children were celebrating Carnaval with lots of masks and colored eggs full of glittery paper. ...these eggs are cracked on each other's heads. A lot of fun.

Susie gave out clothes to the boys.....it will be the girls turn next time.

Susie and John also visited the Elderly care program and the Orphan Outreach....Susie took new clothes for all the children there and some sweaters for the Elderly.



Our wonderful volunteer, Stephanie visited the Elderly at home to see what the needs are.......she found several sick and in need of medical attention.

We brought two down to Panajachel and got help for them. She found that one man who is very ill with cancer was given a mattress to make him more comfortable but as soon as it was put on the wooden plank bed, the bed broke because it could not take the weight of the mattress so we now have to hope that we will get a new wooden bed for him. The bed was very old...it is beyond repair.



Julio from Mayan Families took Tom Heaton from Mission Guatemala to the Nueva

Esperanza school to meet the director. Tom is hoping to start a feeding program for the children there, this will be a much appreciated program.



The children from San Andres Mayan Families/Mission Guatemala pre-school celebrated Carnaval with dress up costumes and lots of fun as well.

We hope to have the photos uploaded tomorrow.



We were not able to get to San Antonio or Tierra Linda but I am sure that they also celebrated with lots of fun as well.



Several staff members attended the International Women's Day ceremony today......Mayan Families donated a few stuffed animals for prizes for the raffles.



I hope that we will have some good news for these children tomorrow.

Please send prayers and healing thoughts for little Marvin .....I hope his eyesight can be saved. Any donations to help with his treatment will be really, really appreciated.

Sharon