This past June I had the privilege to serve in Guatemala for 10 days. There I worked as a nurse with local missionaries serving disabled people; focusing on wound care and pressure sore prevention. Rather than focus on logistics of the trip I thought I would share some stories:
Last year, we visited a man in a very dangerous part of Guatemala. This man had one of the largest pressure sores I had ever seen so I wanted to check up on him. We visited him and found out his pressure sore was worse. It seemed to us that he had given up on life. I asked if we could pray for him to which he said no, yet I could feel God’s presence in the room. We told him that God does not care what you have done in the past and he loves you so much. His face softened and he allowed us to pray for him. By the end he was praying himself and tears were streaming down his face. It was a beautiful moment.
One morning as I was walking to church I came upon a lady with a large infected wound on her leg. It was covered with a dirty cloth. I pulled the cloth off and discovered a wound almost down to the bone, covered in dirt and puss. As I was not planning on seeing any patients that day I had few supplies with me in my backpack. There, on the side of the road I tried to clean out the wound as best I could and applied a dressing made out of a feminine pad given by a church member. Later we visited the lady at her home. She lived in a tiny little room littered with chicken feces. We showed her how to make a cleaning solution for her wound and how to clean it and apply a dressing. We also gave her some tips on sanitation in the home.
It is hard to believe just one year ago I traveled to Guatemala to begin pressure sore education clinics for the first time. These education clinics have grown into teaching nursing students at the National Hospital. The cloth diapers that I brought along at that time were so successful they are now being made in many other churches across Canada and the US. God’s hand has blessed many parts of this project and I have been blessed to be part of this project simply by responding to a call that was much bigger than one person.