Hope Have Guatemala
Angela Nierop
This past November I traveled to Guatemala to volunteer as a nurse at a camp for Guatemalans living with disabilities. Hope Haven, a non-profit organization, put on this three-week camp. During the first week at camp, 62 adults and their caregivers participated. Most of the adults were in wheelchairs from spinal cord injuries that had resulted from gunshots, motor-vehicle collisions, spina bifida, cerebral palsy or crush injuries from earthquakes. As well as there were a lot of campers with leg injuries from Polio and undiagnosed genetic disorders.
During the camp, I worked in a clinic room where typically there were people lined up outside waiting to see a nurse. A lot of the campers could not afford to see doctors, so they would come to camp with multiple health issues and hope to find medical attention.
The second week of camp we had 37 children and their caregivers attend. Although these children had less health issues than the adults there were a few that suffered from pressure sores, which had resulted from sitting in their wheelchairs. During both weeks of camp I offered teaching sessions on how to decrease the incidence of pressure sores and how to care for them. Thanks to the sewing volunteers of Willoughby Church I was also able to give 115 cloth diapers to people with incontinence issues, who could not afford disposable diapers.
During the down time at the camp I was able to follow up with some of the people I saw in August to see how their pressure sores were doing. I was very pleased to see improvements in everyone I revisited. It was clear that the education clinics in August were very successful. We are now making plans to expand these clinics to other areas of Guatemala, where we will be working with local doctors and nurses.
I feel blessed to have the opportunity to be part of this project in Guatemala and to spread God’s love to a group of people that feel so unloved. Words can’t describe the level of gratitude I have. Thank you for your prayers and support.