Guatemala 2017 - Mission History and Working on the site

This morning was devoted to learning about the different programs that Mission Guatemala runs. They have a wide variety focused on health, education, and nutrition. We toured the medical facility where there is a doctor, a pharmacist, and a dentist, as well as an eye doctor. People come from miles around to get affordable, compassionate, high quality care in a setting where they don't have to drive to the big city.

We learned about how they run two full time feeding programs and a part time feeding program for school age children and preschoolers. They serve nutritious meals and snacks to hundreds of families every week. Beyond just providing food, they have staff who experiment with new recipes to make the meals and snacks interesting and tasty.

After lunch, we got back in the vans and made a short drive further up the mountain to our work site. Everybody was very eager to get started. We are continuing the process of building a dedicated work space for the teachers' association.

When we got to the work site, we were introduced to the local crew, who welcomed us very graciously. The owners of the building were also there and they thanked us for our service and welcomed us to Guatemala.

The first thing we did was to make a "bucket brigade" and move more than 100 cinder blocks up from the road to the place where we need them. Then we divided up into smaller groups each with our own task - laying block, leveling dirt floors, cutting re-bar, mixing concrete and mortar, working on concrete forms, and whatever else was needed. It was very satisfying and everyone worked with a lot of enthusiasm.