First day on the Job

Así es la vida of the Guatemalan children.

Hearts in Motion, throughout its 30 years in Guatemala, has expanded its impact through the Zacapa community outside of surgery through schooling, food, and relationships with the Guatemalan people.

Every group that visits is taken to the local dump where families make a living sifting through the garbage.  Driving into the dump, people ran behind the bus, recognizing the Hearts in Motion (H.I.M.) vehicle and knowing food was on the way.  Karen, the founder of the organization continued to emphasize that Hearts in Motion is not Santa Clause nor does it want people to become reliant on free food given to them, but this is an opportunity to meet the people face to face and form relationships.  There is no denying that life is hard.
    Kids rarely had shoes, were covered in dirt, and their houses were, for lack of words, humble.  But they smiled nonetheless.  Some H.I.M. students brought out small airplanes to throw with the kids and others brought out two soccer balls and played a quick game of one mass of kids versus another.  It is hard to believe we were surrounded by garbage when I think back and remember playing.  Ranging everywhere from 2 to 15, they laughed, joked, and could out-juggle me... and I played collegiate soccer.

After the dump, we arrived at the smallest of the five H.I.M. day-cares.  It is in a modest little house in a crowded neighborhood.  The class was eleven children ages 3-5 with one 2 year old.  What is incredible about what this school is doing is it is changing the younger generations of this community while at the same time allowing their mothers to work worry-free.  The school teaches the children speaking, listening, English, and hygiene among other things.  The children sang a song about cleaning their arms, washing their faces, brushing their teeth and combing their hair.  We left small stuffed animals for the kids.  I couldn't wipe the smile off my face when one boy Evy could not stop giving me kisses with his Santa Clause bear.

But Evy, nor his classmates' school would be possible without María.

Así es la vida of María.  María was actually one of the first patients of Karen and Hearts and Motion in Guatemala.  She was born with polio and thought she would never walk again.  Because of Karen and H.I.M, she flew to the United States and had surgery and rehabilitation on her legs for three years.  She began crying explaining the feeling she had being able to use her own hands because she didn't have to use crutches anymore, and the overwhelming sensation of being able to walk, something she never thought she'd be able to do.  Now she is the teacher and community leader in Santa Cruz.  Every day she cares for the children like Evy through the H.I.M. day care.  Her story, her heart and her passion continue to exemplify what this program signifies.

Throughout this community, there is no doubt the hearts of H.I.M. are in motion.  The impact of this program on the people is undeniable and it is hard to believe that this all started with Karen and Julie.  And it continues to grow as a couple here now, Nicole and Osmar, are investigating and researching to expand H.I.M. into Peru.

Tomorrow a group switches over to the children in need of surgery.  Everything ranging from tumors to cleft palates walked into the screenings today to be determined if they were fit or not for surgery.  The picture below shows Julie holding Juanito, a little boy with a unilateral cleft palette.  The heartbreaking and inevitable part of the process is that because he picked up bronchitis last night, it is unlikely he will be able to receive surgery this year.  Another group will be heading two hours outside of town to help at the dental clinic and provide preliminary speech and hearing screenings.

The girl that has the medical staff at odds is Victoria.  She came into screenings with a facial cleft.  From her scalp to her mouth is a split, a severe condition that developed in utero.   With the left side of her nose and her left eye out of place, she wears a baseball cap over the right side of her face.  The embarrassment is more debilitating than her physical condition.  Her story and the heart of her sole provider, her grandmother, touched everyone at the clinic today.  She has to be flown to Spokane to have proper surgeries, but the surgery alone is estimated around $90,000 dollars.  Five surgeons, including a pediatric brain surgeon, an eye surgeon, two plastic surgeons and a maxiofacial surgeon have all volunteered their time and talent to do the surgery, but the facilities and equipment are still costly.  Sitting down with nursing students at dinner, hearts are already in motion trying to think of ways to raise the money to hopefully get her to Spokane for surgery by the end of September.

Hearts in Motion's website can be found at www.heartsinmotion.org.  You may be seeing Victoria in Alaska Airlines magazines and other various locations to advertise and to achieve something that has never been done before and get Victoria the donations she needs.