Complete with a nursery, therapy clinics and dining hall, the center was built to fight malnutrition in children. Before and after pictures hang on the walls showing children with skeletal bodies as infants and now with smiling faces and chubby cheeks. Children pushed all around us, smiling, laughing, squirting us with water guns and requesting photo after photo.
One boy was immediately recognized as Juanito, who had been screened for surgery but had developed bronchitis. Pushing past the bronchitis, he is now a healthy boy with a repaired lip, and he will return next year to repair the palate.
Another child who received surgery today was Judith, the nine-year-old girl from Esquipulas who was diagnosed with a cleft palette after approaching the speech therapists with a hypernasal voice. Both surgeons worked on her case today, and successfully repaired her palate.
Así es la vida.
I was listening to one of my favorites songs, "Timshel" by Mumford and Sons. Even though I have listened to this song a thousand times, this time the lyrics took on a whole new meaning. I smiled as I listened to the words: "Death is at your doorstep, and it will steal your innocence, but it will not steal your substance."
Whether it was the dump, orphanage, medical clinic, hospital, or one of the other various locations Hearts in Motion reached, the people of Zacapa are the kindest people I have met. The group from Hearts in Motion was met everywhere with masses of smiling faces. Many of the people live without electricity, without hygiene, and with an encyclopedia's worth of ailments and illnesses. Death stands at their doorstep, and there is little time for innocence. Nurses have seen mothers as young as 14 years old walk into the clinics with one child in hand, another on the way. But despite all of this, every doctor, nurse, therapist, volunteer and even the wandering journalist have been showered in laughs, hugs, and smiles.
The next part of the Mumford and Sons lyrics illustrate what I personally feel is the core of Hearts in Motion: "You are not alone in this, as brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand."
Hearts in Motion hears the unheard and treats the untreated. If it weren't for Hearts in Motion, these people may have never seen medical treatment or received health education. Their only care would have been the resources around them and their family members. Bringing people from across the United States through Hearts in Motion, a wealth of talent, experience and expertise comes together to help the people of Zacapa.
Personally for Karen, the founder of Hearts in Motion, the most exciting thing is the future they are building for the people. In the 30 years she has spent in Guatemala, she has had the opportunity to witness patients grow and advance in society. Hearts in Motion doesn't just build houses, centers, and new palates, but it also builds lives. One boy lost his arms and legs when a flagpole he was holding fell into a power line. Karen has watched him recover and grow, and he is now a French and English teacher. Another boy was hit by a semi-truck and lost his left arm and leg. After Hearts in Motion, he is now an assistant to the mayor of his community and has changed how his local government views the disabled. María, the local daycare teacher and first patient of Hearts in Motion, never thought she would walk again when she was growing up with polio. She is now the leader of her community. Carlos, the man paralyzed in a motocross accident, has now opened a therapy center and is working with Hearts in Motion to change the lives of the disabled people in his hometown.
But it is not only Guatemalan lives that Hearts in Motion changes. Every night when volunteers gather for dinner, they share stories of their day, stories of the patients who touched them personally. It is easy to understand now why many of the doctors are on their seventh or eighth trip with Hearts in Motion.
One sharing her story--a girl named Eva--said something that really hit home with me personally. She spoke about how she came here with the mindset that she could change the world this week but realized the work will never stop, it was just a matter of doing the little she could each day. Karen called this job security for Hearts in Motion. The country will always need help and there will always be people to serve.
H.I.M. truly sets hearts in motion. I came on this trip to observe and report back what I have seen here in Guatemala and in the process have had my eyes and heart opened.
Tomorrow, vamos a Antigua.
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