Campus News
Arcadia Students Reflect on Service Trip to Guatemala
(Continued from Bulletin home page)
“Their majors included pre-Physical Therapy, pre-Physician Assistant, pre-med, art, education, journalism, conservation, business and engineering,” says Greiner. “Also joining us were three first-year students in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program: Jay Davidson, Emily Hoberg and Jennie Brennan. Finally, three Physician Assistant students did a one-month rotation in Guatemala while we were there and joined us for the clinics: Laura Chenevert, Bonnie Blass and Jamie Bradford.”
“Our days varied,” Greiner says, but here is a picture of a typical day, Sunday: Sort through the hundreds of pounds of donations which our students brought down. Select T-shirts and stuffed animals to take to the people who live in or near the dump and make their living scavenging from stuff that is dumped there. Go to the Hearts in Motion house to make lunch to take to the people who live in the dump. Go to the dump. Distribute lunches, escort kids and adults to get either a stuffed toy (little kids) or a T-shirt (everybody else). Afternoon: off to the Zacapa Hospital to tour the facilities and give layette packs to the new moms.”
On the clinic days, the group packed up the medical supplies right after breakfast and headed for a makeshift clinic in a remote village. “We divided into teams in which there would be a doctor or a PA, a student interpreter, a student who ‘ran drugs’ at the request of the doctor, students who checked people in, and students who played with the kids. Usually the task would change half way through the day although, because interpreters were at a premium, they stayed on the entire day.
“After the first day of clinic,” Greiner adds, “the education students and Erica along with a couple other volunteers visited and got involved with other activities in other places, including a daycare for toddlers so their moms could go to work and the older siblings didn't have to stay home to babysit, a nutrition center for kids birth to age 5 whose parents couldn't afford to feed them so they live there 3 weeks out of every month, an elementary school and a pre-school. At the elementary school, education students and a few other volunteers ended up taking over the classes when the real teachers said they had to leave to go meet with their supervisor,” Greiner says. “This despite the fact that most of them didn't speak Spanish and a couple weren't education majors and had never been in front of a class!”
The PT students spent several days at the Zacapa hospital area rehab center helping the local physical therapist.
Says student Rachel Yoder, “This trip is a real eye-opener. I am so glad I went through with it and honestly, I really don't know what would hold me back from going. I appreciate a lot more now what I have in my own life, and I will never forget my time in Guatemala. I also feel richer personally that I have now experienced life outside the realm of prosperity. It really makes you think: Is money really what it's all about? I should hope not.”
Brittany Barnes says, “This trip was something that has completely changed my life. I have never come home from a trip with such a crisp and clear understanding of my life and the most important things in it. More importantly, I have a better knowledge of what is happening in the world and a huge motivation for making it better. Hearts in Motion is an awesome organization, and the people who work with them are a true inspiration. Never stop doing this trip. Everyone should have the chance to see what we all see now: everyone is human and no matter how dirty, everyone needs a hug sometimes.”
Irina Samson adds, “This was the best experience of my life and I will never forget. I never want to stop being involved!
Jen Alfano reports, “I went on this trip not knowing what to expect and I learned and gained so much from it. I not only learned about a starving country (in the learning aspect) but about how much I can help just by giving a child a small hug. This was so awesome and it makes me want to really reach for the stars.”
Hilda Rivera says in summary, “From the beginning when I found out about the Guatemala trip, I was interested. I knew I didn't have the money, but I knew that somehow something would come through. And because of this, I had the blessed opportunity to shadow and translate for a physician in Guatemala and learn medical terms in Spanish, which extended my vocabulary even more. I wasn't very emotional when I was there, but when I came back home and was going through the pictures with my family about my experiences and the cases that I had witnessed, I paused and became very emotional and started to tear. They, too, were impacted by my stories. ...Thanks again for making this possible and helping and helping me reassure myself that this is what I want to do in my near future.”
This was my third trip down, the second time I've taken Arcadia students. It was truly an amazing trip with a fantastic bunch of students!