Wednesday, July 19, Marie, Wright & I visited Vamos Adelante in Zapote Guatemala. Marie & Wright are both Emergency Medicine physicians and on the Shared Beat Board. Zapote, a rural community 1 ½ hours from Antigua, is headquarters to Vamos Adelante an amazing nonprofit we supply over 100,000 vitamins to each year.
On the way to Zapote we are met half-way in Santa Rosa by Nina Jorgenson, Vamos Adelante’s tenacious and industrious director. In Santa Rosa we supply daily vitamins to a school set-up by Vamos Adelante. This school is composed of children with physical and mental handicaps and children rejected from public school. I can tell you right up front that visiting this school was the highlight of our 2 weeks in Guatemala.
We are met at the gate by 2 children dressed as a nurse and doctor. They took our hands and led us to a row of chairs set-up on the playground in front of several classrooms of quietly seated children. Of course there was a little giggling as they were excited about what was to come next. First the welcome, next a skit set in a clinic office with the nurse carrying around a broom? and the doctor prescribing vitamins for everyone to make them healthy. This could not have been more precious! I haven’t laughed this hard in a while! Next, about 15 of the children changed into “gym clothes” which consisted of blue pants and a white top. None of the pieces were alike, yet they wore them proudly as they began the frog dance. Each of the children wore a handmade visor with a frog on the front. Wow, we thought the skit was cute! Next thing we know, the song is on again and each of us are given visors and expected to do the dance. See one, do one…. We hopped, swayed, gyrated and had more fun than should be allowed. What a joyful place! Honestly, with the exception of a few children in wheelchairs, you would have never guessed that these children were different in any way. They were loving and well mannered, an amazing testament to the work of Vamos Adelante. I’m not sure we have ever felt gratefulness, as it was displayed at this little school in Santa Rosa. By the way, we never did find out what the broom was about? I’m a nurse; don’t remember anything about brooms in school. Any of you other nurses have ideas?
Our next stop was a primary school where each classroom sang, gave us homemade gifts of recycled bottle flowers and pictures of Guatemala, and taught us new ways to clap. Bet none of you know how to do the clap of the firecracker or frog!
Our adventure continued over dirt roads, up and down hills and across 4 bridgeless rivers, well almost. Coming up to the first river our driver hesitated and we quickly became stuck! The tire wells were completely submerged in water and it looked as if the rear tires were bent in abnormal directions. We tried not to show our “worry” for the state of the vehicle in front of the driver but it became a little hard when the water continued to rise. The 4 of us pushed but the van wouldn’t budge an inch. Luckily our vehicle blocked the main road and if the other cars wanted to pass, guess what, they had to help! After about a half an hour we were moving down the road and the tires were strangely normal.
Our arrival in Zapote was welcomed! We were met by one of the 5 Vamos Adelante Health Promoters and taken on home visits. Over the river and through the woods we visited seniors and children. In one household we met an active 80+ year old who had worked in everything from sugar cane to coffee. We visited a family new to the Vamos Adelante program, an 18 year old with 2 children. Her home was different than the others we visited, it was messy. She ignored us when we came in and immediately began cleaning. One thing the health promoters do is to teach people how to keep their homes clean, for sanitary reasons. When I first heard this, my thought was you’ve got to be kidding! Folks in this part of the country live in shacks with dirt floors. How do they teach them cleanliness? You would be amazed at how well even the grounds are kept. The highlight of our home visit was an adorable 7 year old missing her 2 front teeth, Estare. She talked nonstop, asking us how to translate what seemed like every word she knew into English. Then she asked us to wait while she ran into her house changed clothes and brought out a baby doll and a crown. She put the crown on Marie’s head and asked in Spanish- “How do you say queen in English?” We told her queen so she proceeded to call Marie, “La Queena!” This is the only child I have ever heard my husband say he would adopt. That says it all!
I could go on and on about our trip to Zapote, the true gratefulness and hospitality we were shown that day by Nina, the staff at Vamos Adelante and especially the children! But I will leave you with what I have found to be true-Stepping outside of your world makes everything worth the journey.
