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Ancient Maya to Modern Maya in a Day

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 Friday, August 3, 2024 Today, with our medical bags packed, we take a “cultural day” to see the archeological richness of several thousand years of Maya occupation of this area of Cayo District, Belize. San Ignacio sits along the Mopan River. We have crossed it or driven alongside it every day going to our clinics. Today, we’ll cross it on a hand-powered car ferry as we visit the Maya archeological site, Xunantunich (shoe-NAN-too-nitch). This site has been teasing us for several days. It’s located only ten minutes west of our hotel, five miles from the Guatemala border, but was something we passed by for several days with the promise of visiting it on our last day in country. The car ferry across the Mopan River “El Castillo” is the largest structure, at 130 ft high. About to begin our climb to the summit of “El Castillo” A grand view of the plaza, from the top. Xunantunich (a modern name meaning “Stone Woman”) was applied to the site in the 19th century, based on local folklore, sinc
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An Olympic Team in Belize

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 Thursday and Friday, August 1-2, 2024 Thursday morning’s devotions, presented by Bre, used the analogy of the Olympics being held in Paris this week to explore the features of a good team. Bre related about “The Dream Team” of U.S. basketball players that won the gold medal in 1992, something this “Oldtimer” blogger remembers well. She then asked us to consider what features and character traits other than athletic ability we might want represented on our “team.”  Bre’s devotion explored the qualities of the team Jesus put together when he began his ministry on earth: 12 ordinary men, plus other men and women who “gravitated toward Jesus because of his wisdom, compassion and miracle-working power and believed He was the Messiah.” This week our “Dream Team” of senior student nurses together has put their extensive training to practical application by establishing a quick trust with patients (of various languages and different cultures); thorough questioning and listening, even coaxing,
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It’s Off to Work We Go!

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 Monday, Tuesday,  Wednesday, July 29-31, 2024 What a wonderful week! Our group of ten CUAA student nurses (all seniors, who will graduate in December) is serving in clinics in six locations. The past three days have seen us move our bags (13 large suitcases in all) each day into a new setting. On Monday in Succotz, Tuesday in Benque, and Wednesday in Spanish Lookout, we set up our clinic in a local church where free medical care was already advertised by the local pastor. Registration is handled by one of our translators, a registration form handed to the patient (or patient’s parent) and then an approximate half-hour to 45 minutes traverse through the following clinic “stations,” with half-daily rotations insuring each student serves in each station a couple of times during the week. Forty-five minutes may stretch into an hour or more for a patient with significant issues.  1. Triage, where blood pressure, temperature, weight, blood sugar reading (if needed) and purpose of visit are
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Learning About Belizean Culture

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 Sunday, July 28, 2024 We’re getting a great immersion into Belizean culture. Our host, Eliu, is a native of this part of Cayo District, the equivalent of a U.S. state, and his ancestors are mostly Maya. San Ignacio is only a few miles from Guatemala, on the main road that connects with the Maya ceremonial site of Tikal, about two hours west in the Guatemala forest. (Remember the original Star Wars ?) One of our first conversations, driving from the airport last Friday, was what type of food would interest our team. “Belizean” was the overwhelming response, as opposed to U.S. staples of spaghetti or hamburgers. So far, we’ve had typical local meals of rice & beans, Relleno Negro (a black-bean type soup with chicken, hard-boiled egg and a variety of spices), Escabeche (chicken, potato and onions in broth), fried plantains, and plenty of refried black beans. Tortillas with every meal, instead of bread. Unfortunately for our waistlines, the hotel cook makes excellent desserts. 😓😒 We
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Like Deer in the Headlights

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Saturday, July 27 Today begins the mission trip for these ten nurses (senior-level) from CUAA. They’ve planned, studied, raised funds, attended team meetings, imagined what their role will be, and packed for this trip. And now the real work starts. Today, our “clinic,” sort of a mis-nomer, takes place in the middle of town, on the open-air stage of the town plaza. No privacy, no room separations, and very little space to register, take vitals, check ears and feet, consult with one of the two nurse practitioners, and then wait for meds to be dispensed. All in a space of 30’x15’ with one 6’ table and 8 folding chairs.  We arrived at 9:00, to find a line of people already waiting for our help. Open suitcases in the back corner of the stage were our “pharmacy.” Another suitcase held equipment and supplies for ear care. All together, our 13 large suitcases held everything needed for the health complaints that showed up at our clinic. With 33 patients from 9:30-noon, we observed the followin
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Called to Serve

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 July 26, 2024 All thirteen of our team members showed up at 3:30 a.m., Friday morning. As is usual, since we’re all on one travel confirmation, we had our own American Airlines desk agent to check in our bags and give us boarding passes. We had to do some movement of items from over-weight bags to carry-ons and backpacks, but managed to get every bag within the 50# limit, well, except for the over-size duffle carrying boxes of supplies. A five-hour layover in Dallas made for some good card games! We arrived Belize City about 2:30, and after haggling with customs about all the weird items in our bags (well, weird to them), we were permitted to enter the country and pack all 26 bags into the waiting van and SUV that had come for us from San Ignacio. Our host, Eliu, is no stranger to short-term mission groups. He hosts several each year, and his return customers include several universities from Michigan and Illinois. He is a great tour guide, telling us all about the climate, the econom
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It Won't Be Long Now!    Concordia University Ann Arbor's School of Nursing is partnering with MOST Ministries for the fifth year to present five days of medical clinics in Central America. This year's team of ten senior-year students will travel to San Ignacio, Belize, with one of their professors, with an ER nurse, and with a MOST team leader, to provide medical care in several towns, to learn about the delivery of medical care in Belize from a local M.D., and to spend one "free day" exploring a local Maya archeological Check in often! We'll begin blogging when we get to Belize, Friday July 26.      
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