CUAA Team 2421 to Belize

 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. 😓?...

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 foll...

 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 ec...

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.