Random Act of Kindness

At their last meeting, the World Community Services Committee approved a grant of $250 for a "random act of kindness" to the Cupertino Rotarians traveling to Guatemala with the Faces of Hope. A "random act" is an amount of money that travelers on a world service trip can give to deserving individuals or groups on the ground in the country they are visiting.

With Don Fox's help, a partner organization to Faces of Hope was identified, Associadad Companeros Para Cirugia. ACPC is critical to Faces of Hope's mission. They identify patients from the indigenous community, escort them to the clinic, provide interpreters of Mayan dialects if needed, and provide outreach and support to the patients and their families long after we are gone.

We want to support and acknowledge the good work ACPC does. Don and I were able to present the grant to Oscar Asturias, M.D., who heads up ACPC, at a gathering one evening. Here is a photo of Oscar in his scrubs.


See what great work one of our Cupertino Rotary committees does in the world!

Casa de Fe

Casa de Fe is where the patients and their families stay while they are awaiting surgery as well as post surgery. Many of them have come a long way and do not live locally. Think of it as akin to a Ronald McDonald House. These families stay at Casa the entire week and there could be mothers, fathers, siblings and grandparents, all from the same family.

The young folks on our trip comprise the Casa team and they entertain the little ones and do light housekeeping duties such as cooking prep and tidying up. Below is a picture of the Casa de Fe team in front of our hotel, Las Farolas.


Bubbles, coloring and making balloon animals are favorite activities. They practice their Spanish and teach some of the parents words in English.


Faces of Hope is the only mission at the hospital that has young adults from the United States volunteering at Casa de Fe.

Inspiration

What motivates a Rotarian to go on an international trip? What is the inspiration? For that matter, what inspires a medical team member to participate in a week long clinic far away from home?

An informal interview of a Rotarian and a medical team member on the Faces of Hope trip led me to the answer.


Linda Gold is a member of the Rotary Club of San Jose. Her first international
trip was to Ghana. Coincidentally, Jerra Rowland was also on that trip. Linda's first time with Faces of Hope (FOH) was in 2007 and except for one year when she was unable to make it, she has returned year after year. Linda feels that FOH is the epitome of the joys and benefits of international service.
Her reasoning is that the FOH team sees approximately 60 to 100 patients during the week and as a consequence, is able to make a large impact. A one hour surgery has the ability to change a life. The team participants get to see the before and after of a surgery and the impact it can make. An added bonus for Linda is that Antigua is a lovely city, Guatemala a beautiful country, and the inhabitants warm and friendly.


Nanette Benedict is a dentist from Scotts Valley. She first started doing medical missions to Mexico in 1981 with Flying Doctors. She continued until she decided to start a family.

As Nanette's children grew older she decided that Flying Doctors would be a great vacation for the whole family. She felt that it was important for her kids to understand how privileged they were by seeing the way other people live. She knew it was the right thing when her son Jacob said, "This the kind of vacation we should be doing - helping people and having a good time doing it."

The connection with FOH is Fred and Jan Tomlinson, husband and wife surgeon and nurse duo, whom she knew from her Flying Doctor days. They are two of the original medical team members with FOH. Nanette ran into Fred in Guatemala last year while on a Flying Doctor's trip and he encouraged her to visit the FOH clinic and to consider it for this year.




Nanette thought it would be a good trip for the whole family and she turned out to be right. It was a stretch for her professionally to see patients with cleft lip and palate. Her son Devin is currently in dental school and was able to assist her during the FOH trip. She was also impressed by how wonderful and professional the entire Faces of Hope team is.

The top photo is of Nanette's family - Nanette, husband Jeff, daughter Brigette and sons Jacob and Devin.

Antigua

I thought I would share a bit about Antigua. It is a captivating city and an old one. 1543 is generally accepted as it's founding date. Antigua, at 5,049 feet, resides in a valley surrounded by three volcanoes - Acatenango, Agua, and Fuego. Only Fuego is active. That being said, the City has experienced it's share of calamities - earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions.


Antigua was the colonial Capitol during the Spanish era. Colonial Guatemala encompassed Chiapas (Mexico), part of Yucatan, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. It was included in UNESCO's World Heritage Site list in 1979. Historical preservation occurred in fits and starts beginning in the 1800's. After 1986 and the civil war in Guatemala, Antigua suddenly began to blossom with an infusion of restaurants, hotels and shops.

Enjoy these photos of this charming colonial city. Hopefully one day you will be able visit too.

 View of Agua volcano from a typical Antigua street

San Jose el Viejo

 The Arch of Santa Catalina

 Church of La Merced

 Herman's Pedro's Hospital (where the clinic is located)

 Mayan Guatemalans in a doorway

Opening Day

The past couple of days have been quite eventful for the Faces of Hope volunteer team. Yesterday was the opening day of clinic when all the families came to the hospital to register their child for surgery.

---

After filling out numerous forms and and taking identification photos, the patients were examined by the pediatricians, surgeons, anesthesiologists, and then finally the dentists. All in all the clinic saw around 90 hopeful children, and although some had to be turned away due to various ailments and sicknesses, the majority were accepted as candidates for surgery.

---

Thank you to Ron Lykins with Los Gatos Morning Rotary for taking most of the wonderful photos on today's post. Here he is with a young patient.

---

It was an exciting day for everyone and once the volunteers arrived back at the hotel they were ready for a nice meal. My daughter Leah and I joined one of the surgeons and another mother/daughter do for dinner at the Panza Verde Restaurant. It was in a beautiful building and it made a wonderful ending to an exciting day

The Day Before Opening Day of the Clinic

The day before the opening day of the clinic, families are already gathering at the Casa de Fe. This is where they will set up home while they are in Antigua awaiting their loved one's surgery. The Casa de Fe team spent an adventurous morning shopping at the outdoor market to supply the Casa with food for the week.





The Cupertino Rotary Club tile has finally been installed at the Casa de Fey. Don Fox and Paula Chu are happy to be back in Antigua.

Getting Ready

Helene is busy preparing for her trip to Guatemala, for Faces of Hope. We are all looking forward to hearing and seeing some of her experiences along they way as she blogs for us. What a great experience and it's great we can experience it vicariously through this blog thanks to Helene. Hopefully it will inspire more Cupertino Rotarians to go.

Here is a sample of one of the quilts I am bringing. Also, thanks to Jerra and George Tyson, I am bringing toys, coloring books, soaps and shampoos to share all around.