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Hello to our friends wherever you may
be this joyous time of year. There is a picture in our bank here
that shows a bunch of people looking at a big full moon in a
beautiful night sky. The caption says "Your family in the United
States is looking at the same moon as you are". First, this
gives an indication of how many people from Guatemala are in the
US. But to me it says how small this chunk of rock we call earth
really is. I'm looking at the same moon and sun that you are. We
only have one sun and moon. More to the point, no matter who or
where we are, we all share the same God. We all pray, ask for
help, get what we get, we are directed and commanded by the same
God. This may be kind of a simple and silly beginning but it was
on my mind so I thought I would share it. Sometimes we feel that
here in Guatemala we are disconnected from the rest of the
world. Ok, so in the matters of internet, TV, and a lot of the
times electricity, we are. But in our spirit and in our hearts
we are all very connected by our Creator.
This year has been fantastic for the Boca Costa Medical Mission.
We have been and continue to be so blessed. If you have this
paranoid gene that I do, you start to worry that things cannot
continue to go this well. Anyway, I would like to share with you
some of the results of your prayers, your donations of money,
medicine and supplies, and very importantly for those of you who
came to Guatemala this year, your time. This year 7068 men,
women and children were treated in our clinics. They received
over 180,000 vitamins. I would love to tell you that all were
cured but that doesn't happen even in the US. I do believe that
everyone was treated with love and respect by us, our staff and
visiting teams and the best we had to offer was given to each
one. We are very pleased that 16 people were able to have needed
surgeries through an arrangement at a local private hospital. We
are able to fund these at only about 25-30% of the normal cost.
There is a seventeenth patient that needs your prayers. We have
a baby that has a mild case of spina bifida that we've sent to
the large Roosevelt Hospital in Guatemala City for an MRI and
then hopefully a successful surgery.
This last fall we had our first 2 babies graduate from our
infant feeding program. The formula we use is called 'NAN 1'.
Because of the large expense, to accept a baby into the program,
we have to see malnourishment due to the mother not having
breast milk for various reasons or in one situation the mother
died shortly after giving birth. This is a wonderful little
program. Most of the babies we put on the program are within a
few weeks of dying. We get so excited to see a baby bounce back
from the edge and start to thrive. We currently have 5 babies,
including a set of twins, on the NAN 1 program.
Another little program that is not so little any more is our
scholarship or 'BECA' program. The school system here is kind of
difficult to understand. In Guatemala, grades 1-6 are required
and they are free. Most of the children in our villages do go
through the 6th grade. Most go no further. We are trying to
change that in a small way. After 6th grade they can go to what
would be like our junior high for 3 years. They then can go to a
high school situation or trade school after that for a period of
1-3 years. Our scholarship program commitment is $230 per
student for 3 years. We are careful to make sure that they are
attending school and that they maintain at least average grades.
This year we had two young people on scholarship. They did well
and will be returning this coming year. The school year here
runs January to October so in November we give out the first
part of the scholarship money for the next year so they can get
signed up. We are so excited to be able to report that we have
thirteen scholarship people for 2005. Two of those are going to
nursing school.
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