Today I flew to Guatemala City via Atlanta, arriving at the Radisson Hotel at 1:50pm. I was a bit worried about getting delayed at customs or retrieving my luggage as I had assured the director of Heifer Project Guatemala that I could meet with him at 2:30. All went smoothly, and Luis Fuentes, the director of the San Marcos clinic, who was also meeting with us, arrived at 2:00. It was great to see him, and he showed me some recent photos of gardens in Tacaná. To clarify, Tacaná is actually the name of the municipality of the high mountain region, and the village where I held a medical clinic in February lies within Tacaná and is called San Antonio. Anyway, because of the lack of central village land, Luis has been building smaller home gardens on small plots between houses. This has been very successful as the gardens are faster and easier to build and the families take great care of them. They are already producing vegetables.
At 2:30, Gustavo Hernandez, the director of Heifer for Guatemala arrived. We had a three way mostly Spanish - with a little English thrown in when I was stumped - conversation about Heifer's projects in Guatemala. When I asked him why they had no projects in San Marcos, he said that they need to have someone in an area to collaborate with before they set up a project and when he took over in 2010, the previous director told him they didn’t have anyone in San Marcos. Gustavo said that it is a priority for him to do some projects there, but they need to develop the infrastructure.
He then described a change in the philosophy of Heifer. They’ve chosen 4 products, honey, cocoa, coffee and cardamon because these are big export crops of Guatemala. Guatemala is the biggest producer of cardamon in the world and 350,000 poor rural farmers grow it in tiny plots and then it works it’s way up a pyramid to 8 exporters. Heifer wants to change that so the growers gradually see the profits. Coffee is grown on huge plantations where the poor do all the work. Same model, I think, for the poor to gradually become growers and processors??? They also have 4 program lines in a different wing, increasing women’s income, improvement of agricultural techniques and output, rabbit and chicken raising and something else. Each project takes about a half million to run, a minimum of 1,000 people enrolled and runs for 3-5 years for data collection. This is a big change from their previous model of giving animals to individual families.
We talked a lot about Tacaná and some of the other municipalities and their immediate needs, and I asked if they could do any animal projects to provide protein for the people. He said that he thought they could do what he called a “Pilot” program where they would figure out how many families were in need and how many say chickens and maybe rabbits could be bought. The money would also need to cover costs of assessing villages, finding families and training them in care of the animals and in the “passing on the gift” philosophy. It’s not perfect, but he said even though their main thrust is on this new model, they still are about taking care of the poor and he can see that these communities need more immediate action.
I spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and resting in my single room! Someone in the Radisson network is a big donor and provides the rooms free to the team. It feels a bit decadent to be staying in such luxury, but having a single room is more logistical than luxurious. I'm up earlier than most team members as I have to get to the hospital earlier to check the patients before surgery, and I'm the last one back to the hotel at night as I have to wait for the last patient to return from recovery. When I have a roommate, I'm always having to tiptoe around in the dark so as not to wake her.
We had a team meeting/dinner and there are about 10 team members with whom I've been on prior missions. It's very unusual to see so many, and makes for a nice reunion. The project coordinator arranged for a marimba band to play during dinner. Seven men played on two big wooden instruments that resemble xylophones while another played a base and the last played drums. It was very intricate and entertaining. Tomorrow we tour the hospital and have the first of two screening days.
At 2:30, Gustavo Hernandez, the director of Heifer for Guatemala arrived. We had a three way mostly Spanish - with a little English thrown in when I was stumped - conversation about Heifer's projects in Guatemala. When I asked him why they had no projects in San Marcos, he said that they need to have someone in an area to collaborate with before they set up a project and when he took over in 2010, the previous director told him they didn’t have anyone in San Marcos. Gustavo said that it is a priority for him to do some projects there, but they need to develop the infrastructure.
He then described a change in the philosophy of Heifer. They’ve chosen 4 products, honey, cocoa, coffee and cardamon because these are big export crops of Guatemala. Guatemala is the biggest producer of cardamon in the world and 350,000 poor rural farmers grow it in tiny plots and then it works it’s way up a pyramid to 8 exporters. Heifer wants to change that so the growers gradually see the profits. Coffee is grown on huge plantations where the poor do all the work. Same model, I think, for the poor to gradually become growers and processors??? They also have 4 program lines in a different wing, increasing women’s income, improvement of agricultural techniques and output, rabbit and chicken raising and something else. Each project takes about a half million to run, a minimum of 1,000 people enrolled and runs for 3-5 years for data collection. This is a big change from their previous model of giving animals to individual families.
We talked a lot about Tacaná and some of the other municipalities and their immediate needs, and I asked if they could do any animal projects to provide protein for the people. He said that he thought they could do what he called a “Pilot” program where they would figure out how many families were in need and how many say chickens and maybe rabbits could be bought. The money would also need to cover costs of assessing villages, finding families and training them in care of the animals and in the “passing on the gift” philosophy. It’s not perfect, but he said even though their main thrust is on this new model, they still are about taking care of the poor and he can see that these communities need more immediate action.
I spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and resting in my single room! Someone in the Radisson network is a big donor and provides the rooms free to the team. It feels a bit decadent to be staying in such luxury, but having a single room is more logistical than luxurious. I'm up earlier than most team members as I have to get to the hospital earlier to check the patients before surgery, and I'm the last one back to the hotel at night as I have to wait for the last patient to return from recovery. When I have a roommate, I'm always having to tiptoe around in the dark so as not to wake her.
We had a team meeting/dinner and there are about 10 team members with whom I've been on prior missions. It's very unusual to see so many, and makes for a nice reunion. The project coordinator arranged for a marimba band to play during dinner. Seven men played on two big wooden instruments that resemble xylophones while another played a base and the last played drums. It was very intricate and entertaining. Tomorrow we tour the hospital and have the first of two screening days.
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