Hector and his family thank GMRP for their health

By Laura Sumner Coon

All that signals that there may be someone living here is a tiny break in the underbrush growing along the rutted dirt road. Flory, GMRP continuing care coordinator, waves a visitor on, past a broken path of rocks and up a small hill to the front yard of dirt, where a dog growls suspiciously and a brood of hens and chicks pecks at the dirt.

One small electric light dimly shines through the hut. The kitchen table is on the front porch. Past the doorway swing four hammocks in the first room of a thatched hut that is covered by a corrugated steel roof. Behind the main room is a storage area, where plastic bags and chairs contain this family of four’s worldly possessions. The chicken coop is literally three giant steps from the main hut. A smoldering fire – the cooking and heating area – is between buildings.

Tonight, the elder mother, Eugenia, the daughter, Izabel and son, Hector, are guests at the ranch. All three have had surgery this past year after visiting the 2015 clinic. After dinner and a few marimba songs, Flory introduces her work and the patients so that the group knows what happens when it leaves.

“I am very grateful to God for permitting me to work with my Guatemalan people,” says Flory. “When you all decided to open referrals, I dedicated myself to help the patients. I always thought that God put a lot of beautiful people in my life. While I don’t know very many people from here, it is not my area, I try to work with love and compassion.”

Hector, Izabel and Eugenia have been the recipients of that care. All three needed surgery and none had ever been to Antigua, more than two hours from home.

“We are very poor,” says Eugenia spokesperson  for the family. We would not be able to have this surgery without you. We could not travel by ourselves. With this group, we were able to have our operations. May God bless you.”