He's only been involved with Hands of Hope International for less than a year, but now Steve Petty is looking for a few good men to help build a medical clinic in Chiqua Dos, Guatemala.

"I came into Hands of Hope just in the last six months or so," Petty said, "but Hands of Hope International is a mission organization and their main focus is to provide medical treatment to the people of Guatemala. It may not be that narrowly focused as just Guatemala, but at this time, it's just Guatemala. And also to provide with that medical treatment the sharing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's their main focus."

He said, "How they accomplish that is by using the medical personnel in this area - doctors, nurses, pharmacists - also just laymen" who want to help the unfortunate, needy and sick people of Guatemala. "They go down and the care they give is basic care - antibiotics, minor things, vitamins, supplements, dental care if dentists go down - that's the focus."

In the past years, the groups that traveled to Guatemala provided the medical help to the Guatemalans without any formal clinic. "All the gear is packed up into vehicles that are rented when they get there. They travel to a town and will use a church or community center. (They) set up the clinic and run people through the various stages," said Petty.

Since they've been going down for several years, "Dr. Gary Pitts has been the catalyst for this. They saw a need in this one town called Chiqua Dos. It's about 3-1/2 hours from Guatemala City. In that 3-1/2-hour travel, it's about 40 or 50 miles, so you have roads that are not like those here in the states. Chiqua Dos is in the valley. ... It's a small town, dirt road, nothing like we would see around here. However, in this town, it is centrally located in this province area where townspeople estimated there are about 10,000 people in a radius of a couple of miles. And so it's an ideal place for a clinic. The townspeople on one of the medical trips said they'd like to donate a piece of land for a medical clinic if we would build it."

While Petty was working on another building project, Pitts stopped at Petty's house and said Petty might want to consider how he could help with the clinic in Guatemala.

"I thought about it and prayed about it and couldn't get the thought out of my head, and a couple months later I said to him, 'I'm interested in finding more out about this.' That was June of last year. In September, we took a team down, an investigative team, to see actually the piece of land that was given to us. To check out the town and surrounding towns to see about housing, transportation, building materials, where we could access those," Petty said.

"This piece of ground is a public area. It's a pie-shaped area that has ample room for what we want to put in there. Presently there is an adobe building there, small, that needs to be razed. The townspeople will raze that building prior to us coming down. What we plan to build - the plans were drawn up by Scearce-Rudisel - is basically a 30-by-60 building and it's sort of a split-level, so there'll be a basement. In the basement there'll be dormitories and restrooms so that families that come can stay or the doctors that are there have a place to stay."

Upstairs there will be a waiting room, operating room and other rooms for medical purposes. "This will be a place where doctors will come on a regular basis and provide medical treatment throughout the year. Right now, it's basically a one-time splash per year."

"My focus is to lead the work team. This will be the people who go down there, get their hands in the concrete and do the actual construction. I hope to have a team up, and it'll be a very small team, beginning in February for a week. Probably set the footers and get ready for laying the floor of the first floor, that'll be a 30-by-30 slab. There is a bus that Hands of Hope was given and that bus will be driven down to Guatemala (at the) beginning of February. ... On that bus will be a lot of medical supplies as well as, we hope to have a cement mixer put on there. I've been trying to secure a cement mixer, talking to various contractors, rental shops. ... I need to get one in order to put it on the bus as well as other hand tools," Petty said.

If anyone has those supplies, they are asked to contact Petty.

The second team will go with the medical team March 9 to March 18.

He said, "As we get people interested, we'll secure other teams. Maybe after school gets out. Some college students have expressed an interest in going down and we'll probably start up again in the fall. Summer time is rainy season in Guatemala.

"The first team, I need guys .. who are willing to be flexible and live rugged if we have to."

The cost per person for the trip is approximately $900. Two-thirds of the cost is for plane fare.

With only two or three teams going down to the site each year, Petty said, the project could take "a couple of years." He said he will go to Guatemala as often as there are teams available.

Anyone interested in helping build the clinic can contact Petty at 267-2513 or at [email protected] [[In-content Ad]]