Area residents recently served on a medical missions trip in Guatemala, assisting doctors and dentists with providing dental and health care.
There were 13 local residents who went on the trip July 13-21 through Hands of Hope International.
Hands of Hope International is an evangelical missions non-for-profit organization based in Winona Lake.The volunteers worked with Guatemalan dentists and doctors to provide thousands of patients with hygiene supplies and dental and medical assistance.
Sally DeWald, president of Hands of Hope International, oversaw the group and takes three teams to Guatemala each year to serve. The trips are in March, July and November.
The groups have been as small as nine and as large as 85 people. There have been Warsaw residents participating in the trips since 1999 when a group of 23 people went to serve in Guatemala.
"Here in the United States, anyone can buy Tylenol for less than 2 cents a piece, but in Guatemala, Tylenol is 13 cents a piece," DeWald said. "One of the main contributors to poor hygiene in Guatemala is unclean water in residents' homes."
She said men cultivate fields without tractors and plows, and the women wash laundry by hand.
DeWald said when Guatemala residents make $3, it is a good day for them. But when they have several children to feed, it is hard to afford 26 cents for medical attention.
Janet Hamman, 69, Warsaw, participated in the evangelism portion of the missions trip. Hamman worked with other volunteers to tell the story of salvation, using colored beads after they received medical assistance. The volunteers also gave children stuffed animals.
"It was neat to provide the children with stuffed animals and bring smiles to their faces," Hamman said.
Hamman also participated in the trip last year and invited her grandson, Kyle Marose, to go on this year's trip.
Marose, 20, will be a junior this fall at Indiana University where he is studying biology. A 2006 Warsaw Community High School graduate, he plans to work in the medical field.
Marose said he assisted two Guatemalan dentists with extracting teeth.
"It was a great experience to know I was helping someone in another country with their dental needs," Marose said.
The volunteers carried a small pharmacy with them, prescribing medicine for aches and pains, coughs, colds and allergies.
There were dialect translators, and translators who spoke Spanish and English to bridge the language barrier gap between the volunteers and medical patients.
Kamie Melton, 44, Warsaw, said she enjoyed serving.
"It was amazing having an impact on the Guatemalan residents' lives, and even though we could tell they were in poverty, they were thankful for us helping meet their medical needs," Melton said.
Melton worked with volunteers to provide hygiene kits with shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste.
Hands of Hope will take another group in November to Guatemala. To qualify, a person must be college age or older.
For more information about Hands of Hope International, contact DeWald at 574-551-8512.
