A Community with No Boundaries

I have been privileged to spend four decades in higher education. Each and every student who has crossed my path has taught me something. I hope I have offered a small teaching in return. But no learning experiences can match the growth that comes from an immersive, deep-diving international opportunity. This year, our Interfaith Medical Service Trip to San Lucas was perhaps the best illustration ever. Our group of twelve students came together 7 months ago to bond and to learn, to prepare themselves and to chart a course of service to the other. We prepared to join in bringing healing at the hands of our medical team, and to be in solidarity with the descendants of the great Mayan civilization.

But this particular team went above and beyond anything I had ever experienced. The community they created knew no boundaries. Each and every one could at any time step up to the plate to do what needed to be done, to lead and to follow. Each one extended a hand as we climbed the hill to the clinic, unloaded suitcases filled with hygiene packs and pharmaceuticals, and incredibly, though we only had one “count-off” that went smoothly, showed up on time and ready for service – every time!

Most of all, this team looked like the world community they were to serve. Our students came from continents around the globe, faith traditions that reflected journeys in dialogue with the Divine, and every hue of God’s created humanity. And the experiences they shared included Mayan spiritual ceremonies, a visit to the Holocaust Museum in Guatemala City and a meeting with the president of the Jewish community of Guatemala. Sabbath eve dinner in Antigua added young voices rising in wishes of Shabbat Shalom (a Sabbath of Peace) as hugs and embraces were exchanged around the festive table. New initiatives have been put into place for future trips to include meetings with the Imam serving the mosque in Guatemala City, and the potential collaboration with Padre Sergio, a Diocesan priest, doing incredible mission-driven work in Coban with the most economically and health impoverished young and old Guatemalans.

When you open your eyes to see interfaith, when you open your hands to do interfaith, and when you open your heart to feel interfaith, the world enters easily into your young soul. These young souls will yet bring peace to our fragile world. I am certain of it.

Rabbi Abie Ingber

Unbreakable Bond

My journey has finally come to an end and what an experience it has been. Prior to the trip, a lot of people kept telling it will be life changing. However, I was disappointed at first as it took a while for me to find out that I had been looking in the wrong places for this ‘life changing’ part. Recently, I came to realize all that just happened over the course of a week.

I just found myself a family out of complete strangers.

Having people that bring out the best in me, share laughs, go through challenges together and of course, celebrate our victories as one, has definitely been something worth giving up my spring break for.

Trajectory

Trajectory is a word that, before coming to Guatemala, I had only heard about in the context of projectile motion in physics class. It’s a simple enough concept- an object’s trajectory is the path it follows upon launch. But during this trip, the word trajectory has adopted an entirely new meaning in my mind. From two of our incredible teachers Rabbi Abie and Dr. Lauri, I’ve learned how simple things that we take for granted in the US can completely change the trajectory of a child- that is, their path of life leading to their destination.

On Tuesday, I worked with Rabbi Abie in glasses and had the privilege of finding the perfect pair of glasses for our patients to improve their vision. Having had poor vision as a child myself, I know the importance of glasses in order to better see the beauty and vibrancy of the world around us. But I had never given much thought about the importance of glasses in a more concrete setting - school. Children with poor vision can’t see the chalkboard in school so they don’t learn the material as well as the other students. Then they can’t answer the teacher's questions and to avoid being singled out, they go to the back of the classroom. Now, they really can’t see and have an even more difficult time and the teacher may even treat them like they are stupid. Eventually, they will believe they are stupid themselves and will lose their drive for learning. The students won’t ever live up to their full potential- be it a scientist, engineer or author- because they never got glasses. When we gave them glasses, we enabled them to excel in school. We changed their trajectory.

With Dr. Lauri, I saw even more profound effects of changing trajectory through the water filters known as Ecofiltro. Many of the families we saw drank tap water, and that unfiltered water is swarming with infectious agents, parasites and bacteria. The children of the community were especially prone to illness from drinking this water and would often get chronic diarrhea. They’d lose so many nutrients and end up falling off the growth curve- their trajectory for healthy growth and development. Dr. Lauri, with the help of our awesome translator, Diana, had the power to educate families about the importance of drinking clean water and connecting them to the Ecofiltros. It was astounding to see how something as simple as a water filter could bring a child from the lowest percentiles of developmental progress to thriving.

This trip has inspired me to look for ways to change the trajectory of those around me. I’ve learned that these life changing resources are often very simple and well known, all it takes is getting connected to these resources and the education on why they are so important. I’ve seen our medical team change the trajectories of our patients, but as a result of this incredible trip, the people of Guatemala have changed my trajectory to be a medical professional dedicated to educating and caring for those who are marginalized and forgotten about.

Prasun Shah

Tall, Dark, and Handsome

Today, I got to shadow Dr. Richard and then I worked with Rabbi Abie later in the afternoon. It was a particularly empowering experience for me as that day as I saw the importance of care and attention to detail. At the same time, I observed multiple cases of people suffering because whoever was responsible for their healthcare handled their work carelessly.

With Dr. Richard, I saw a man who was on a very strong pain reliever that produced large doses of cortisol in the body. However, the problem was that he was on the drug for so long we feared his adrenal gland was compromised because it had not been functional for a long time. It was such a great learning experience seeing Dr. Richard perform all sorts of diagnostic tests and from there explain to detail why whatever he said was so. Another interesting trend of the day was seeing how the patients just sat there with smiles on their faces as the doctors took their time to explain different things to us, mid-diagnosis. It was such an exemplary expression of patience, which, to me, is one of the most underrated virtues. This also made me very grateful to the Guatemalan people because they really were the true reason for the knowledge I gained.

Later in the day, I was working at glasses and I had a particularly emotional experience with a 96-year-old woman who was probably about 5 feet tall. She had less than 20/125 vision and could barely see a thing! After trying countless glasses to no avail we were at the point of giving up when I handed her the last pair and asked “mejor o peor?” then she replied “ooooo, PERFECTO!” The expression on her face made me remember my brother’s first words when he got his glasses; he said “is this what the world really looks like?” It was such a touching moment for me and it was that day I remembered how hard it is to fight back tears. I then stood up from the chair I was sitting in and then she realized I was about 6’3 and then she said “ahhhh, alto, Moreno y guapo!” meaning “tall, dark and handsome”. Wow, this 96-year-old woman just made my day!