Day Two
The circumstance that people are born into is one of the many things in life that is out of man’s control, as the team was reminded this morning in a devotional based on John 9, where Jesus teaches his disciples that a man being born blind is not a punishment for his or his parents sins, but a way for God’s works to be made manifest.
Today the team had the opportunity to admit, examine 103 patients, and schedule 78 patients for surgery this week. It was incredibly touching to hear the beginning of their stories and put them on the schedule for life altering surgeries. Their pain, some that has been chronic, ongoing for years on end, pain that is a testament of the strength of the Guatemalan people, will soon and finally be put to an end through these surgeries.
The team met with an abundance of incredible individuals starting at about 8:40am until about 3pm. A woman experiencing pain in her hip who had traveled 8 hours from an indigenous village, donned in colorful traditional clothing, and an excellent Spanish speaker despite k’iche being her native language. A 39 year old man who has had a broken, untreated hip for 10 years, and has been unable to work. A young woman who turned 17 this past Tuesday in the hospital with a hole in and an external fixation device sticking out of her leg, who was so brave as Dr. Harvin redressed it, despite the apparent pain. A twelve year old girl with an extra bone growth on her knee, to whom they were able to give the good news that no surgery was needed. A woman from Guatemala City who got around in a wheelchair and told me over and over again that I was “bonita.” A 19 year old young man who washes tomatoes for a living, and whose femur had healed completely skewed, causing him to fall often and experience pain when he walked.
I couldn’t help but feel sorrow for these patients, some of whom had suffered for so, so long, and others who had been broken so early in life. 50 years ago, a woman was injured in an earthquake, had surgery, and has since been suffering from an infection that spread down to her bone. Today this woman entered the clinic, 76 years old, with her husband, and sought help for the pain that one can only imagine is excruciating to live with. And a 23 year old young man who hasn’t been able to work for three years, who used to be in construction and a student in school, and who wants to be a chef, but a motorcycle accident and a subsequent infection has prohibited him from these things.
This is the second trip with Faith and Practice for physical therapist Jorge Gomez-Areco, and he expressed that having the previous experience, he was determined to do the best job, a better job than he had been able to do last time, that he was now equipped to do in order to help these people the best he could. His efforts included bringing more physical therapy tools and planning on establishing contact with patients so that he would be able to check up on them and help them recover even after the trip was over.
Circumstance is something that we cannot control. We do not choose where we are born, or what happens to us. What we can choose is what we do with it, and how we approach it. The somber, heartbreaking circumstances of these people are not a result of their sin, or of the sin of their parents, as Jesus teaches, but that God’s works can be made manifest. Jorge recognizes that his circumstance is one of having access to the knowledge and expertise that these people need, and through him and the other members of this team, God’s work will be made manifest. We are in a place to help, and they are in a place to need help, and there is something so distinctly beautiful about that situation. God has made life just hard enough that we cannot do it alone. We need each other, and we need him.
The man born blind, the young woman with arthritis, the man whose body has rejected the plates put in to fix his injury, the man who cannot work at 65 because of an accident he had when he was 24 years old, “neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be manifest in him.” Jesus then went on to say “I must work the works of him that sent me.” And so must we. God put us in a position to have the expertise, ability, and means to serve, and so he has sent us to do so.
Maya Holmes
Team Blogger
