Guatemala Day 6- The Dump

Content warning....

How could human life be so minuscule and so disposable? I questioned God in these many hard moments today as I saw how sad the human condition can be.

Today I was with Dr. Lauri in pediatrics, and we only saw four patients within the span of four hours. Our first case was a great success story about a three year old boy who's mother had tried and failed to self abort, due to the trauma from an unsafe coat hanger abortion this little boy with Cerebral Palsy effecting his left side. He was adopted by a young mom a while after he was born as she had greatly improved his growth chats so he was in the 25th percentile and he was gaining more control over his left limbs allowing him to walk with a limp.

Our next case was the hardest. Triage brought in the boys chart for us to review before we called the next patient in, KK said, "Your gonna wanna take a look at this" as she set the laminated paper chart, filled in with dry erase marker on the desk. Sure enough, this one year old boy wasn't even on the curve. He was only 2kg heavier than when he was born and his head circumference and length were unchanged. Dr. Lauri's face went grim as she explained his backstory that was recorded; due to an unsafe home birth, the boy had a trauma and was not exposed to the right amount of oxygen and therefore his brain was first and foremost severely affected, also leaving him with an extreme case of Cerebral Palsy. Dr. Lauri called in the mom holding the smallest 1 year old I've ever seen. During the physical exam we could see his rib case and bones, he was stick thin and had the tiniest head, and he shook with small seizers. The mom said that all week he refused to breast feed and on closer examination Dr. Lauri found a large sore on his lip; because he had been teething and was unable to move his hand to bring anything to chew on, he had been repeatedly biting open his lip making it painful to breast feed. The only thing Dr. Lauri could do for this child with the equipment, medicine and circumstance of the child was to rotate him on ibuprofen and Tylenol to help control his pain so he could eat again. With further investigation we found out that he also had a hernia in his stomach. This is when the mom asked when he would start walking or talking. Dr. Lauri pulled Logan, Gieslle and I aside to explain that the mother had no idea about this disorder, and that he couldn't see or hear her although the mom thought he could. She then had to explain to the mom that her son was going to die, and he would very soon unless they were able to get a procedure done so he could get a feeding tube, that they didn't have access too in Coban, not even our doctors had the resources for that surgery. Seeing the face of a mom who was just told that their son would die and there was almost nothing anyone could do about it because he was so terminally ill... was heart wrenching. Logan and I cried about it later that day.

We got on the bus to leave clinic at around noon and Dr. Lauri had arranged that we go and see the dump, just below the hill where Ciudad Esperanza lay, where the people we had been treating lived and worked. Due to the pandemic many people were relocated off the government's land and lived in shacks on the jungle hills surrounding the dump. The sight made me turn pale... Tin roofs surrounded by piles of trash and makeshift homes, stray dogs with bite marks, missing legs, and visible rib cages wandered around scrounging in the trash, and disgusting, large, velociraptor-like vultures with bald pink head and sharp talons that fought over trash and squawked as they circled the skies above... This was hell on earth.

As we walked over the dirt road and trash, we saw the people sorting and collecting the recycled material from the trash to sell. We stood, shell-shocked, green and pale from the sight. No one said a word for a long time after we got back on the bus.

The debrief was two and a half hours that day. We had an eight hour drive to Antigua so it worked for everyone to attempt to sort out their emotions. The cases seen in just four hours were unimaginable: the cerebral palsy case, a suicidal schizophrenic man, a domestic violence case and a kid with scabies. There wasn't a single person on that bus who didn't cry. How could we not, we had just witnesses the greatest of poverty, suffering and loss. Dr. Lauri commended us because, like Jesus walked with and cared for the most marginalized people on earth, we were doing the same. Without having to see where these people worked, or where they came from we were able to give them the love, care, compassion and support they needed to feel like they could keep living, although in the worst conditions imaginable.

Many came to clinic this week with smiles on their faces not allowing us to see the pain until visible evidence was available. They thanked us and we thanked them, for allowing us to step into their lives as they stepped into ours. These people have hope in a place where none should be found. These people have joy were I got a glimpse of hell. These people have love, where love is not given to them. So yes, you can make a difference in this world, with the smallest actions... a smile, a bandaid, a bottle of Tylenol, a single burbuja floating to the sky, a warm squeeze of a hand, a meal shared, or a hug. Don't think that your actions in this world don't matter because the small ones add up to something bigger than ourselves, and sometimes there is only so much we can do but we have the peace of knowing we did all we can, and this team will be back again next year and years to come to continue to spread love, peace, hope and joy in Coban, Guatemala.