Saturday, July 5, 2008

Serving others in Guatemala

Argen Duncan El Defensor Chieftain Reporter, aduncan@dchieftain.com

Courtesy of Eileen Comstock

Women in a Guatemalan village met Rotary Club members from New Mexico when the Americans visited the country to deliver ambulances and medical equipment and to check on past service projects.

Heading South

"A Guatemala Como Sea." (Guatemala or Bust.)

So read the sign on an ambulance two Rotary Club of Socorro members helped bring to a community in Guatemala this spring.

Dr. Eileen Comstock and Jon Morrison delivered medical supplies, two ambulances and money for a third ambulance to the country as part of a project by Rotary clubs in New Mexico, West Texas and Guatemala in cooperation with service organization United by Friendship.

"Overall, it was a very rewarding trip," Comstock said. "We were welcomed in every place we went in Guatemala."

Communities were working hard to improve their quality of life after civil war.

Members of Rotary and United by Friendship raised money, collected medical equipment and received donations of two old, out-of-service ambulances for a hospital and three health clinics in the Guatemalan district of Uspantan.

Morrison said project coordinator Deborah Simon of Espanola has been working with one Guatemalan district for upwards of a decade and is making a difference.

Last fall, Comstock joined the project after being intrigued by a presentation about it.

Morrison jumped in later when he decided the group needed another ambulance driver. He always wanted to volunteer and driving was something he could do, Morrison said in an interview.

Comstock wanted to help drive, but she was told that women would attract people who wanted to cause problems during the trip through Mexico.

In April, four New Mexico Rotary members started the drive to Guatemala with the ambulances carrying medical equipment, and eight more people, including Comstock, flew to the country a number of days later, and brought medical equipment as excess baggage.

Jon Morrison's Drive

To get the ambulances to Mexico, Jon Morrison, of Socorro, and his compatriots had to drive to a specific Mexican port of entry on the Texas Gulf Coast and then cross Mexico in 10 days to avoid heavy fines.

Morrison and fellow Rotary members Greg Chalmers, Robert Boverie and Simon started their drive in Albuquerque the day before Easter, Morrison said in a written statement. About 30 miles east of Roswell, the 1979 Chevrolet ambulance began having fuel pump problems, but Morrison nursed it into Fort Stockton, Texas.

Only three replacement fuel pumps were available in the country, and the part would come in a few days later. Simon and Chalmers left for Brownville, Texas, to start the paperwork to cross through Mexico.

Morrison and Boverie waited for the part and finally set off at 4 p.m. on the Tuesday after Easter. They had to travel 600 miles before resting so they could get to Brownville on time to finish paperwork and cross into Mexico the next morning, Morrison wrote.

At 3 a.m. that Wednesday, Morrison and Boverie rolled into their hotel. At 6 a.m. they got up, and it took until noon to complete the paperwork.

After crossing the border and having lunch with Rotarians in Matamoros, Mexico, Simon flew ahead to Guatemala, and the three men continued the drive.

"There are no shortcuts in Mexico, as we were to find out," Morrison wrote.

The next day, the trio stopped for gas outside Veracruz. The gas station worker started putting diesel in the Chevy ambulance, which ran on gasoline.

When the Americans stopped the mistake, they were assured there wasn't enough diesel in the tank to cause problems. Ten miles down the road, the Chevy started to smoke and die.

The men had the disabled ambulance towed to a mechanic's shop and continued on to Santa Teresa, where they contacted Simon. Two days later, Morrison and Chalmers continued on to Guatemala with the working ambulance, and Boverie waited for firefighters from a Guatemalan border town to come and tow the Chevy ambulance out of Mexico.

"Before we left, Deborah warned us about people trying to get the paperwork or even the ambulance once we got close to the border," Morrison wrote.

In a small town 20 miles north of the border, people mobbed the ambulance. They hung onto the vehicle with Morrison driving at more than 20 miles per hour.

Eventually, the people seemed to realize the men weren't going to stop or roll down their windows. They dropped off when Morrison slowed down.

"Greg and I were pretty shaken by what occurred," Morrison wrote. "Our cell phone didn't work there, and it made calling for help downright impossible."

When the men arrived at the border, their contact wasn't there, people mobbed them again and no Mexican official came to help. The Americans pushed their way across the border, where a Guatemalan guard helped them.

"It was like a different world," Morrison said of the Guatemalan side of the border.

The guard sent them back to Mexico.

Chalmers took the wheel, and two hours later, the men found the correct border crossing and help. With firefighters from the department that towed the disabled ambulance, the Americans stored the ambulance overnight and crossed the border without stopping in an ambulance from border town San Pablo, Guatemala.

Simon met the men and took them to San Pablo for the night.

"We were in Guatemala illegally for the second time, but we didn't care," Morrison wrote. "That would be taken care of tomorrow."

The next day, the Guatemalan firefighters had smoothed "the ruffled feathers of the Mexican officials so there wasn't any problem," Morrison said.

The disabled ambulance stayed in San Pablo with the firefighters. Comstock said the members of Rotary and United by Friendship were grateful for the help avoiding a fine for the vehicle remaining in Mexico too long, and the firefighters said they could fix the ambulance.

The fire department had a nice ambulance but needed another.

Morrison said the San Pablo residents held a parade as the ambulance was towed through town, and Boverie was made a firefighter.

Rotary members are now looking for an ambulance to give to the intended recipients.

Morrison spent a several days in Guatemala but didn't have time to visit the villages with the rest of the team. However, he is ready to do the same thing again.

Eileen Comstock's Trip

Comstock looked Guatemala in the face and found beautiful people when she carried medical equipment into the country.

Comstock was part of the team that flew into Guatemala.

The group flew into Guatemala City and then traveled to Antigua to become acclimated. The ambulance drivers had already arrived.

While in Antigua, the group visited the main square. There, Comstock's purse fell out of her backpack while a boy, about 9 years old, was shining her shoes. The youngster found the purse, showed it to his mother and returned it to Comstock.

The doctor had "a long discussion" with the child's mother about what a fine son she was raising, and then Comstock bought a lot of the mother's folkloric wares.

"They warn you about theft in places like that, and all I ran into was wonderful, beautiful, honest people," Comstock said.

The Americans worked with the local government in Guatemala.

The Guatemalan officials helped the Americans allocate funds fairly and avoid duplicating the efforts of the inadequate government assistance programs.

The Guatemala City Rotary Club was to decide, based on need, where to spend the money raised to buy a third ambulance.

Comstock's group visited a hospital and left the working ambulance and some medical supplies.

At the hospital, Comstock told the resident doctor about equipment upkeep. She said medical school teaches students how to use the instruments but not how to maintain them.

"After we talked about maintenance, we talked about our grandkids," Comstock said.

Later in the trip, the group visited communities where their assistance helped provide potable water, schools or educational equipment in past projects. They left more medical equipment in the villages of San Racan Chituy and Las Pacayas.

As the members of Rotary and United by Friendship visited past projects, the people presented them with proposals for future assistance.

Comstock sees a lot of potential, and much need and poverty in Guatemala.

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