by Sid Davis

More than 60 U.S. volunteers ended a week of work in the Guatemalan highlands and gathered for a celebratory banquet recently at the Porta Hotel Antigua. The volunteers were members of Helps International, a U.S.-based non-profit organization, and they were celebrating another successful trip into the highlands to administer medical care to rural poor who otherwise would not have been able to afford it. Although Helps is not as well-known as the Peace Corps, its stature was indicated by the fact that the guest of honor was the new first lady of Guatemala, Wendy Widman de Berger, who arrived to a standing ovation.

Patients waiting at San Cristobal hospital,
Alta Verapaz to go through triage.

Steve Miller, the founder of the group, took the podium and explained that the seed of Helps International began in the 1970s when he traveled to the Guatemalan highlands and met a missionary named Paul Townsend. He and Townsend were irrevocably affected by the living conditions of the rural Maya and set about funneling volunteers from the U.S. to Guatemala to help those in need. With the blessing of the Guatemalan government, Miller began organizing teams to build houses and to provide dental care. The idea grew into bringing medical/surgical teams to Guatemala. By 1983 Helps International was officially born.

The mission of Helps International is to improve water quality, medical care, education and housing, and to promote agricultural and economic development in the Guatemalan highlands. It also stresses personal interaction and cooperation with the Guatemalan government. Various specialized teams are sent by Helps to Guatemala each year — including house-building teams and teaching groups that work in local schools. The Hotel Porta Antigua banquet in January was for the latest medical team, one of 10 scheduled to arrive in 2004.

Helps medical teams, which include nurses, plastic surgeons, ophthalmologists, anesthesiologists and dentists, spend seven days working in a hospital in San Cristóbal. To announce their arrival, they run ads on radio and in papers and ask missionaries and volunteers to spread the word. There’s no shortage of patients come opening day, which makes the medical team’s work schedule close to non-stop. In seven days they triage all their patients, set up clinics, perform surgeries, prescribe medications and monitor recoveries. Like many Guatemalan hospitals, the facility in San Cristóbal contains equipment that dates back to the 1970s, but Helps volunteers have been able to find replacement parts in the U.S. to keep the machinery running.

Judy Brandon, a nurse from Texas who made her first Helps trip 10 years ago as a translator, explained that language difficulties complicate medical treatment. “Sometimes we need three-way translation — from English to Spanish or English to the local Maya dialect.” Despite this, Helps medical teams treat patients in areas ranging from pediatrics to dermatology. Brandon said the typical ailments vary, but that hernias are common and probably result from extreme physical conditions under which many Maya work. She said such ailments are usually very advanced.

James Koppen, a pharmacist from Minnesota, agreed that poverty combined with a culture of stoicism keep many Maya from seeking medical treatment until their conditions are advanced. His team brought $15,000 in medications for the week and used the bulk of them. He theorized that the health problems he and other volunteers see probably stem from many sources. “I don’t think anyone has carefully studied the causes of all of these illnesses, but some possible culprits are dirt floors, animals roaming inside living spaces, bad water, just the general way of life.”

Years ago Helps discovered one definitive cause of health problems in the Maya highlands — indoor fires that spewed smoke into what are usually poorly ventilated homes, causing health problems similar to those suffered by heavy cigarette smokers. Helps doctors suspect this as a cause of birth defects such as cleft lips and palettes, something they see in abundance during their clinics.

Traditional fires also cause innumerable burns, which originally brought the problem to the attention of Helps volunteers. They saw an extraordinary number of burned children in their clinics, some so severely injured cosmetic surgery was the only solution. Longtime Helps program manager Don O’Neal, an engineer by training, decided to develop a new kind of stove — one that would be durable and cheap, while minimizing health problems associated with open wood fires. His creation — the “Onil” stove — was field-tested for a year and used 70 percent less firewood, kept flames out of reach of children and reduced carbon monoxide levels to less than 5 parts per million.

The Onil stove (the name came from the Maya pronunciation of O’Neal’s last name) has been installed by Helps volunteers in thousands of highlands homes. Made of concrete, it’s inexpensive, manufactured in-country and is easy to assemble. In 2003 alone Helps installed 3,000 Onil stoves in highlands homes. The stove project is a yearround part of the Helps agenda and is managed by Richard Grinnell, Helps’ full-time administrator in Guatemala.

Another facet of the Helps program was the building of what they call “widow houses” for the poor. Helps volunteers are currently installing concrete floors in homes and working in community development. Helps has also initiated a coffee program. Helps sells high-quality coffee by the bag and in bulk. They also sell a limited-edition collection of coffees called the Cup of Excellence — coffees which are judged to be the best of the year. According to the Helps website (www.helpintl.org), small farmers produce 66 percent of Helps coffee, and these farmers are paid 78 percent more for their coffee than they would receive in a normal market. Helps uses coffee revenues in its various charitable programs.

As the January banquet wound to a close, the importance of Helps’ work was summed up by Dr. Phil Boyle of Minnesota, who told the audience the story of a patient named Pedro. Pedro suffered facial burns, injuries so severe he was sent to the United States for cosmetic reconstruction. When each subsequent Helps team arrived in San Cristobal, Pedro came to the clinic for further treatment. He grew close with volunteers and they always looked forward to seeing him. During the January clinic Pedro didn’t come to the hospital because he couldn’t get away from his job. Not seeing him saddened team members until they realized what it meant — he had recovered completely and been accepted enough into normal life to hold down a job. His treatment had been a success. •