The Face of Hope

Leaving Chalutecbal was hard on Friday.  All the rain had created problems with the roads and we had to walk out of the village as our “Super Nina” Guatemalan chicken bus could not make it up the hill with its cargo.  We had made the decision to leave early as the fog and rain were not on our side, but no one wanted to.  We had left about half of the patients unseen that day and there is always the possibility that we will not be able to return to finish as planned on day 2.  If the torrential rains continue again tonight, it is possible that we will not be able to see the 80 plus villagers that have already waited all day today.  Patience.  Something we do not know, not really.

There are many things that stand out in your mind after spending your day in the dark cinder block building on the muddy hillside in Chalutecbal, Guatemala.  Today it is the hope that the woman with Hansen’s disease will finally get to the hospital that will be forced to help her.  Moving through the first clinic day we saw many aches and pains, children with parasites, adults with joint pain, dispensed many glasses correcting vision – nothing really prepared us for the very quite woman that finally had her turn.  Having recently visited a Leprosy center, our physician was able to identify the dreaded and often thought “dead” disease.  Leprosy.  Having ravaged her body from her face throughout her torso and lower extremities, the woman, Salmalita, had been turned away on the single occasion that she had been able to get to the local hospital.  Medical care at the local hospitals in Guatemala is on a cash-in-advance basis.  Salmalita has no money.  We hear from the locals that if we are able to get Salmalita to the government hospital for leprosy that they will have to give her the treatment that she wants so desperately.  The hospital is four hours away.

We leave in the rain, walking up the hillside, knowing that the local bomberos will be meeting us in Chalutecbal on Saturday morning to transport Salmalita to the government hospital.  If we are unable to make it back because of the weather, Salmalita will loose her chance to get the help she needs – this time.

God, we are thankful for clearing skies.  We are more thankful for having the abilities to diagnose and provide a solution that will get treatment to provide Salmalita with a new life and an existence hopefully free of the ravages of Leprosy.

As Salmalita and her aunt drive away on Saturday morning she is frightened.  As I look at her through the window, her eyes are filled with tears and so are mine.

-Nita Turpin

-Reprint from First United Methodist Church of Hurst News - Vol. 3, No. 5, June 30-July 13, 2006