MEDICINE AND MIDWIFERY THE STUDENTS VISIT INDIGENOUS HEALTH CLINICS and health care workers in villages on Lake Atitlán, learning firsthand how this Mayan region addresses health issues. Local care providers explain the critical importance of listening, and understanding Mayan cultural values. The most effective care balances modern medicine with respect for traditional healing methods. In San Juan La Leguna, Anna, a midwife, shares her vast knowledge and experience of 50 years delivering babies. We listen rapt, fascinated by Anna’s stories, her warmth, grace, and kindness. Anna walks us to the town dock and watches as our boat pulls out onto the lake. In her colorful traditional dress and long braids wrapped in red cloth, she waves good-bye, a vision perhaps none of us will forget.
SANTIAGO ATITLÁN EDUCATION IN GUATEMALA suffers from a severe lack of resources, supplies and training. The indigenous population is affected the most by poorly funded schools, and schools that fail to teach Mayan languages and culture. Dropout rates are high. Families may also rely on children to sell goods on the street, shine shoes, care for other children. Time spent in school may result in direct economic loss for some families. To address this concern, some schools now stagger hours so that children in one family may attend school at different times. We meet with Mandy, a former Peace Corps volunteer who has married and settled in Santiago Atitlán. She has started the very first lending library in town and a preschool fashioned on Montessori principles. The school is bright, engaging, cheerful. Children clearly thrive here. A few miles outside of town, we visit another school. Nino, a local resident who has worked hard to realize his own dream of starting a school, happily introduces us to the teachers and children. The children sing for us and play with us. They want to hold hands, hug, look at our cameras, braid our hair. Many of these children lost family members in 2005 when a mudslide buried 1,500 people alive. We feel honored to be here. Some of our group donates money to build a new roof for the school.
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