Friends In Guatemala

While in Guatemala I was able to meet a lot of neat people and build friendships with them that I'll never forget.

Sylvia Lobendahn, from UVU, is from Guatemala (pictured above is her husband Leoni). She made arrangements for me to stay with a family that lived several houses from her relatives, which is where they stayed. Her uncle drives a little pick up truck with a camper shell on it. There was no room in their for Leoni and I, so we laid in the back where there was barely enough room for the two of us! =)

When ISA came to 2ft wanting to create a partnership, I mentioned there were several things that had to take place in order for us to go to Guatemala. At the top of this list was a need for an established prosthetic clinic to provide us with a prosthetist to oversee the patients care. I emailed several clinics and heard back from Centro Bionico. Eddie Fuentes, CPO (front and center in the white shirt), was excited to help us with this project. He introduced me to his brother Julio Fuentes, who is also a licensed prosthetist in Guatemala. Eddie, unfortunately had to travel for business the week we were there so he left us in the care of his brother Julio (back row far right) and sister Luky (middle back row in white shirt). Luky is studying to become a prosthetist.

They have two clinics within Guatemala. A patient clinic in the heart of Guatemala city and a manufacturing clinic 30 minutes from down town. The manufacturing clinic sits on the property where Eddie and his siblings were raised. They lived in a wooden house that his father built. They tore down the wooden house and built two houses in it's place making one of them the manufacturing clinic and the other house for his family. The lady in the middle of this picture is their mom. She is one sweet lady with a giant heart! She made us lunch one day where we learned quickly how amazing of a cook she is!

This is Fernando. He worked as a technician in the manufacturing clinic. He was a HUGE help! He knew where everything was in the clinic and helped find us everything we needed from supplies to tools to local stores to purchase material. His plans are to become a prosthetist some day.

There was a flood one night. When we showed up to work in the morning there was water running down the stairs. Everybody worked really hard to mop up the water. In this picture Fernando was just finishing up. He was there before we showed up in the morning and stayed well after we left everyday.

This is part of the family that I stayed with. Pictured (L to R): Nelly, Osmi, Yvan, and Me. There was about 15 people who lived in this home and somehow they managed to make room for one more. Nelly cooked me breakfast and dinner everyday. What an amazing cook she was!

She took care of me like she was my own mother.

It was amazing how this project all came together. All of the people mentioned above and more made it a success! Thank you to all those who helped 2ft Prosthetics and ISA while we were in Guatemala. I know I appreciated your generosity and kindness towards me.

Thank YOU! MUCHAS GRACIAS!