Monday, March 22, 2010

How Many Children Is Too Many?

You are a 29 year-old Mayan woman with 7 children. You and your husband don't use birth control because 1) according to your church it's sinful to do so, 2) your culture tells you that a woman's job is to have children, and 3) if you walk into a local pharmacy and buy condoms word will get out that you're a tramp and sleeping around.
Today is Sunday and you've come to the Salud y Paz clinic to see a surgeon in hopes of having your tubes tied. The decision to have this surgery was a difficult one but there simply doesn't seem to be any other option - there's no way your family can afford to feed another mouth. Despite this, you haven't told your husband or friends what you're doing because you know this news would harm your marriage and perhaps your standing in the community. As you nervously wait outside the operating room the surgeon walks up to you with the news, "I'm sorry, we can't do the operation. You're pregnant."


This very scene played out two weeks ago before my eyes as we hosted a surgery team from California. It was heartbreaking. I felt for this poor woman and her desperate circumstances. It made me think a lot about birth control and how we respond to it as people of faith and as people dealing with situations that are far from black and white.
On one hand, I greatly respect and generally hold the belief that all children are a blessing from God. And I also understand why many Christians (mostly Catholics) choose to not use "artificial" forms of birth control, such as the pill or condoms. In many ways it is a great step of faith to say that each time you have sex you are trusting God's will over your own.
On the other hand, I also believe that sex can be a sacred gift from God and was created for our enjoyment. In our world today, it's also easy to understand why most Christians and non-Christians (in America, at least) choose to use various forms of birth control to "choose" when they become pregnant - affording them greater control over their career choices and family planning.
Whatever your beliefs, the issue raises many difficult questions. If you're against the use of birth control, is the woman in the above example "sinful" for what she was choosing to do? If so, however, which is the greater sin: using birth control or bringing a child into the world that you can't afford to feed? If you support the use of birth control, do you underestimate the blessing that unexpected children can be or have you allowed the ability to control birth turn you into a controlling person? There doesn't seem to be any easy answer - which unfortunately many of us are unwilling or unable to accept. We choose a side and dig in our heels.
In situations like these, perhaps there is another option - doing our best to understand the "other," and choosing to leave the judgment to the only One who is worthy of doing so.

We had patients come from as far away as Tikal (12 hours by bus) for surgery.

Surgery weeks when we operate on children are especially exciting, but also a little nerve-wracking for everyone due to the increased risk of having children under anesthesia.


We were able to repair 5 cleft lips...

...which left us with some very happy and proud parents.

This is why we did 20 hernia surgeries and already have 17 signed up for the surgery team in May.

I honestly thought this thing was gonna jump out of his back and start tap-dancing. Dude had lived with this large mass for 30 years...
...but no longer! Wow, our surgeons kick butt. My boss made me get a new little fridge to keep biopsies b/c last time I just double-bagged the "specimens" in zip-lock bags and put them in the fridge with the food. The staff got a little upset with me. Geez, let's loosen up people : )
As always - peace to you.
Jay

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Cloak & Dagger - Guate Style

I spend many of my Saturdays (including later tonight) at the Guatemala City Airport - palms sweating, heart racing, and with a large wad of cash in my pocket. Why? Because the Guatemalan government wreaks of corruption.
If you have no qualms about screwing your own fellow countrymen, want to know how to make a quick buck? Tax the heck out of incoming medical mission teams, of course. Or worse, take ALL of their meds away. The government here (the Haitian government is now doing this also), after seeing "rich" (read: generous) gringos come into their country with thousands of dollars of medicines every week, finally decided last year that these teams needed to share the wealth, so to speak. So now, every single time I go to pick-up a team, I have to go in to baggage claim and beg, plead, and yes, bribe the officials to allow us to pass. The worst one was late last year when the team leader started crying after customs said they were confiscating every medical suitcase (around 20). God bless the almighty dollar, though, which apparently can change even the hardest of hearts, and the ingenuity of our volunteers, which have taken to hiding medicines in their socks and underwear.
Part of me hopes there is a special place reserved in hell for those who would try to rob the poor of medicines and other necessities just so they can get rich off of it, but another part of me is trying to understand. I guess when you've struggled your whole life to get by financially, you do things you may not do in other situations.
Once, a janitor at a church I worked at was caught stealing money from the church office. I said to my Senior Pastor, "What kind of person steals from a church?" He said something that helped me put it in better perspective, "A desperate one."

Let's all pray for the desperate ones, and keep battling the injustices that put them there.
Peace,
Jay

ps. Please help me pray that all goes well tonight with customs - about 70 Mayans that need surgery certainly are.
UPDATE: ALL of our meds made it through customs!!!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Just the Fax, Ma'am

The project Carey and I work for continues to grow and bless the people of Guatemala.
2009 by the numbers...
5,800 Medical patients seen by rural mission teams
5,773 Number of lab tests done in our two clinics (3 of these were for Jay's jacked-up stomach)
5,315 Medical patients seen at our two clinics by Dr. Fredy
3,753 Dental patients seen at our two clinics by Dr. Luis (37% were extractions)
1,800 Dental patients seen by rural mission teams
600 Vision patients seen by rural mission teams
240 Surgeries completed by surgical teams (the sawed-off toe was the coolest)
67 Percent of patients that are female
33 Percent of patients that are male
21 Mission teams led by Jay
19 Women trained by the Amigas program in Camanchaj
19 Preschool children graduated in Carey's first class
13 Percent of our patients with respiratory-related complaints
13 Percent of our patients with diabetes or hypertension
11 Percent of our patients with diarrhea-related complaints
10 States represented by mission teams
9 Percent of patients with urinary infections
9 Percent of patients 5 years old or younger
2 Countries represented by mission teams (if you count Canada as a real country)
2 Gringos named Jay & Carey who had the most amazing experience last year

Thanks for checking in, but most of all thanks for supporting us last year. Much of this work could not have been done without your incredible generosity and prayers.
Paz,
Jay