June 1st, 2019

¡Hola!

       Our final day in Guatemala has finally come. We started our day with a 5:45 breakfast before heading to Pacaya, the volcano we were going to hike. The hike to the top took us around 2 hours, and the view was definitely worth it! Once at the top we roasted marshmallows on a geothermal hotspot and then stopped for lunch at another great lookout point. It was an amazing view and we were really lucky that the clouds cleared so we could see everything below. Then we started our trek down which only took about an hour. After the volcano hike we headed to Rolando’s (our host) cafe, called Spokes where we all enjoyed some much needed coffee after our early morning wake up! 

       We’re all looking forward to seeing our friends and family tomorrow and sharing all of our wonderful stories and photos! We talked a lot tonight about how this service learning experience impacted us and how it relates to our lives at home, as well as our future careers. We have truly learned so much and grown so much, as therapists and people, so please ask us about our experience! Thank you for following along and supporting our journey. We can't wait to see you all so soon!

Adiós,

Cara & Jane

May 31st, 2019

 Hola amigos y familias!

       Canillá Group: Today was our last day at Las Maripositas clinic in Canillá and it was hard saying our good-bye's to Daryl's amazing team and the staff we built relationships with over the week.  Most of us students got to go on home visits and it was very interesting comparing therapy practices in a home setting to therapy in a clinical setting.  We also finished up care plans to leave for Jose, so he could continue making progress in therapy with the clients.  Overall, we were really impressed by the team work demonstrated between the therapists and how they drew on each other's strengths to best meet the needs of the clients.  We had a safe (but bumpy) ride back to Antigua and are excited to share experiences with the rest of the Xavier group!

       Antigua Group: We made it! Today was our last day at Naomi's Home and we experienced some really tough goodbyes. Even though we were only there for two days, the children left an unforgettable impact on us. We were able to work with the girls at the home and create care plans for their caregivers to implement into their daily lives. Hopefully we left as much of an impact on the girls as they left on us. Afterwards, we got to experience a beautiful view, delicious nachos, and thirst quenching smoothies at a mountain-top restaurant in Antigua. At the end of the day, we met back up with the Canillá group. We were able to reflect on both of our experiences from the past three days and share some meaningful stories and lifelong memories. We are all looking forward to an exciting last day tomorrow. Stay tuned!

-Abby L., Olivia K., and Aminah B.

May 30, 2019

Hola!

     The Antigua group spent the day at Naomi's house in Santa Luca. Naomi's house is an organization that cares for 9 girls with a ride range of disabilities, from things like Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and other ailments. They have live in in nannies that care for the girls 24/7. The girls have access to education and therapists, one of whom is Lisa, the OT and wife of our host Rolando. It was so fun to learn from her! We were able to conduct sessions with all the girls today, and will be heading back tomorrow to get to work with them again. This trip has really pushed us to be creative therapists and students and to think about the impact of culture upon society, disability, and therapy. We had so much fun working with these amazing, bright, happy girls. They brought a huge ray of sunshine to an otherwise cloudy, rainy day in Antigua! 

     Following the day at Naomi's, we spent some time at Rolando's cafe, Spokes. We had heard so much about the amazing philosophy behind this place and we were so happy to spend time there and drink his coffee! We had some time to reflect on the day and work on our Care Plans for the children. After that we had dinner at San Martín, in Santa Luca. 

    Meanwhile, the Canillá group has been kept pretty busy today at the clinic, with patients arriving at 8:30 and continuing throughout the day. In case this was not explained yesterday, we are staying at a clinic in the town of Canillá, which is approximately 4 hours from Antigua. The clinic has a single therapist to care for the entire town and surrounding villages, so the main goal for these few days is to help train him while evaulating new patients and making adjustments to the therapy being done. The appointments from today were similar to the ones yesterday, with many of the same patients returning. We were able to see such a large range of ages, abilities, and injuries and have learned so much from working with the different therapists. It is awesome to know that the care plans that we are leaving will continue to be carried out by the current therapist, as well as with the caregivers and individuals who received a copy. 

       Some of us were also able to go on home visits today, which involved making adjustments to adaptive equipment and providing treatment to individuals who were unable to leave their homes. It is incredible to see the difference in medical care between the United States and in Guatemala, such a errors in simple surgeries that lead to further complications or common illnesses that progress to dangerous conditions. Many patients have come to the clinic searching for diagnoses or help beyond the typical scope of practice for an occupational therapist in the States, but because the therapists we are with have a higher education, they are looked at for recommendations on any kind of medical need. We got to finish the day by seeing Mayan ruins close to the clinic! We drive back to Antigua after seeing patients all tomorrow morning, and we are looking forward to rejoining with the rest of the group!

       As a group, we have begun to do a lot of thinking of what this trip means for us and how it will change the way we think about occupational therapy. It is so hard to believe we only have 2 more full days here! Hope all is well at home. 

Hasta manana,

Molly y Laney 

May 29, 2019

Hey family and friends!

     Today, the team from Daryl's Home left for Canilla. They arrived safely and will be spending the next 3 days working in a clinic serving rural Guatemalans. Because of the teams location, they will be likely be entirely off the grid for the next couple of days, so they'll get you an update this weekend.

     Today, the DIGNA team picked up where we left off yesterday, giving vocational interviews and skills training to 7 more individuals in the morning. We compiled strengths and recommendations for all of our clients and handed those off to Amanda, the founder of DIGNA. In the afternoon, we outlined training modules including topics like community mobility, mock interview preparations and increasing adaptations for the DIGNA staff to be able to further serve their community. It was impactful to leave behind the recommendations for DIGNA as a whole, as well as each of the champions we were lucky enough to spend time with and get to know.

     
We closed our day by spending some time in Antigua's central park. It was rainy and cloudy but as beautiful as ever! Tomorrow, our team will be heading to Naomi's home. We are so looking forward to serving the children of her home!

The Antigua Team (Laney, Elizabeth, Aminah, Olivia, and Ellie)

May 28, 2019

Hola amigos y familía!

      Today is day 10 for the students in Guatemala, and day 4 for the therapists! Again, we were split into two service sites today.

      The Missionaries Group from yesterday spent the day at Digna, a nonprofit that focuses on teaching vocational skills to individuals with disabilities in the hopes that they may find work here. Due to the heavy stigma of disability in Guatemala, it is hard for even those with a slight intellectual, hearing or visual impairment to obtain employment. We spent time with 14 clients today, asking them about their dream jobs, what skills they need to get there and conducting simulation activities to help prepare them for the skills necessary to do the job. We found that the individuals we worked with are so attentive, hard working and have all the skills necessary to work. If they lived in the United States, they would likely be employed. We felt so much dissonance at this, because there isn't a lot we can do to help them get a job when it is societal stigma that is stopping them from working. We definitely saw a lot of occupational injustice in this. However, Digna is taking great strides to counteract this! They offer cooking classes and engage many of their individuals in training for cleaning, carpentry and other manual vocations. This same group will be heading back there tomorrow.
      Therapists Amy and Todd returned with a group of students to Daryl's and his daughter's homes to provide more therapy recommendations.  Todd, a jack of all trades, fabricated splints in a pan of hot water, while staff made tortillas for lunch on the stove next to him.  Amy worked closely with the head nanny, who has created an incredible sensory integration room in the home!  The students were able to rearrange their groups in order to experience how PTs and OTs collaborate to provide a comprehensive care plan for each child.  Tomorrow, this team will travel to Canilla to work at a local clinic then.
During some rare down-time, several members of the group got to watch a neighborhood soccer game and enjoy ice cream from a local shop.


-Laney and Amy

May 27, 2019

Hola amigos y familia!

Today was our first day at Daryl's, a home for children with developmental disabilities. We learned that the children are placed here by the government and Daryl and his family are trying to provide them with a family and a home not just services and a house. Daryl's daughter also has a home across the street with children that we got to visit. We worked with the therapists to provide OT and PT to the children at each home and teach the caregivers at each house how to best work with the children. This included learning transfers, positioning, and feeding/eating techniques. We also got creative by using foam from another toy to make an adaptive fork. We are excited to see what challenges and fun are to come this week!

The other group of therapists and students traveled to Missionaries to work with children living in their residential home. We worked with 14 individuals, addressing challenges such as feeding, self-regulation, tooth brushing, balance and coordination, executive functioning, fine motor skills and more! We educated caregivers on individual care plans to carry over the skills and recommendations we provided. The therapists and students worked together to come up with ideas and activities to best address the caregiver concerns! We left each individual with donations along with their care plans to support their needs. We are looking forward to visiting a new site tomorrow and enjoyed our time today with the children and caregivers at Missionaries. We are grateful for our in country hosts helping us interpret and translate throughout this trip. Talk soon!

-Gaby, Alli, and Steffany

May 26th, 2019 - Therapists

Buenos Noches!

Today has been a busy day exploring the city of Antigua and preparing for the week ahead! One of our service sites, Digna, provided us with a walking tour around the city this morning. We enjoyed getting to meet some of the clients (aka Champions) and staff. We were able to visit The Hill of the Cross and local cafes in town as well. Lastly, we visited a Macadamia Nut Farm where we learned about how they process and cultivate the nuts. After a day of experiencing the town of Antigua, we began sorting through all of the donations and prepared them for the sites. We are so grateful and happily overwhelmed by the amount and variety of donations we received! Once the students arrived to the hotel, we gathered for a meal and prepared for the days to come. We are very excited to see what tomorrow brings. Talk soon!

-Alli and Steffany