Missionary Trip 2008

Two groups of professionals have volunteered to visit Guatemala and assist the natives. These trips took place from March 1st to April 6th.

DENTAL MISSION 2008
Dr. Russell Grover went on his fifth mission with a team of six this year. Four dental students from the local university made themselves available as translators and assistants. This year was the grand opening of the new dental clinic in La Union. The mayor, the governor of Zacapa, and the Director of San Carlos University were some of those present when the clinic was presented to the community. A piece of the ribbon was given to everyone for a keepsake and in honor of Dr. Grover the clinic was named after him. (Dr. Russell Grover Clinica Dental) In four days they treated 361 patients, performed 600 abstractions, 127 cleanings, and ten restorations. Dr. Grover is continuing to develop a relationship with the Dean of the university and an agreement has been reached whereby his dental students will serve at the clinic for an eight-month period before they graduate.

MEDICAL MISSION 2008
Dr. Conners participated in her first mission this year. She conducted fetal ultrasounds on the women in Pena Blanca, Timushan, and Volcancito. This was the first time they had ever heard their babies' heartbeats and it brought huge smiles to their faces. Six months worth of multiple vitamins were provided to the clinic to treat anemia, an iron deficiency. Common illnesses such as colds, urinary tract infections, and bronchitis were treated as well. Dr. Conners plans to focus on future projects involving midwives and family planning education. This year, as part of the medical mission, assessments were conducted to get an idea of the villagers near and farsightedness. Those tested ranged in age from five to 64. Forty-two per cent had 20/20 vision. The results for nearsightedness were not as positive. Twenty-two per cent could not see clearly even with the highest strength glasses. Only seven per cent had clear vision without any aid. Forty-eight per cent needed glasses of 2.0 strength and above. CCARE provided 50 sample reading glasses ranging from 1.0 to 3.25 in strength. These were left in the community centres in each village for villagers to sign out for short-term use. On next year's mission CCARE is hoping to provide glasses for everyone, especially for children to improve their chances of being successful in participating and completing their education.

Mission Trip 2007

This spring our President, Hilda Rossi and Membership Co-ordinator, Della Redwood, traveled to Guatemala. It was decided that this year’s mission would be limited in number, as the political climate made the area somewhat unstable. However, CCARE wanted to re-enforce their continued commitment and desire to help. The pair visited the indigenous communities of Timushan, Volcancito, Pena Blanca and La Vegona in the Merendon Mountains of Guatemala. It was a very busy mission for both Hilda and Della as they evaluated the present projects and investigated the possibilities of new ones.

SENIORS PROJECT
This is a new project for CCARE. In the past we have worked with the communities as a whole, not just one portion of the village. However, this past year CCARE received a donation dedicated solely to the support of the seniors. During this year’s mission, Hilda and Della interviewed 8 seniors and asked them what their needs and desires were. Based on these interviews, they purchased mostly nutritional items and storage containers for these items. With the donation CCARE received we were able to commit to 3 more installments of these items over the next year. We are looking forward to being able to continue this program over the years to come as well.  

Mission Trip 2006

Thirteen volunteers participated on this mission from March 30 to April 9. Hilda Rossi was in Guatemala from March 11 to April 16 and Ana Paredes from March 25 to April 16.

Mission Objectives

1. Dental clinic in La Union and villages of the Merendon Mountains
2. Evaluation of CCARE projects
3. Inauguration of the multi skill centre in Volcancito
4. Donations of medications to the health centre of Gualan and La Union
5. Education project Teacher's professional development, inauguration of 3 libraries and donations of school supplies
6. Scholarships 2006: Peña Blanca, Volcancito and Timushan.
7. To meet with government representatives, Ministry of Health and the University of San Carlos to discuss the initiative to open a permanent dental clinic in La Union
8. To meet with government representatives of the Ministry of Education to follow up on potential Education Project
9. To start the incorporation process of CCARE in Guatemala
10. To visit the hurricane disaster area of San Marcos (Please click here to read more details)

There are not right words to describe our sincere appreciation to the mission members for being part of CCARE’s vision of helping and giving hope to the natives of Guatemala. Click here to see some pictures

Fourteen volunteer traveled to Guatemala and worked with the indigenous communities of the Merendon Mountains, specifically in the villages of Timushan, Volcancito and Peña Blanca.

Mission objectives:

• To provide basic health care services.
• To provide basic dental health services
• To assess current community development project
• Start the construction of a community centre in the Village of Volcancito
• To continue strengthening and establish new working relationships with local organizations

With assistance of the interpreters CCARE mission volunteers worked on the following projects: basic health care services, basic dental health services, sewing project, education project, poultry project, construction project, women issues, men’s issues and corn grinding inauguration project.

The mission encompassed a very ambitious work plan for community development. Mission member’s enthusiasm and commitment made it possible for the success of CCARE’s work.

Mission objectives were met, as health care services were delivered without any problem, follow up on current project, started the construction of the community centre in Volcancito, CCARE met with government representatives, as well as local organizations and communities at large.

It is important to mention that CCARE received 17 project requests from other villages. Click here to learn more about this trip

Mission 2004

21 volunteers participated in our May 2004 mission. In this trip, we began the construction of two small buildings that will house high-volume corn grinding facilities in the villages of Peña Blanca and Volcancito. At the end of 2004 the construction finished and we donated and delivered two corn-grinding machines for these two villages. This project was requested by the women of the village and hopefully a similar project will follow in Timushan. Also this year was the continuation of the sewing project we donated four pedal sewing machines to facilitate the development of sewing skills and production for Volcancito and Peña Blanca.

A chicken production facility was stablished, this will provide an important source of nutrition for the local people and economic benefit by selling eggs to the surrounding market. Materials for chicken production were included in the donations from Canada and linkage was established with a local supplier who will provide technical training and support along with supplies baby chicks and feed.

Now Hilda and her team are evaluating and preparing the next challenge, mission 2005.

Mission 2003

The mission 2003 had a diverse team of 33 volunteers. The talent assembled for this trip was remarkable in its depth and diversity. It included inspired leaders, students, nurses (including Spanish language skills), a physiotherapist, a dentist, a pharmacist, a hearing specialist, a veterinarian, engineers, construction, business and homecare professionals.

In this trip Timushan’s new Community Centre was officially opened with a grand ceremony. This was the culmination of a three-year effort, with primary funding from the Rotary Club of Mississauga-Airport, and built mainly by the people of Timushan with help from the Rotary Club Guatemala la Asuncion of Guatemala and CCARE. Primary health care was provided to over 1200 people of Timushan and surrounding villages by the Canadian Health Team, led by Cathyann Hoyle. The team’s dentist, Dr. Russell Grover of Hamilton, examined over 300 people and provided acute dental care. To promote better oral health, Dr. Grover and his wife Heidi conducted workshops for hundreds of kids and moms on proper brushing and flossing.

Of primary importance to the community leaders was the building of a Cooperative Store where villagers will be able to buy food and other necessities for reasonable prices. We bought the land for the store and it was cleared and excavated, and reinforced concrete foundations were laid to ground level. Also, we provided funds for the purchase of 15 acres of land that will be developed into a community garden that will provide fruits and vegetables for sale in the cooperative store and also to local markets. We contined providing training on basic accounting and business planning to the leaders of Timushan. This year’s container shipment included donations of 18 sewing machines as well as material and notions that give the women the tools and materials to further develop their economy through sewing production.

In addition to the above mentioned, we had an environmental team ( Jason Rossi and Melody Johnson) collected and analyzed water samples from various points throughout the local water supply system with the objective of developing a long-term plan for water quality improvement. Dr. Barry Burtis, a veterinarian along with his wife, Donna and Melody, visited homes throughout the Timushan community, treating the family pets and building a census of the families for future planning. Our students added to the quality of the overall mission through relationship building by playing games and doing crafts with children.

Mission 2002

Our second humanitarian trip, we continued with the community center health clinic construction and the building of the retaining wall of the community center, to protect the building from eruption. We also provided medical aid and educational seminars, the medical project was in action, the workshops in sewing, and business administration.

Mission 2001

It was the first official humanitarian mission with 18 Canadian volunteers, In this mission we facilitated workshops on health, education, sewing, construction and leadership training. One of the main focus was the start of the building of the Community Center/Health Clinic and also we inaugurated the block-making machine and 5 houses that we started to build in 2000.

Mission 2000

This was a first trip done by Hilda Rossi and Rosie DeBiasi to do a face study of the damage caused by the huge natural desaster (Hurricane Mitch Nov 1998). In that year, CCARE (HPCARE) donated $10,000 toward the purchase of a cement block-making machine and to buy some materials to start the building process. Las Flores, Gualan, was one of the beneficiaries with this project. This community was completely destroyed by Hurricane Mitch and the Motagua River.

In addition, CCARE donated 15,000 to the initial Timushan project aimed at building a self-sustainable community included the construction of 5 houses. Following this effort, we realized that we could not help all the community this way. After an intensive study we decided to create projects that could benefit the community as a whole. Thanks to funding from the Rotary Club of Mississauga-Airport, construction of a community center/health clinic was realized bringing help and hope to Timushan and the surrounding communities.