I guess I should begin with an apology …. as usual.  I always feel so bad when I don’t make the time to update everyone.  It’s an integral part of my job here but sometimes its just so difficult.  Some of you have been here… so some of you know how it goes.  Either we are working so hard from light until dark that I just don’t have time… or in the case of these past 2 weeks we are setting up the next round of projects, have some down time and simply don’t get to it because relaxation is so much needed.  I left off quite a few weeks ago… and so much has happened… but it’s always that way here.  Many people have come and gone.  Time is different here and as I sit here writing and think back… wow… lots of people have come and gone through our humble door here in Guate.   Dave and Justin left after just under 2 months…. Mike and Jess have been and gone…. Vanessa, John, Kyle & Jared too….  Dave was doing our weekly update videos and Mike was kind enough to train Zack on how to edit so they will thankfully continue.  Jess cut all the nuns and novitiates hair and did the hair and makeup for Fernando & Elisa’s Church wedding.  Vanessa painted signs and murals… The Attema family was here and it was such blessing to have them here to share in this journey with us!   We got to share in something special with them too…. a visit with their Compassion Sponsor Child, Santos.  Words cannot describe how absolutely awesome that was!

Fernando & Elisa’s Church wedding has come and gone.  What a fantastic time that was.  Guatemalan’s sure know how to celebrate!!!  John & Kyle joined us for 10 days.  Great guys who worked hard and had tons of fun with us here.  Jared came on the best week yet… our relax week!  We did manage to get a few days of work in and then it was time to head to the beach for some much needed R & R.   We slept, read, played, ate and merely existed for 3 glorious days.  One of the best moments was having the sheer pleasure of releasing some baby sea turtles back into the Pacific Ocean.  There is a Sea Turtle Sanctuary in Monterico and we had a blast letting the tiny babies go home into the sea.

It was a bit weird to relax… things here have been so go, go, go for the past 3 months…. So much has been accomplished like:

AT THE HOSPITAL INFANTIL PADRE PEDRO

• a new kitchen
• renovations to the existing kitchen
• an addition with 3 bathrooms, 3 showers and a laundry facility
• a new dorm with bedrooms that can accommodate 1,2 3 or 4 Hermana’s
• a new roof over the main building and repairs to other sections of damaged roof
• 2 new pantry cupboards for food storage
• 2 new gardens stocked with nutritious veggies
• a chicken coop to raise chickens for meat
• new signage and murals
• a dental clinic that saw 186 patients and cleaned, filled or extracted hundreds of teeth
• various shelving units, cupboards & furniture repairs
• english & spanish classes
• a new classroom and library for the pre-university novitiates
• knitting, sewing and crochet classes, including a new sewing machine, and materials
• a refurbished underground cistern so they can have fresh water when the municipality turns off the water every day from 6am to between 4-6pm
• shoes, shoes and more shoes for the Hermana’s and the kids in the hospital
• new wiring throughout the hospital to prevent fire and provide light where there was none.  This includes replacing roof panels with transparent panels to provide natural light & reduce the electric bill.
• The graduation of 2 Novitiates from Nursing school!!  There are 2 more in University studying to be doctors and several others up and coming heading to nursing school!  Also funding Hermana Mercedes and Hermana Elba for PHd’s.

IN THE MAYAN & GUATEMALAN COMMUNITY

• 2 homes built for families in need (1 is still in process of building)
• repairs to existing homes
• water delivery
• clothing delivery
• food delivery
• hygienic product delivery such as toothpaste & toothbrushes (Thanks Dental Team from Canada!), soap, shampoo and feminine products.

Lots done… much yet to do!  But it has been a great beginning!

Now, I have something very important that I need to talk with you about…. we have realized that what we need to do here is so much more than just deliver hand outs.  We need to provide ways in which the Hospital and the community can become self sufficient.  There are many people here that need help and many different ways to help them.  One of the best ways we have seen here to help people is to provide them education and jobs.  We have spent a lot of time thinking and praying for answers… solutions…. ideas… anything….

Our prayers have been answered.  We met a man and his family within our first weeks here.  His name is Vidal and we are now good friends.  Vidal’s brother has land for sale.  Not just any land, but land in the lushest most fertile area of Guatemala.  Land that Delmonte, Tim Hortons and other companies own to grow their crops.  Vidal and his brother know Hermana Mercedes very well and they know of us and our mission.  They want to help so they have offered us some land to begin a farm at a very reduced price.  This is such a fantastic deal that we simply cannot pass up.  We would be able to build a permanent home base on the corner of this property and then farm the rest.  The home would house us, our volunteers & also have quarters for families visiting their children in the hospital to stay… a pseudo “Ronald McDonald House” of sorts.  The farm portion would provide jobs for Guatemalan’s…. provide food for the poor… food for the hospital… money for the hospital through the sale of the crops and this would allow the hospital to not only make the budget each month but to perhaps have extra money for them to run at full potential (right now they are operating at roughly 25% due to money constraints) so more kids can be helped!  What an incredible opportunity that has been put before us… but once again we are frustrated… frustrated by the constraints of money.  We simply cannot do this alone… we need help… and that is where you come in!!!  The best way that you can help is to partner with us in this.  We are offering you an opportunity to provide money, food, shelter and sustainability for the people of Guatemala for $1000.00.   For that amount you get your name (literally on a plaque) on a parcel of land that is 50ft x 50 ft.  Stay with me here… close your eyes and … just imagine….

Just imagine that while you sit in your comfortable home in Canada you are helping to provide a much needed job for someone…. just imagine they are tending to the land that has your name on it… planting, watering, weeding, and eventually harvesting food… just imagine that the food from the land will either be used to feed the Hermana’s and the malnourished kids at the Hospital and aid in their rehabilitation… or it will be used to feed a hungry family up in the mountains…. or it will be used by the Hermana’s to take to market and sell and the money used to run the hospital, buy medicines, lab tests, operations for the kids etc etc…. The possibilites are endless…. Just imagine….

I use the analogy of “just imagine” because that is the tag line of the lottery in Canada….  For us, and the people here who count on us Canadians (and that includes you) the offer of this land is like winning the lottery.  A lottery that literally has the potential to keep people alive…. and that to us is worth so much more than imagining driving a fancy car, buying a fancy house or other things like that.

If you are interested in helping in this way please visit our page at www.ctenc.ca/ritadoppenberg and click on the “Donate” button or send a cheque made out to “Commission to Every Nation Canada” and enclose a note saying for “The Doppenberg’s in Guatemala”.  Do not write this on the memo line… leave that blank and enclose a separate note.   Then drop me an email at ritadoppenberg@cten.org and tell me that you sent the donation in for our “farm”.   Together we can help these people help themselves and build a bright future… Just imagine…..

Whew…. what a few weeks.  I guess you can tell by the extreme lack of blogs that I have been swamped.  Crazy times… but great times.  Its been 10 weeks and we are still going strong.  There are times of happiness,  times of extreme exhaustion… times of tension…. times of irritation… times of frustration….  but even through it all our spirits remain very high here at “Club Doppenberg” as Tim so affectionately called it.  Sure we all get on each others nerves especially when fatigue is running high but overall its great times… communal living is like that.  I am so behind on blogging that I am trying to figure out a place to begin… there is so much to tell…. I know today I could definitely write a huge blog… maybe I will…. so um, settle in haha.

When I last left you Marquito had just arrived home.  What a whirlwind couple of weeks its been since.  So much has happened… especially in the lives of Marquito and his parents Marco & Doris and their 2 young daughters.  Marquito has pretty much completely recovered from the surgery.  We visit him and the other kids at the ‘hospitalito’ (little hospital as it is know in El Progreso) every day and we like to think that based on the reception we get, the kids look forward to our visits.  It has become clear that Marquito has a very special love for Geoff.  It is quite beautiful to see.  No matter who is holding or playing with him, at the mere mention of the name “Geoff” or the sound of his voice, Marquito stops whatever he is doing and just listens intensely.  Within seconds he begins smiling and bouncing… he knows what is to come.   A while ago, all Geoff could do was hold him and give him rides, but now that the surgery is completed on the exterior of his cleft palate, the world has opened up so much more for him.   He is finally, at the age of 3, (almost 4…he will be 4 on April 8th) he is allowed to learn to walk.  Up until now, he was never allowed because he is also blind and if he had fallen and damaged that tiny bit of nasal bone he had left, the surgeons would not have been able to work the miracle surgery they did.  So walking, or anything that could put him and that nasal bone in jeopardy was strictly off limits.   One of Geoff’s favorite things to do now is to walk the hospital with Marquito… over and over again.  He never seems to ever get tired, Marquito that is… he is like the energizer bunny… he goes and goes.  Geoff is worn out long before Marquito ever wants to stop….  What an amazing young boy… and he captures the hearts of anyone who comes here and meets him.  All the other kids there are so precious too… We were joined last week by little precious Lade (prounounced Lady)… she is a year and a half old and is the size of a preemie… so malnourished she needs the constant use of a light to provide heat because her tiny body cannot regulate temperature…  so sad and yet so hopeful because if little Lade was not in the hospitalito with these amazing Hermana’s she would most certainly be dead.  And that is no understatement.  At least with them, she has love and a fighting chance at life.

This past week we were joined by a dentist from Hamilton, Dr Laszlo Szoke and his team.   Rita a dental hygienist, Debbie, Dr Laszlo’s assistant and Ursula an administrator from St Peters in Hamilton that served as another assistant.   They were joined a couple days after arrival by the Doctor’s wife Sophia and her friend Katherine.  Together they put together a dental team of epic proportions.  Just for clarity though, I want you to imagine a single dentist…. just one…. with a single hygienist… just one… working their way through 186 patients, 170 cleanings, 343 extractions and 295 fillings  in 5 days…. Perhaps that looks a bit more do-able written down than it is do-able in real life, especially if you are not a dentist…. trust me when I say, God was with them… because without God giving them the strength and fortitude to carry on I think they would have dropped on the floor from sheer exhaustion…. But I digress….

One of my jobs this week was to assist the dental team along with Matt and Zack.  So I looked in mouths trying to do a bit of makeshift triage…. I learned dental tools and did my best to muddle through getting what the doctor needed when he needed it (yay CH… haha).  Mostly though I did what comes naturally to me… what God built me to do… I “mothered”… Patients this week ranged from 3- 77 years old…  I held scared children… I held hundreds of hands….  I held wet cloths on the warm foreheads of the elderly… I fed applesauce to those that came in hungry and felt ill after dental work.  I learned a great deal about myself this week…. I learned that if I had it to do over I would become a nurse of sorts.  I never thought I had it in me…. but God used this dental team to not only help the poor Mayans… but to teach me something about me.  I was tired…. bone weary fatigued…. but the entire experience was something I would do over again in a heartbeat.  I have to say….  We became a family with those wonderful people who gave of their time, their money and their energy to come here and serve alongside us… and I will be forever grateful to Laszlo, Sophia, Rita, Debbie, Ursula and Katharine…. You all are in our hearts and in our prayers… and we will see you when we get back to Canada and look forward to lifelong friendships!   And I would like this opportunity to give you all the award for “the best suitcase packing I have ever seen”  Way to Go!! haha.. In all seriousness…. Te Quiero Mucho a Todos!!….  I have to also say on behalf of all of us serving here… thank you very much to Kindness in Action for the loan of the dental equipment for the week… and to Dr Luis…aka Dr Taz…. thank you… you gave of your time to help the Canadian’s when you could.. you did a good thing for your people here.  God bless you all.

During the chaos that was the dental clinic, I got a gift from my husband… a priceless gift… one that I will never forget… one that I will be hard pressed to repay.   I was helping an elderly patient off the dental chair and into a makeshift lawn chair recovery corner we had when Geoff came in and called me outside.   There, waiting for me, was Marco & Doris and their 2 young daughters…. Geoff went up the mountain, got them and brought them down so they could see their son Marquito for the first time since the surgery….  Tears filled my eyes as soon as I saw them.   I could never imagine not being able to see my children whenever I want…. especially if they were in the hospital.  But that is the sad reality here…. if your child is in the hospital you will be lucky to ever see them.  Simply put, they do not have the money to get to them.  Sparing the few quetzals for bus fare is not an option…. the money simply isn’t there.   Having the opportunity to get a ride down the mountain and a 30 min drive further was a huge blessing to them… and to me… because after more than a year I had the privilege of witnessing this reunion.   They were tentative at first…. almost seemed afraid to go in.  They have had 3 years to mourn their son…. they never believed their prayers would be answered….. they had only known to fear the worst….

Marco was first to his son… who stood in the crib jumping up and down waiting to be picked up when he heard his father’s voice.  He pulled his boy out of his crib and placed his arms around his neck…. Doris was next…. I have a very short video clip of this moment…. but I shut my camera off and left the room…. Even through my tears I could see that this family deserved private time.   I wept in Geoff’s arms for quite some time.  Tears of pure joy… tears that were a long time in coming…. stored up for this day…. and what a day.    After a bit I calmed down… I took a photo of the family together.  Geoff and I then went to a small photo shop in town and got it blown up and framed as a gift for them.   We drove them home after a few hours (and some dental work on Marco while he was there) and presented the gift in the truck.  Doris held the photo the entire way…. they all stared at it… over and over… they couldn’t stop looking at their family….  together for the first time in over a year….

On the way home we had one more surprise for them.  Before we even began construction on their new home we arranged for a water line to be run to the property.  So they now have running water… but no sink.  We overheard Marco telling Doris several times that someday he was going to get her a sink… it was her dream to have one.  So, this day, on the way home we stopped at a small sink maker and let them pick out a sink.  Doris & Marco were both so incredibly happy…. walking around picking out the sink of their choice…. but as Doris was walking around looking, she stopped and ran back to the truck.  Neither Geoff nor I knew what she was doing…. she had gone back to get her family photo… she carried it around, clutched to her chest as she made the decision on what sink she wanted.  Such a cute and priceless moment.

Many other things are going on here…. Construction at the hospital continues… the addition is totally complete so the dorms, bathrooms and closets are finished…. a new kitchen is almost done… 2 new pantries are finished and waiting to be filled…. Vanessa has painted a beautiful new sign & mural on the hospital wall…. english class continues when time allows… Marco’s home will be complete today…. we are gearing up for the next projects….  life is busy…. but life is amazing.   One other thing I have to tell…. Yesenia.. she is a sweet Novitiate here… she calls me Mother Rita… I love her so much.  Some of the money we send here every month pays for education and Yesenia came to me a few weeks ago while I was painting a pantry and gave me a hug… she was wearing her new nurse hat and name badge… she graduated from nursing school that morning…. and she said a heartfelt ‘gracias’ and through the hug a heartfelt, ‘te quiero mucho madre Rita’  (I love you very much mother Rita)…. Oh the tears I shed here…. let me tell you….

The Hermana’s have become our family…. we spend so much time together now and all of it is filled with love… with laughter… with hope.   They have put on major ‘goodbye’ parties for both Geoff’s parents and the Dental team…. We are all now such a tight family unit that even the slight language barrier that was once a source of frustration is now a source of intense laughter.  God Bless Google Translate for those tough words haha….

Dr Laszlo said something during dinner here on his last night… that he ‘got’ way more than he ‘gave’…. such a true statement.   I am getting so much more than I am giving here.  People always say they don’t understand how I could ‘give up’ so much of my life.  I have to tell you…. I am giving up nothing.  I am only gaining.    I am afraid… terrified actually of my return home to Canada.  While I miss my family & friends ‘back home’…. I have built a ‘home’ filled with family and friends here.   I think my heart will be torn in 2 in May when the time comes to leave this home and go home.   Hermana Veronica sent me a beautiful email this morning, Valentines day.  Here it is the Day of Friendship.  I love these ladies with all of my heart and soul… and it will be very tough to leave them.  Add into that equation… Fernando and his family.  He got married this past weekend…. the first of 2 ceremonies.  In Guatemala only the civil wedding is legal… so they have 2.  One civil and one church.   Geoff and I were asked to be Padrino’s for them… which is basically Godparent’s…. best man/matron of honour etc.   It is one of the highest honours a Guatemalan can bestow upon someone to welcome them into a family.  We are family…. Fernando, his new wife Elisa, his mother Vilma and his father Chico… they are our family… and it will be so hard to leave them as well…..  Home is where the heart is…. I will literally have to split my heart in two in order to leave here….

But leave here I will…. because there is much that needs to be done in Canada for the 6 months I am there, especially in the fundraising department… we are finding that when we are down here the donations slow to a trickle….. this is where you come in….   Funds are running low… there is much yet to be done…. much yet to be paid for… mouths that need food and medicine…   So we need more help this year yet…. but if that is not possible I am going to let you know that we have already begun planning things for 2013 (remember, I work with Mayan’s everyday… they are alive and well… and they all want homes that will last 100+ years… so if they aren’t worried about their own prophesy of the end of the world in 2012, neither am I hahaha).   Some things to think about and prepare for next year… We need:

– Eyeglasses… we will be collecting old eyeglasses to distribute with the help of an optometrist (see below)… people here don’t have much access to eye glasses or eye exams.

• An Optometrist to come on board, sort glasses and hopefully run an eye exam clinic here.
• Pediatricians to run clinic’s up in the mountains
• General Practitioners to run a clinic based out of the hospital
• One time donations to help fund construction projects for next year… especially the construction of a second location of the hospital in Jalapa
• Monthly partnerships so that the hospital’s monthly budget can be covered and the hospital can be used and run at full capacity… right now it is running at around 1/10th of what it can… the more money, the more kids, and the more lives that will be saved!
• Volunteers… I encourage you to begin planning to come here, see for yourself and experience all it is that we are doing.  Its not too early to contact us about next year!

Think about the above… pray about it…. talk to your friends… talk to your co-workers…. talk to your companies…. talk to your churches…. talk to your doctors… together we can spread the word and make things happen.  Our job is to tell people…. its God’s job to touch hearts and spring people into action.

We just finished a lovely visit with our CTEN pastor couple Stephen and Tammie.  What an honour it was to have them stay with us and see our ministry first hand.  I have to take a moment to thank them and CTEN for all they do for us here on the field.  I cannot tell you what it means to have your love and support…. and even validation.  I know that  validation is not what Stephen and Tammie were here to do… but it is so amazing when people come and truly ‘get’ what we are doing here… why it has become our lives… why we will stop at nothing and fight for these people until our last dying breath….  And to you at home that send support, that comment, send emails, facebook messages etc of encouragement…. I cannot tell you how much it means for us to know that you are out there praying, thinking about and loving us from afar.

Much love to all of you & God Bless!

Dr Laszlo, Rita, Debbie, Ursula, Sophia (Katharine was ill that day) and Dr Luis who popped in to help when he could.

Madre Rita and Yesenia at the clinic

Nurse Yesenia

Me and one of my dearest friends... Hermana Veronica

The new sign for the hospitalito that Vanessa painted

Fernando & Elisa... Senora Vilma & Senor Chico.... Geoff & I

Precious little Lade..... A year and a half old and severely malnourished... safe and loved at the hospitalito

Marquito on his daily walk with Geoff

Marco & Doris reunited with their precious son Marquito

A cherished family photo... the first ever....

Not to sound like a broken record….. life here is tough…. but…. it never fails to bring me more moments of joy in mere weeks than I have experienced in my entire life.  Today was so incredible I just have to write….

Today began, like any other day with basic home chores in the morning and then we were off to the hospital after lunch.  Geoff’s mom, Leny was giving another day of crochet and knitting lessons to the Hermana’s.  His dad Bill was busy tending to their new garden.  Justin was hanging drywall in the new pantry.  Matt went up the mountain to work the afternoon and relieve Zack who had been working all morning with Senor Chico on Marquito’s families new home.  That left Geoff, myself, Zack and Dave to tackle what was for me, the worst job yet.   It was time to paint the inside of the new cistern tank that is underground.  I do not know if you have ever seen a cistern but it is basically a bomb shelter underground with a man sized hole at the top and about 5 ft tall.   I am claustrophobic so it was not one of my top 10 favorite things to be doing.  It was very necessary to get this completed because the hospital does not have water every day.  In Guatemala, especially in the dry season the water supply is on a rotation.  Some people only get water every 8 days!  Just imagine that!  Water is a precious commodity here.

We had hoped to take 5 min shifts one at a time inside the bunker because the paint to seal the concrete is highly toxic.  We all paused to mourn for a few moments that our masks from last year are safely tucked away in my closet in Beamsville….

As it turned out we were only able to stay inside the sistern for under 15-20 seconds each.  Yes it was that bad.  Eyes burned instantly and if you dared to take a breath….well lets just say it was horrific.  It took myself, Geoff, Zack and Dave by surprise how incredibly difficult this task was.  I understand all the warnings from people that someone had to stay up top and watch that the person inside didn’t pass out or they would die in minutes.  Scary….

When we were about 3/4 of the way through painting we heard one of the Hermana’s yell…. When Luke and Gabe turned to look they yelled that the ambulance had arrived…… We all jumped up and ran…..

There are times when I feel like we are ‘spinning our wheels‘ here in Guatemala.  We celebrate victories… we mourn losses… we teach, we learn, we triumph, we fail, but through it all we hope and we love.  I realized that I have been deeply afraid…. After wanting to help a boy who touched me, Estuardo who I met 2 years ago and finding out upon returning to Guatemala last year that he had died (previous blogs).  A big part of me had lost hope….  Today was the fruition of the hard work, perseverance, hope and love of a young girl back home… Rachel… and after waiting and praying for 1 entire year it came.  And it came with more hope and joy than I can even explain.  Inside that ambulance was more joy & hope than I have ever known.  Marquito.  Precious little Marquito.

The first of many surgeries are done and he was returning to the hospital.  One look at his precious face had every single one of us in tears.  I cried like a baby seeing the miracle that perseverance, hope and love can bring.  He looks amazing.  The first surgery was to fix the outside of severe cleft palate.  Inside there is still a hole but these things take time and must be done in stages.  But his outward appearance … unreal.  I cannot explain…. just look at the pictures… see what I see… and understand…. and please, remember Marquito… remember his story…. and always, always have hope…..

Marquito before his surgery....

Marquito home after his first surgery!!

After a 1 year wait... a near fatal illness... He is home, first surgery done & is doing fantastic!!

Why is everyone fussing over me & crying? hahahaha

How it must feel to eat semi-properly for the first time in your life....