Santo Tomás - Day 1 [Blog]

By: Sandie Smith

First of all, my flight from Pennsylvania to Guatemala was awesome. Everyone from Delta Airlines was so nice, courteous and friendly.  I would say it was the best flight I ever had. 

My first day here started with a great and healthy breakfast.  We then loaded all the donation luggage onto the chicken bus and headed to the village of Corozon de los Ninos. 

Lillian had given us a tour of the Doctor’s Office, Dental Clinic, Lab, Pharmacy and Computer Room.  It was amazing to see how everything was documented on paper. 

We then had a fabulous lunch served by the women in the village.  The beverage [Rosa de Jamaica, or Jamaican Rose] was made from a Hibiscus plant.  I never knew you could consume this plant until today. 

After lunch we split into stove and cement crews and completed 1 stove and 1 cement floor.  We had a little problem putting our stove in because there wasn’t enough draft going through the flute pipe.  We added another piece of pipe outside that solved our problem and worked well. 

The children were so happy and laughed all the while we were there.  The family was very grateful. It was such a beautiful and rewarding day.

I am looking forward to the rest of the week hoping to make more families free of smoke in their homes and seeing the smiles on the children’s faces.