Arrival

5:00 a.m. Guatemala City: The roar of diesel is just getting underway in the city, drowning out a chorus of birds in a nearby tree who are singing their hearts out, no doubt ecstatic over the arrival of our band of 39 physicians, nurses and non-medical volunteers. At this moment there are about 250 children and their families beginning to assemble on the grounds of the military hospital awaiting our arrival this morning to begin the process of interviewing and deciding on which lucky ones will qualify for the miracles we are anxious to offer.

Our travel day, yesterday, was a bit of organized chaos as we transported 35 unwieldy cardboard cubes of medical equipment, each weighing up to 70 pounds, through check-in at San Francisco and finally onto the awaiting truck late last night in Guatemala. We were met by our Rotarian hosts who, with extraordinary ease and efficiency, transported us to our hotels.

We are meeting this morning at 7:30 for a formal greeting ceremony, then we get down to work. We can hardly wait…