Hands of Hope
(which is Manos de Esperanza, in Spanish)
started out in 1998 operating a
mobile
medical
clinic to the rural poor in Guatemala.We
converted a small school bus into a fully-equipped doctor's office so we could
take medical care where it's needed the most.
Our medical team used
the bus to deliver medical
care and medicines to poor people in the
villages we serve. These indigenous
people live in small mountain villages and in the surrounding hills where there
is no access to medical or dental care.
Many of the people we serve live a day-to-day existence
in cornstalk shacks with dirt floors, working in fields for US$2.90 a day or
less. There is no running water in their houses, and many children must sleep on
dirt floors. Most children do not have shoes, which leads to infections and
worms in their body.
Most lack the basic necessities of living such as clean
water and food. In some areas 50% of the children die before age seven. There
is no access to medical or dental care in the mountain villages.
We sold that bus in the fall of 2000, used that money to
buy land. Thanks to many generous donations we have been able to build a very
nice 2,400 square foot
medical clinic in the middle village of thee three rural
mountain
villages we serve.
