In just two days, the 2016 Iowa MOST team will be headed to Huehuetenango, Guatemala! This year’s team of 42 very dedicated and generous individuals will spend Feb 4th to 14th changing the lives of dozens of children who currently face each day with the severe challenges of being born with cleft lip or palate. Without the cleft surgeries provided by Iowa MOST, these children face severe malnutrition, dental problems, speech impediments, being ostracized from their community, and not allowed to attend school.
Our good Rotarian friends in Huehuetenango have been recruiting potential patients all winter long and we’re hoping for a huge group of beautiful children and their families waiting for us on screening day this Saturday.
While we’ve been gone this year, Dr. Marroquin has installed a brand new sterilizer purchased with donations from Iowa MOST, Johnson & Johnson, and Reinhard Juraschek’s wedding. Oscar has also built a brand new addition to the hospital that increases his surgical and recovery space dramatically. Two talented artists have joined our team this year to paint soothing murals in the new hospital addition and if time allows do some painting spruce-up to the local School for Children with Special Needs.
Watch for more posts about planned outreach trips to schools in the Western Highlands, dental fluoride treatments, new libraries for Children, a cello/marimba Rotary Fundraiser, the Huehue bomberos, and of course the miraculous surgeries that our team will be performing to change the lives of children forever!