Monika couldn’t wait to pound nails, Lise to visit her sponsored
child, and I to visit the Farmacia.
By MARY ZANGER
Special to the Free Lance
Monika couldn’t wait to pound nails, Lise to visit her sponsored child, and I to visit the Farmacia.
While waiting my opportunity, Mercedes, our staff liaison, brought me a mountain of shoes unloaded in front of a wall of cubbyholes. I sorted from floor to wall amidst interest and awe from nearby staff who already seemed to be mentally distributing to the hundreds of families associated with the project.
The staff admired the selection calling the silver shoes “platas,” advising of the removal of taps from tap shoes, and simply enjoying the little girl’s dress-up shoes, the high-topped boys play shoes, the Velcro-closed shoes, the new shoes and the slightly worn shoes.
At last I was inside the Farmacia with Paty the pharmacist-technician. I couldn’t wait to put some drugs on the empty shelf space designated for them after Paty categorized them into inventory.
The Cipro shelf space yawned empty and closed snugly around the re-supply. The Zithromax Suspension space displayed one lone bottle. It quickly got plenty of companions.
I observed a gallon-sized container of Children’s Chewable vitamins with Iron. Even though we brought more, the children need these re-supplies. You see everyone eats enough black beans and those wonderful corn tortillas, but little meat, eggs, milk, cheese, fruit and vegetables.
Another gallon-sized container caught my eye. It contained thousands of tablets of Mebendizole, better known by its brand name of Vermox, a drug to exterminate intestinal parasites.
In my pharmacy, this drug occupies shelf space as a single tablet packaged in a one-dose folder. One dose is adequate.
Here in Guatemala, things are different. Daily doses for a week are needed. In a few days, I was to discover why. Children crawl and play on dirt floors and most people drink unsafe water.
Monika got her wish, but it wasn’t pounding nails yet. She shoveled gravel into sacks and loaded them onto a truck for transportation to the home site. She got adequate help from Rita, Peggy, George and Colleen.
Franz went to a village to substitute for a sick teacher. Mary, Franz’s wife, provided lengthy consultation to the director of Adult Education at the Project.
Lise felt well-rewarded working with the women at the sewing machines. She brought a bread basket project to teach, which the women and girls enjoyed making.
The kitchen staff drafted Irene. The computer staff requested help from Kerry. I drove with Mercedes to an Antigua Farmacia to purchase Acetaminophen (Tylenol) Elixir for children. Iron bars enclosed the farmacia counter. Self-service is unworkable because of theft.
Later, I observed that all the tiendas (shops) hardware, auto parts and grocery operate this way. Occasional uniformed police stroll the streets. Armed guards prowl the Burger King parking lot to dissuade car heists. I did see heavily armed police in Chichicastenango at Banco Ejercito.
There was no television or radio for us after a fine dinner of Mayan style tamales wrapped in banana leaves. I treasured my nightly hot shower. Unfortunately that was a pleasure that none of the families we served knew. More than us, Franz felt the injustices and “institutional terror” from reading the “Guatemala Daily.”
Mary Zanger was part of a group made up of county residents who traveled to Guatemala with Common Hope to assist villagers in building homes. This is the second part of Zanger’s diary from the trip.
