After day's journey, Friday night the team arrived in Antigua - 24 team members (six were already here) and, miraculously, all 48 pieces of luggage containing hospital supplies. A three hour delay in Vancouver meant a mad dash through Dallas airport to cath the connecting flight to Guatemala City

With the invaluable help of Dolores, the head nurse from the Obras, the bags cleared customs in record speed and after a quick count, were loaded into the hospital truck for the journey to Antigua. The team members followed in two minibuses and arrived at the Quinta de las Flores an hour later where they were greeted with Chef Dave's special vegetarian chili and liquid refreshment

Saturday was a day of orientation and relaxation with breakfast at our hotel, the Quinta de las Flores, followed by a tour of the OR and the Obras. Seeing the undernourished children with cleft lips and palates and the mentally handicapped children and adult resident impressed on us why we were here.

Sunday was probably the busiest day of the two weeks with almost 400 patients waiting to be seen by the doctors. After a long ten hour day, approx 120 general, gynecological and plastics cases were scheduled for operations, and all the supplies were unpacked.

Starting first thing Monday morning operating began at the Obras. Everyone put their best foot forward and worked together accepting a new way of doing things even though it sometimes things felt a little strange, and always working in accordance with our motto - "be Flexible, Adaptable, Innovative and Resourceful"

As a result of the excellent work of the OR booking staff, and our new software, the rooms were well filled without running over time (mas o menos) and where they did overrun, it was cleary the surgeons' fault.

In this update we show how everyone on this trip is doing their bit to make the program run smoothly, and also shows some of the patients around the time of their surgery

We had arranged to meet Kirs at 9 in the morning in the main Square in the town of Carcha. Kris is the father of Teodoro, a 16 year old boy with a cleft lip and palate who had returned home the previous day. We wanted to see where they lived, although Kris could not understand why. We were finally able to explain to him that we wanted to document everything and use it to raise funds for more surgery .

During the middle weekend of our two week stay, people are free to do what they want. Some went off to Tikal to see the remains of the Mayan pyramids, some took a trip to Lake Atitlan or Panahachel for a change of scenery, others just relaxed in Antigua.

This weekend, the first group of pateint that had been operated on during the early part of the week were ready to return home. About 30 patients were scheduled go back to thier villages. Six of our team went to the Coban area to visit the villages that some of our patients come from, and to see how they live. Since our minibus had four empty seats, we took the opportunity to deliver two of our patients home ourselves.

Below, and on the next two pages, are pictures from that trip.

Thursday of the second week is our ninth and final operating day. That leaves two days when we are still in Antigua to follow up on patients beforewe leave. That day we "horsed-in" another victim, and hosted the Canadian Ambassador's visit.

The last few days before our return are
spent relaxing, tidying up loose ends, paying all the bills. All our
team members paid for their own flights and accommodation. Our
fundraising during the year leading up to the trip provides the
additional $12,000 or so required to pay necessary expenses in
Guatemala in order to make surgery possible for the 110 patients
that we operated on. We deliberately target the poorest segment of
the population for surgery, and these patients cannot afford
the extra costs required for surgery. We therefore need to raise
about $110 Canadian for each surgery. A breakdown of the cost is
shown below:

• Hospital supplies purchased in Guatemala such as oxygen and
  intravenous fluids which are impractical to bring down - $45 per patient
• Transportation costs for patients and accompanying family member.
  They often have no money to be able to make the trip, which can be as far as 3 hours on foot and then an 8 hour ride on a series of 3 or 4 "chicken buses". Seeking out and coordinating transportation for many of our performed by Partner in Health, a US based organization working in Guatemala - $45 per patient
• Accommodation in Antigua for the patient and family member prior to returning home. Patients have to recuperate a little longer in Antigua before undertaking the arduous jorney home - $15 per patient

All funds raised go towards patient costs, all work
performed in putting together and working during a trip is
voluntary. No remuneration is paid to h4h member.