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The situation for families in neighborhoods across the world has drastically changed in the past few months.
Here in Guatemala, we face a similar situation: Schools, churches, and public activities are shut down. Markets and normal jobs as well as public transportation have stopped. Still, the needs around us are as plentiful if not greater than before.
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When Guatemala began to shut down due to COVID-19. ASELSI had to follow the national regulations and close our doors and programs at our campus in Chichicastenango. That meant the clinic and all our programs along with Bible classes and office work were all placed on hold.
We quickly shifted our on-site classes to an online format along with the virtual Bible Institute classes we have already been running online for the past three years. This allows us to keep training our students, but medical care and nutrition don’t function in a virtual-only world. Our patients need real-life medicine and nutrition for their babies.
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Isolation. Social Distancing. Separation.
Those are key words that call us to action during the COVID-19 outbreak that has swept across the globe in the first few months of 2020.
While obedience to authorities, an abundance of caution, and simple wisdom require us to be separated from our normal social interactions during this time, it doesn't mean we can't come together through prayer that crosses every distance and brings us together (without contaminating anyone!).
Here are five points to help focus our prayers and bring us together in unity through prayer:
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Check out this video from ASELSI Directors Emanuel & Jessica to get the latest on how ASELSI has responded to the COVID-19 outbreak in Guatemala.
A team of doctors and medical students connected with the University of Missouri spent this week helping the ASELSI medical clinic reach out to more patients and train medical workers in the Chichicastenango area.
Partnering with the ASELSI medical staff, the team saw over 375 patients in three different communities.
The team also met with over 20 staff members from the local Public Health Center to both learn about local health care and provide training on topics like how to intravenous (IVs) blood extraction, treatment for chronic diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure.
Dr. Jack Wells who teaches medical students, was part of the team. He said that these trips help medical students expand their understanding of how care is provided outside of the U.S.
“This is how so much of the world gets health care,” Dr. Wells said.
It is good for the medical students to see how local medical providers have to work with limited resources and “think on their feet” as they handle patient care in the best way possible, he said.
“These trips are always fantastic..getting to spend time with the folks we serve,” Wells said. “The most impactful to me is the teaching and seeing how much the local providers know and how eager they are to learn. They all want to get better.”
Teams of medical doctors and students have been coming to ASELSI for many years. Their expertise, training, and the medical supplies they bring are invaluable to the mission of the ASELSI clinic to care for the sick and needy in these communities.
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