Another visit to Todos Santos has come to an end. As usual, it was filled with highs and
lows. There were lots of smiles and
laughs, as well as some very emotional moments.
Thursday and Friday were travel days. This year our group consisted of 7 people,
including Rose who was the client that won the opportunity to go with us. Thanks to everyone’s generosity we had 12
totes worth of supplies and presents.
Luckily we had no issues getting everything through customs and loaded
on the plane. Our flights were smooth
and the drive to Todos Santos was crowded and long, but accomplished
safely.
It is always exciting to arrive in Todos Santos to see old
friends and meet potential new friends.
Change is slow in Todos Santos, but always visible. The archaic jail has been replaced by a small
park-like area. The french fry/chicken
stalls have moved. Changes are never
major, so even minor changes are quite noticeable.
Saturday was Community Day.
As usual, organized activities were presented in the square to the
delight of the children. Amaria is a
school teacher from Guatemala City that happily donates her time to this
activity each year. The children enjoyed
games, crafts and face painting by Stacey.
In Canada, tween boys would be much too cool to do crafts, but in Todos
Santos they jump right in. The older
children are also wonderful about making sure their younger siblings
participate as well. Sadly there are
many very young children working shining shoes and selling things. This year many of those were able to take
time out to participate as well.
While the activities were occurring, Lisa (our own Allandale
technician) and Guillermo went to the school and repainted the hopscotch
squares. They gave the squares a special
GAAP flare by putting information regarding pet care and rabies
prevention. Lisa and Guillermo were
assisted by Mario and Cristino, the two boys that we provide school funding
for. The entire outside of the school
could use a paint job, so that is a goal for next year.
Saturday night is “Movie Night”. This year’s movie was Dr. Dolittle 3. The movie is well attended by children and
grownups alike. This year there were
approximately 100 people in attendance.
The Allandale gang brought popcorn all the way from Canada which was
popped and distributed. There were also
small toys distributed to the children.
Can you imagine the joy of something as simple as a glow bracelet when
you have no actual toys to play with?
There are certainly children with toys in Todos Santos though the vast
majority do not have any store bought toys and just make do with whatever they
can find. One day we saw a little girl
entertaining herself with a plastic lid.
I remember a story my grandmother told about the only store bought toy
she had as a child and how devastated she was when it was broken. My son had so many toys as a child that he
probably didn’t even play with all of them.
Seeing children with no toys, but smiles on their faces is both
heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.
Sunday morning we were able to get up early and take our
traditional walk around the village prior to heading to breakfast. It is incredibly exciting to see people and
animals that we remember from previous years.
It is even more exciting when the people recognize and are happy to see
us. The majority of Sunday consisted of
unpacking and prep work for Monday.
Since the plan this year was to do many more spays and neuters than in
the past we needed to be particularly organized. To that end we had training sessions for
everyone involved in the afternoon. It’s
a lot of work to take an empty community building and turn it into a
functioning, though primitive hospital in one day.
Sunday we were again assisted by Mario, Cristino and
Cristino’s brother Roberto. It is
amazing to see how much Mario and Cristino have matured and how much more
outgoing they are since they are able to attend school. Cristino’s brother Roberto is now at an age
where he will be requiring support for school and Mario’s sister Roxanne is
currently working rather than attending school due to a lack of funds. School is not readily available for the older
children. They are still attending
public school, but must pay for schooling, books, supplies, internet time for
homework and clothing for school. Also,
many families cannot afford to lose the income provided when a child goes to
work. So any funding for the children
must cover both school expenses and lost income.
A few of us were graciously invited to visit Cristino’s home
on Sunday afternoon. Cristino’s mother
Santos was so pleased to invite us into her simple, but clean and organized
home. This family of four – mother and
three sons – lives in a single room.
Canadians would be ashamed of such simple surroundings and would likely
not invite anyone to visit. This
charming woman was happy to show us her home, her son’s homework and most of
all the love that she has for her children.
She gave us the best hot chocolate I have ever had.
Monday through Friday was spent working from 8am to 5 or 6pm
doing surgeries, vaccines and preparing for the next day. Previously we have only done surgery on dogs,
but this year we spayed and neutered cats as well. We have also only done rabies vaccine in the
past since it is provided at no charge by the government. This year thanks to a generous donation by
Idexx, we were able to give canine distemper as well. Next year it would be nice to give canine and
feline distemper.
There are so many moments that stand out from the week, but
I will just mention a few.
It has been a financially difficult year for this area and
many of the dogs were extremely thin. It
is very difficult to tell people that are barely able to feed themselves and
their families that they need to feed their pets more. One little boy brought his dog in for
vaccines. Both the little boy and his
dog were sooo very thin. You want to
take them both home and care for them, but the reality is that all we were able
to do was to give the dog a big pile of dog cookies and the little boy a bag of
chips and an apple.
There was a lady that brought her dog in to be spayed. Once the dog recovered enough to go home we
watched the lady carefully place it in a crate the size of two milk crates
combined. She then placed the crate on
her back with a strap across her forehead and prepared to make the 45 minute
walk up and downhill to her home.
Melissa was going to give her money for a taxi, but our interpreter offered
to drive her home. Melissa and Andres
set out to drive the lady and her dog.
They dropped her off at the top of a steep hill and left her to finish
the downhill walk to her home. Andres
explained to Melissa that it is a fact of local life to walk up and downhill
with heavy burdens.
Many of the children come every day after school. There’s not a lot that happens out of the
ordinary in Todos Santos, so our being there is a big event. The children are so sweet and cute. They love watching surgery and
interacting. This year we were lucky to
have some dolls that one of our clients knit.
We passed these out to some of the children. We also gave one of the dolls to Juana. Juana was the absolute cutest 80 year old
lady. Juana was there with her cat for
surgery. Many of the little girls
enjoyed manicures thanks to Amy, one of the veterinarians. Melissa and Andres applied temporary tattoos
to many of the children as well. Andres
is a godsend while we are in Todos Santos.
He speaks English, Spanish and Mam (the local indigenous language). We spend the entire day calling for Andres to
come translate.
Sadly we had two anesthetic deaths this year. This is not surprising given the poor
condition of many of the dogs and the limited facilities we have. The deaths hit everyone hard as this was the
first deaths in many years. However, the
Guatemalan veterinarians that were there explained to us that we were doing
everything we could and most Guatemalan veterinarians will not run these types
of campaigns in rural areas due to the high risk involved. They thought that we should be quite
satisfied with our overall success. We
were worried that the local people would be discouraged by these deaths, but
there was not a single surgical appointment cancelled.
Santos asked us to visit on Friday to say goodbye. A group of us stopped at her home on our way
for a final walk around the village.
Once again she invited us in. She
was busy making tortillas over an open fire.
With great emotion she told us (in Spanish) how grateful she was for the
help we provided her family and the fact that our help allowed her boys to
attend school. She said how much they
loved to learn and how happy she was that they were receiving an education as
that was their chance to have a better life.
With tears in her eyes and her voice cracking she told us that she
looked forward to seeing us again next year and that she hoped everyone would
still be alive and well. Santos told us
to remember that no one knew what day would be their last and to live life to
the fullest. She explained to us how
important family is and the ability to get together as a family. She told us that her parents own the home she
lives in and that she fears that if they die she will not have any place to live
as there are other family members that may want to sell or live in the
home. By the time she finished speaking
everyone had tears in their eyes and many in the group were openly crying. Santos hugged each of us and again wished us
well. The strength of this woman – a
single mother, no work, providing for her children as best she can – is
incredible.
There are people and animals suffering here in Canada and
all over the world. Todos Santos just
happens to be the little part of the world that we are trying to make
better. Each year we go and provide
education it helps improve the lives of the pets. Spaying and neutering helps prevent unwanted
puppies and kittens. Rabies vaccines
help to keep the pets and humans safe.
Trying to get even a few more children educated may help their families
break out of a life of poverty.
We are so grateful to all of the clients that support this
project in so many different ways. If
you ever want to know more about Todos Santos or if you want to consider
visiting with us next year, please don’t hesitate to contact us. And make sure to check out The GAAP (Global
Alliance for Animals and People) website at www.thegaap.org
to see information on all of the great work that they do. The project coordinators, Elena and
Guillermo, are fabulous people that have dedicated their lives to making the
world a better place for animals and people.
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