My first trips to Guatemala were just after the country had signed peace accords to end their 36-year civil war. The country was starting over with the first democratic elections in about 40 years. Everyone was hopeful for a successful rebuilding of the social...
During our eye care mission trip in August we met Juana Mendoza. Her daughter-in-law accompanied her by bus from their village in Primavera, Ixcán. She complained that her vision was very blurry and had been for several years. She said, “my poor vision doesn’t...
This is Rosa. She lives in Ixcán, Guatemala. She has raised her children and grandchildren there. One of her daily chores is to strip the corn cornels from the cobs and then carry them to the village corn grinder to make dough for tortillas. As she has aged, her eye...
A recent patient at our new clinic in Ixcán, Guatemala, was Sebastian. Sebastian is 73 years old and is functionally blind due to very dense cataracts. He is unable to see faces, shapes or colors. He only has light perception. You might imagine how this limits his...
Have You Experienced Improved Vision from New Glasses or an Eye Surgery? My friend, Manuel, hasn’t, but he needs to. And Manuel could use our help. Cataracts have dimmed his vision to shapes and shadows, only. Yet, at age 81 Manuel still has good health. With improved...
I have some exciting news to share with you today. Enfoque Ixcán is in the final stages of making our dream a reality: building our own permanent eye clinic in the Ixcán! Arriving at this moment has involved quite the journey. Seven ago, we began planning and...