Thursday, February 24, 2011

Education: Our Guatemalan Doctors

Guatemalan doctors and dentists are an important part of MOST. Two Guatemalan doctors, Juan Carlos Garcia and Antonio Alvarez Rosal, joined the team the first year. Juan Carlos heard about MOST through local Rotary when his cousin was president. He recruited his long-time friend Antonio. Dr. J.C. Garcia is an Oral and Maxilofacial Surgeon. Dr. Garcia says:

“I do this for my heart, to help the needy children in our own country. Families from the mountains will not come into Guatemala City where I have my practice, but they will come to Huehue. I have the blessing of being a professional in my country. The thing that touched my heart the most is being able to help make the children presentable so they can be out in public. Parents keep cleft children at home to protect them. The opportunity to work with John Canady, who is a highly educated person in the field and learning new techniques from him makes me a better doctor. I learn from the whole team. I feel part of the team. They make me feel welcome and I hope we are together for many years to come. This is not my first medical mission, but I have never been more involved than I have with MOST. Sometime I would like to come to Iowa to study so that I can come back to my country be to able to help more.”

Dr. Rosal says: “I do this because I have two sons and thank God they are healthy. All parents should have the right to have healthy children and have them out in public. Because of these missions there is an opportunity to improve the lives of these children.” As far as the educational value to him, he says: “ LOTS! It is a great experience to be a part of this whole team. I love the interactions with this team to help the children of my country. I would like to thank everyone for coming to help the children and thanks for having me be a part of the team of MOST that makes millions of more smiles.”

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