Hooray! We made it to Guatemala in 2022! We were thrilled to see so many happy smiles and received an abundance of hugs.
Some covid restrictions have been lifted but unfortunately, most of the girls are learning remotely and are not on campus full-time. IMA is looking forward to 2023 when the girls will be back for in-person classes.
Our first trip was in April. It was a big trip because several of the students had missed their last cleanings due to the lockdown. We had to schedule two weeks of cleanings and reschedule treatment at UFM for September. We are so grateful to IMA staff and the parents who organized and set aside time to bring their girls to IMA’s campus. Many of the students live far from the school and their parents had to take time off of work to bring them. Because of this, we had the opportunity to sit down with many of the parents to discuss their concerns and future treatment for their daughters.
Our second trip of the year was in October. We spent all of our time at Universidad De Francisco Maroquin. We spent over a week transporting 14-20 girls a day in a Eurovan to the university. Traffic in Guatemala is awful and most mornings it would take three hours to travel 11 miles. The girls were all superstars and didn’t complain about the long commute to the university. We couldn’t have managed without the help of our dear IMA instructors who kept the girls entertained with fun activities in between their appointments.
The wonderful staff of residents at UFM were outstanding and went above and beyond to complete all the student’s treatment. During this time, two of the students needed root canals. Root canals are longer procedures and require an Endodontist to complete the treatment. With help from the staff at UFM, we found a resident Endodontist that was more than happy to perform the necessary treatment. In addition, several of the students needed orthodontic treatment. We plan on beginning treatment with the orthodontic team at UFM in the Spring of 2023! It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, but we left with hearts overflowing with love for Guatemala and the anticipation of our next trip!
