Several times each year, doctors, nurses, dentists, and medical school students from different areas of the United States come to San Lucas to lend their knowledge and assistance to the parish’s health care system. They assist at the clinic as well as train and support community health promoters. Often, they form a team and go to a local community, giving notice a few days before the visit so a makeshift clinic can be set up.

     I participated with such a team in Sajbináj, a forty-five minute drive from San Lucas. On the team were Doctor Mark Fagan from near Providence, Rhode Island; Nurse Practitioner Sue Hammerton from Fort Collins, Colorado; four medical school students; and Dr. Fagan’s twelve-year-old son. Thomás Castro, who has many connections with the smaller communities, was our driver.

     We traveled in the back of a pickup down the main highway to the south of San Lucas and then on a dirt and rock road along the high rim over the Madre Vieja river valley. The scenery was beautiful as we passed through coffee and bamboo fields and crossed mountain streams. We were still in the rainy season, which is the main growing season, so the fields and trees were a deep, lush green.

     The workers of this sugar cane and coffee finca, or plantation, are poor. The owner is harsh and does not pay much, but he is rarely around and is at least consistent in paying what he does. In spite of their not having the best working conditions, these campesinos, like all workers, are glad for their employment.

     Finca workers often make between Q12.00 and Q15.00 per day, equivalent in the United States to between $2.00 and $2.50; taking time off to seek medical care means losing much-needed pay. Many people on fincas let poor health go un-checked for far too long, so medical teams such as ours provide a much-needed service.

     When we arrived at Sajbináj, several residents led us to an abandoned concrete-block house near the coffee-processing complex. The land forms a half-bowl shaped plateau, bordered on three sides by mountain and on the other by cliffs dropping to the Madre Vieja river. We were against the center of the rounded hillside, overlooking the whole plantation and able to take in a majestic view of the wide river valley.

     In the house, we selected one room to use as a waiting room and another for medical care. Mark and Sue set up a table for a pharmacy as well as two sets of two chairs each for the medic-patient visits.

     Then the waiting began; it would take a while for people in their homes and out in the fields to receive word that we had arrived. In the morning, the men and the older boys would be working; they would not be able to come until after lunch. Of course, there was no way of knowing how many people in the area even needed care.

     Before too long, patients began to arrive. We received a slow but steady stream of men, women, and children; cases ranged from colds to river blindness to varied aches and pains. One of the medical school students took detailed notes on each patient: name, age, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment. I helped the doctor’s son at the pharmacy table, handing Mark and Sue the medications they requested.

     Eventually, my job for much of the time in Sajbináj was moved outside, playing with kids, keeping them out of the way of the patients and the medics. We played tag, threw a frisbee, beaded necklaces, inflated balloons, and blew bubbles. Bubbles and balloons were by far the most attractive.

     Each patient received at least one bar of soap to take home. Not that the people were unclean; Mark and Sue demonstrated that even the simplest cleanliness practices can keep a person healthy. Promoting healthy living is as medically necessary as treating unhealthy people.

     There is a native health promoter in the Sajbináj area, but she was unfortunately not able to be with us that day. Mark would have shared ideas with her, but in her absence he spoke with mothers about ways to care for their young children.

     When the line of patients ended, we bid farewell to those who were still gathered. I somehow broke away from the energetic kids I had been playing with. We packed up the pickup and headed toward home.

     On the way, we stopped at the communities of Quixayá and Pampojilá to let the people there know that the team would be coming within the next few days. Health would be shared with them, just as it had been with the people of Sajbináj.