February 11, 2008

While U.S. shoppers crowded malls the week before Christmas, La Sierra University students vaccinated animals, built chicken coops and played with orphaned and ill children in Guatemala.

A 12-member contingent from the university's Pre-Medical Society embarked Dec. 14 out of Los Angeles International Airport. They headed for the Republic of Guatemala through Mexico, pursuing the organization's fourth annual humanitarian mission to Guatemala City and nearby communities. Society faculty sponsor and biology Assistant Professor Eugene Joseph led the group of 11 students. They brought gifts of stuffed toys, quilts, medicine and compassion to a region still languishing from the effects of civil unrest. They returned to the United States on Dec. 22.

"The overall goal was to go in and help that community recover," said Krista Gonzales, the society's vice president and fourth-year pre-medical student. The December excursion was Gonzales's second society aid trip to Guatemala.

The student group included Gonzales, society President Samantha Ouk, Shawn Hanson, Noemy Cruz, Dennis Cambara, Darren Goltiao, Yvette Vargas, Marlyn Cuenca, Jennifer Hernandez, Canty Wang and Jonathon Ross.

Cambara, a third-year student, described the trip as a "life-changing" experience.

"When I came back [to the U.S.], I brought ideas of what I can do for the future of this country," Cambara said.

Cambara's parents are natives of Guatemala. He accompanied them on biennial trips to their homeland to visit family. However the society's experiences inspired Cambara. He wants to involve La Sierra's School of Business in entrepreneurial projects and perhaps its English department in English courses for Guatemalans, a language taught only in private schools there.

Gonzales's trips with the society spurred within her a desire to work in the Inland Empire's Hispanic community as a physician and political activist while continuing missionary outreach to other countries.

The Central American nation, slightly smaller than the state of Tennessee, sustained military coups and civilian massacres between the early 1960s and mid 1990s.

Of Guatemala's 12.7 million residents, 40.8% are age 14 and younger, according to July 2007 estimates from The World Factbook published by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in Washington D.C. In 2004, an estimated 56.2% lived below the poverty line.

La Sierra's pre-medical students arrived in Guatemala with 60 handmade quilts provided by La Sierra religion and society Professor Charles Teel. They brought roughly 600 stuffed animals collected by Iris Landa and an elderly friend. Landa is the university's recently retired Advising and Orientation Director.

The students distributed $200-worth of Motrin pain medication, antibiotics, needles, vitamins and other supplies. They gave out 250 dental hygiene kits donated by Emilia Wang, sister of Pre-Medical Society member Canty Wang.

The students made crafts with sick children at Roosevelt Hospital in Guatemala City. They handed out stuffed animals and a piñata. Students Hanson, Cruz and Ross dressed as clowns to entertain the kids.

The group brought a piñata, puppets, toys and quilts to youngsters at Los Pinos Children's Home, a Seventh-day Adventist-operated orphanage. They gave clothes and toys to HIV-stricken children at the La Casa de San Jose AIDS hospice. They played soccer with the children, made gingerbread houses and popsicle-stick picture frames.

At the seaside town of Sipacate, the students played games and handed out toys to about 200 community children who gathered about them on the beach.

They also gave quilts to elderly residents of a nursing home near Guatemala City.

The group helped local veterinarian and Christian pastor, Mario Mendez, vaccinate pigs, cows and other animals in the town of Magdalena. The students built two, roughly four-feet-high, steel and wood chicken coops. They carried the heavy coops, 100-pound bags of chicken feed and boxes of 46 chicks over hills to two families previously selected by Mendez. The chickens and their eggs will provide both food and sales income for the families.

"They were empowering the neighborhood to be able to survive," Joseph said.

The La Sierra students paid about $560 each for airfare and meals. They used $2,700 from donations, a walk-a-thon and society funds to rent a van, buy gasoline and insurance, animal vaccinations, chicken coop materials and other items.

The society is planning fundraising activities for the 2008 mission trip and wants to involve other university departments and churches.

"As we looked at this going forward, we spoke about the potential to expand this mission and make it more of a known university project," with involvement from La Sierra's Students in Free Enterprise, university missions office and other entities, Joseph said. "The club is talking about these things."

Individuals wishing to contact the La Sierra University Pre-Medical Society can call Dr. Joseph at (951) 785-2524 or reach him at ejoseph@lasierra.edu.

PR Contact: Larry Becker
Executive Director of University Relations
La Sierra University
Riverside, California
951.785.2460 (voice)