Today marks the end of 792 Nuchtern/Belon mission trip to Retalhuleu, Guatemala. This week was a culmination of about a year’s worth of work in planning, obtaining and shipping supplies, assembling a team, fundraising, coordinating travel and a million other details that, with the support of Faith In Practice, somehow all came together.
Over the past week we successfully set up, operated, and completely packed up our little children’s surgical hospital away from home. We operated on 76 wonderful, beautiful children and were smitten by their smiles, hugs and sincere joy and love they gave us in the way only children can do. The patients and families shared their stories, and our team members likewise created stories of their own- stay tuned for those next week! Every single member of our 27-person strong team gave these children their heart and soul, and we were all repaid many times over in return.
This is, without a doubt, the most incredible group of professionals I have ever been privileged to work with; a truly inspirational example of how the overall team well exceeds the sum of the parts. And it wasn’t just the 27 of us; every person on the team was supported by not just our lovely patients and their families, but our families, friends, employers, corporate donors and, of course, the Faith In Practice offices and their incredible in-country support staff.
In closing, to our wonderful, beautiful patients, our team, our families and friends and every person who helped, listened, or gave us their infinite trust and love and respect… you may think you had but a small part in all of this but I assure you, none of it would have happened without you. Please enjoy these photos and remember, “Sin amor, las manos no ayudan a nadie”
-Craig Belon, Pediatric Anesthesiologist, 792 Nuchtern/Belon Surgery Team
