“Adapt and Overcome”
We all arrived home safely, and I am writing this final blog post in my pajamas from my couch. And while it feels so good to be home, my heart and thoughts are still in Guatemala. The team at Faith in Practice is truly amazing. They all worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure we made it home safely. Here is the recap of our last day in Guatemala.
Spirits are still up as we wait for news in the courtyard of the hotel. Do we wait until Monday for ground travel, or do we airlift out of Retalhuleu today? There are no guarantees roads will clear after the weekend, but there are also risks taking to the skies.
Word arrived just before 11 am. Dr. Pogo said we were so close to being able to take the bus today. The people of Guatemala have a great deal of respect for the Faith in Practice organization because of the work teams do in the communities. Due to that, we were granted safe passage through a major roadblock into the city; however, two more roadblocks popped up. Unwilling to risk being boxed in and stranded on the road, the decision is to go by helicopter to the regional airport in Retalhuleu, where we will board a small plane to the Guatemala City airport and head to the hotel to await our flight out tomorrow.
We separated into two groups as the small plane would only be able to carry 15 people at a time. Group one boarded the shuttle to be taken to the helipad. Group two would follow. As we gathered on the rooftop of the parking ramp to wait for the helicopter, we could hear laughter and screams of delight coming from the waterpark below us. A stark contrast to the emotions we all were feeling in that moment. At 11:13 am the helicopter landed to take the first five people to the airport. The rest of us wait. It would take five trips to get us all transported.
When all 15 people from group one arrived at the airport, we loaded the plane for a 45-minute flight to Guatemala City. The plane would refuel and head back for group two. Group one touched down in Guatemala City at 12:59 p.m., and we learned our plans had changed once again. Faith in Practice strongly recommended we not leave the airport for the hotel because there was a good chance we wouldn’t make it back the following day for our flight due to increasing protests inside the city. Our flight wasn’t scheduled to depart until 12:45 p.m. the following day.
Our next plan was to try and reschedule flights to avoid spending the next 24 hours in the airport. Some people could change their flights, but four of us didn’t have that option without paying a huge fee or totally rebooking a flight. Again, Faith in Practice came to our aid and we were able to rebook. Among the team, we had three different flights out of the country with a final arrival in Chicago. One group left at 11:45 p.m. for a connection in Washington, D.C., and two groups left on two different flights at 1:30 a.m. with a stop in Houston. Once through security, the entire team took a breath of relief. We were going home.
The coordination and connections that went into lining up this day are miraculous, and a huge thanks goes out to Dr. Pogo and the Faith in Practice CEO Michelle Bair for their dedication to finding a solution. A call was made to a long-time friend of Faith in Practice, Ivonne, who was able to coordinate with a local travel provider for planes.
While we waited for our flights, Dr. Pogo asked me,
“After everything we just went through, would you come back and do this again?”
I immediately responded, “Yes.” And I held up the notebook I just bought from a shop in the airport. The front and back cover embossed with beautiful hand stitching in the same colors I admired in the dresses of the women and children we encountered at the airport when we first arrived. I bought it with the intention of using it to document my next trip.
Team Pogo will come back. In the meantime, we pray for a peaceful outcome and strength for Guatemala. We pray for continued healing for the 56 patients below and their families:
Samuel
Claudia
Lesly
Victor
Marta
Susana
Anthony
Dora
Luis
Yenifer
Ruben
Diego
Lucas
Teodoro
Sergio
Edy
Victor
Roselly
Dayana
Veronica
Fatima
Carlos
Cristian
Blanca
Cristina
Elodia
Celestino
Neftali
Luis
Gregorio
Armando
Tatiana
Mayra
Jose
Melvin
Osmin
Erick
Leonela
Sonia
Manuel
Reyna
Floridalma
Porfirio
Victor
Douglas
Carlos
Bryan
Sergio
Iris
Margarita
Lea
Kimberly
Edvin
Hector
Yamilet
Yendy
-Shari Lau
