Thank You to our Summer Volunteers!

Two groups from North Carolina traveled many miles to serve the women and children in our project in the rural highlands of Guatemala. These volunteers are a vital part of our mission, providing the extra capacity, innovation, and perspective that keeps our projects running strong.

Here’s a recap of the first group that gave their time and talent this summer as Impact Global Health Alliance Global International Volunteers:

Fuquay Varina UMC

Groups from Fuquay-Varina United Methodist Church (FVUMC) have visited our project site in Bolivia for years, but this summer they went on their first venture to our project site in Guatemala. Half fact-finding trip, half volunteer service, the group worked alongside our partners every day to provide services in the community.

This month, Impact Global Health Alliance is distributing vitamins and medicine to combat stomach parasites to thousands of children across the department of Huehuetenango. On their trip, FVUMC visited schools in 4 communities giving out vitamins and medicine to more than 400 children! But that’s not all…

On the first day in the project site our team split up, Dave Heiser, a water engineer and a high school student, Griffin Payne, met with 15 leaders from the community to test their water supply for bacteria and teach them how to test the quality of their water.

The other two volunteers, David and Susan, were equally busy, weighing and measuring 49 children ranging from in age from newborns to five years old to track their growth and check for malnutrition.

Dave and Griffin continued meeting with Water Committees and community leaders throughout the week. By the end of day Friday they had completed 8 water tests in 7 communities, 3 of which tested positive for bacteria that can be harmful to drink. All communities received follow up information, some with recommendations on steps they could take to get safe drinking water.

The group worked together in a women’s community garden before the rains came in later in the week. Impact Global Health Alliance recently started a garden on a piece of land donated by a family in the community. This garden will not only provide food to those in need within the community but also serves as a place where women can learn how to grow vitamin-rich vegetables to feed their children and get seedlings to start their own gardens.

To see all the photos from our trip check out our Facebook album.