The Ninth Mission -- August 2005 -- An Unqualified Success

The group of volunteers who gathered in southern Mexico to aid the indigenous people of the region in August of 2005 was able to accomplish so much and leave such a lasting effect that the trip can only be labeled as a complete success!

For the first time in the short history of The Chiapas Project, enough trained volunteers stepped forth to allow us to begin opening new vistas for The Project. Four medical doctors (Joanne Liegner, Bruce Mintz, and Steve Levine, all from NJ, and Jean Riquelme from Wisconsin), three dentists (Dave Brody and Bob Fiore from NJ, and Len Zybutz from Calgary, Alberta, Canada), two Nurse Practitioners (Mary Morgan and Lynn Mayer from NJ), Physician's Assistant Steven Steinberg (Brooklyn), Nurses Eleanor Vigilante (NJ) and Barry Bontempo (NJ), E.R. Tech Cristina Molina (NJ), Paramedic Chris Sadiq (NJ), E.M.T's Jim McCracken, Rob Wrobel & Aaron Oberstein (all from NJ), and volunteers Kim Brody (NJ), Nick Brody (OR), Yasser Bobilla, Santa Zapata, Joab Jiminez and Joanna Jiminez (all from Mexico City, DF), Carlos Jiminez Aquino (Chiapas), Brittany Cohrs (MD), Jessie, Jody & David Mintz (NJ), Tyrone & Cian Zybutz (Alberta, Canada), Erin (RI) and Alice (NJ) Brown, David Levine (NJ), Yhonathan Riquelme Faudes (Chile), Kaz Wrobel (NJ), Nikki Martin (NJ), Allison Gitman (Montreal, Quebec) and Heinz Eberhard (NJ) came together to provide a tremendous amount of much-needed care for the Zoque people of "Greater" Ocotepec. Not only were ~2500 patients treated and ~5000 prescriptions dispensed, but for the first time, we established a clinic in a distant community and constructed the first water filtration system in the region.

One story started well before our arrival in Chiapas. The Newton (NJ) Rotary Club, and its member Denise Current of the Stocker Bus Co., donated a 12 year-old school bus to The Chiapas Project. The bus was loaded with bulky items (e.g. wheelchairs, walkers, treatment chairs, sterilizer, etc.) too large to get on a plane and driven the 3200 miles from New Jersey to Chiapas by Kaz & Rob Wrobel and Aaron Oberstein. At the border crossing at McAllen, Texas/Reynosa, Mexico, they picked-up Carlos Jiminez Aquino, who guided them south to Chiapas. The drive took 5.5 days. The bus held up well and the drivers survived. After using the bus to transport supplies and volunteers to and from Ocotepec, it was given to the Salesian boys' orphanage in the capital city of Tuxtla Gutierrez so they can safely get the boys to and from school each day. (The Chiapas Project will have use of the bus when we are in Mexico on future mission trips.) The actual handing-over of the bus to the Sisters and the boys was an emotional event. When we drove up to the orphanage, 40 boys rushed onto the bus and proclaimed it to be "so beautiful" and "awesome". The Sisters regained control and brought everyone inside whereupon the boys sang a song of thanks and five of them stood up and told us why they, individually, were so thankful to receive the bus. It was hard to keep a dry eye. In New Jersey this bus had to be decommissioned because it was 12 years-old. In Chiapas it was like a gift from above. Kaz and Rob saw a great end to a great adventure.

While the majority of our volunteers were busy with patient care, Tyrone and Cian Zybutz were busy with another type of work. The college students constructed a water filtration system in the home of one lucky Ocotepec family. This story also begins well before the August trip.

In January 2005 we were told of a Rotary International group building water filters in Honduras. Research brought us to the designers of the systems, a group called The Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (www.CAWST.org). They have studied the problems related to poor quality drinking water in developing countries and designed a simple, natural, no-power-required, filtration system which removes 98% of the organisms from the water using a biofilm that develops on top of layers of sand and gravel within a concrete housing. During The Chiapas Project's March 2005 trip, we met with the Ocotepec Municipal Council to present the information and see if they were interested in the concept. The idea was received enthusiastically. Jump forward to June 2005 when Len Zybutz, a dentist, contacted Dave Brody to see if he and his two daughters could help out on the August trip. Lo and behold, the Zybutz family lives in Calgary, the home of CAWST! Not only did Tyrone and Cian get the detailed information we would need, and literature in Spanish, but they took the three-day, hands-on course at CAWST. They would become our water filtration experts.

As communication from afar to Ocotepec is difficult and specific materials would be needed, it wasn't looking good for actual construction to take place. The gals were accepting of the idea that they may only have the opportunity to promote the filtration project to the Municipal Council. At their meeting with the mayor, the man whose poor family the Sisters had selected to receive the first system didn’t show. The mayor then suggested the home of his brother, a councilman. When Ty and Cian went to this man's home, to their delight they found all of the simple materials needed for construction. A local mason was brought in. The homeowner, the mason, and the two gals spent the next two days sifting sand and gravel, building the block housing, and testing the system. When done, it worked exactly as planned. (The system needs two weeks for the biofilm to fully develop and therefore must be "primed" before the water becomes potable.)

Everyone was excited, especially the two young Canadians who, in three days, were able to make a real difference in the lives and well-being of an entire community. (CAWST requires that families receiving the filtration systems invest "sweat equity" and pass along the acquired skills to the next family.) The lady of the house couldn't wait to demonstrate the system to her friends and promote the concept of clean water. We look forward to taking water samples for analysis during the next trip to Ocotepec to demonstrate the system's effectiveness.

Another first for the Chiapas Project took place during this trip. While we have always sent small medical teams on day trips in Ocotepec and to surrounding villages to treat those unable to walk to our main clinic (and give our volunteers an opportunity to see how the people actually live), we had never had enough practitioners to start a second clinic in a remote community. We have always said that we will do as much as we can with the volunteers who join each trip. We got lucky and had enough staff to try a second clinic.

The Sisters selected the community of Poyono. They told its residents, and those from a nearby community, not to make the 3.5 hours, difficult trek to Ocotepec to seek medical and dental care, but that we would come to them. Our group consisted of a medical doctor, a dentist, a nurse practitioner, a physician's assistant, an E.R. tech, and a vet tech. They rode the backwoods trail in the rear of a pick-up truck and set up shop in a room adjacent to the small church in Poyono. A simple plastic chair became a dental chair. A table became our pharmacy. Most significantly, the rock-hard church pews became our beds. The group worked until 9:00 that night, treating nearly 200 patients. After a rousing sleep (?) we reopened for business in the morning. We returned to Ocotepec that afternoon in time to help the other volunteers breakdown the clinics and put our supplies and equipment into storage for the next trip. (Personally, I had never imagined that I would look forward to my bed in Ocotepec, but it looked really good after a night on a pew.)

We learned that satellite clinics are feasible if we can attract enough trained volunteers. We also learned to purchase sleeping bags and air mattresses!

A great group of individuals showed, once again, that they could work as a team for the betterment of those in need. We worked hard. We had a lot of laughs. We take home fond, yet haunting memories of a place where people have so little.

Recruiting trained volunteers remains the key to our ability to provide services to more people in Chiapas. Please help spread the word.

Dave Brody, D.M.D., President
The Chiapas Project Inc.
A New Jersey Non-Profit Corporation

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