The End of the Fellowship

Last days are always hard to capture, there is a lot going on for us individually and then as a team. The happiness; excitement of the trip; the tiredness; the creating and now the disbanding.

Dominic our volunteer chef is back and its coffee all round. One moment we are feeling disappointed that it is already our last day at clinic. The next laughing about how one moment we were sweltering in the humidity of Tuesday and the next moment it is Friday morning. Never mind over 20 surgeries and almost 300 patients in clinic; the howler monkeys; a lady mayor who was so WOW she is getting a post all on her own!; the rain; the sunshine; the food; the turkeys (we might get to that yet); Tikal; the lake; the co-operative; that bus journey...it has only been one week.

We discuss the plans for the day; clinic; surgery and then we need to breakdown everything. Some of what we have we are packing to stay and some equipment is going home for use in the next trip. And of course we are all a bit sad to break up; tomorrow morning the fab four students will be leaving us to start the journey home. They have each approached this trip with a great attitude. They have treated their patients with dignity and engaged with them; carried out each task with diligence and quality; learned a lot and laughed a lot which added energy to our team.

We hit the busy road; the building work; the hotel; shop, a stop for more water. Turn right at Maximillo’s and the last climb of bad ass hill for most of us. Patients are already waiting in the early morning sunshine.

Alex and Helena are on post-ops this morning with Eric and Cheryl. And just when you need it, the magic happens. Our 87-year-old has had a wonderful surgery outcome and is profusely thankful. His physical condition belies his years. He is in the mood to talk, explaining that he is an artist and plays guitar. He writes his own songs and as a thank you he sings a verse and chorus for us. This man can sing. It is a wonderful expression of gratitude that stops the clinic momentarily, inside and out. Already the morning is full of special gifts.

Back to the patient queue and we begin seeing people. Sony and Ailish find more frames to fill the boxes for the day. We need a hard stop at 3pm to have time to breakdown the clinic and so we want to see as many as possible by then. Dr Nesly is back with the surgery team and they are also up and running smoothly this morning.

The water is temporarily off again but we manage and it is back mid morning. There is now coffee in room 1 which ensures a steady stream of visits by the team to the acuity room all morning. The interruptions are lighthearted and the coffee keeps everyone going until lunchtime. More visitors to meet with Cheryl extends our lunch table yet again. She certainly has worked hard to build the community contacts here in Petén.The ladies at the co-operative have prepared more than enough food but we have run out of plates. The side plates are improvised and no-one is left hungry. We sit around the table in the verandah of the school building and feel the outside temperatures rise.

Anne’s school includes a playroom; space for homework; desktops for computer skills and a small library. It is all fairly rudimentary but when Anne first arrived there was no library or reading books available to loan in El Remate. The school relies on donations from overseas and the help of volunteers so they can offer after schools programs for children in the area. The children have a reading list to aim for each year. This is how you change the world, one life at a time.

The afternoon draws on and we work through the patients in the queue. We close the doors to the last person and wait for them to work through the full examination. We take a breather and some water before the next step. Over in surgery they have already started the breakdown and a full stock count. We start the same in optometry and make lists of all we have for future planning. Some are more organized than others. The past two days have been interspersed with goodbyes to Londi; Ezekiel; Dominic; Marvin; Fernando. We also say goodbye to Dr Nesly.

As with setup as people finish the offer to help out and get other tasks complete. We work to put the clinic back in its full and clean condition. It is the latest we have been here all week. As we leave the clinic and pull out the gate behind us we are all happy with a job well done. Most of us are done here but Jair; Cheryl and Eric will come back in the morning to see the post-op patients and finish the packing of the consultation kit. They will say their goodbyes to Anne and Alex at that stage.

We hit down the bad ass hill, drop our stuff to the hotel and head on out. Early in the evening there are some talks about staying up all night. The veterans know that will not happen; the adrenalin will fade. The end of week dinner will be peppered with memories from the week and then the tiredness will come. Simon talks turkey (gobble gobble) to the birds in the garden and the answering calls always get a round of laughter. Alex has his Sunday chain on for the special occassion. Helena; Amalie and Deanna are the music queens. The speaker is out, the tunes are on and it is time for dancing. A situation joke sets off a cascade of laughter, folding us in two. We don't even remember the joke but just thinking of the laughter sets off another wave. It is funny all the short walk back to the hotel, down the side and in the side gate. A few minutes chat and then we leave the students to organize the last of their bags; shower and get some sleep.

We are now into Saturday and we are up at 5:30am. The students are leaving for Flores airport. We load their bags in the back of the white pickup, specially cleaned it looks like, for the trip. Hugs, goodbyes, more hugs, have you got everything, passport, tickets, money, phones. We stand at the side of the road in the dim light of early dawn to wave them goodbye.

The white pickup, laden with bags disappearing off down the road until it is out of view.

For now the fellowship is over. At least until January 2026.

The International Vision Team Petén Project 2025 has been great, with a wonderful team. Thank you in alphabetical order.

Ailish

Alex

Amalie

Bill

Cheryl

Deanna

Eric

Helena

Jair

Melissa

Simon

Sony

Tania