You Have a Big Heart!

By the grace of Allah, I, along with my daughter, had the opportunity to do Waqf-i-Ardhi in Guatemala earlier this year with a team of Humanity First (HF) doctors in a medical mission called “Gift of Health.” I had been participating in fundraising dinners and other programs of HF and always wished that one day I would also be able to offer my services in a HF mission. Finally, Allah granted me the opportunity this year.

Guatemala is a small beautiful country located in Central America, south of Mexico. The first day of our trip was a holiday in Guatemala and all members of the medical team went to see Nasir Hospital and the Ahmadiyya mosque. Nasir Hospital is still under construction and is the first hospital built under the auspices of HF. This hospital is being built solely by donations and will be a unique, state of the art facility with medical and surgical facilities.

Baitul Awwal Mosque, the first Ahmadiyya mosque in Guatemala, was inaugurated by Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih IV (may Allah's blessings be on him) on July 3, 1989 in celebration of the Ahmadiyya centenary. Alhamdulillah, the mosque is very beautiful and located in a picturesque area. We offered Zuhr and Asr Prayers at the mosque and met with the members of the local Jama’at.

The next day, we went to the medical camp. Guatemalan HF team had arranged a municipality hall in a small underprivileged city called Escuintla. Makeshift doctors’ cubicles were set up with bamboo frames. A pharmacy was set up with a stock of free medications for basic medical illnesses. At the camp, there were five physicians from the U.S. and another five local Guatemalan physicians including a dentist were hired to help. The students accompanying us were assigned to the pharmacy and the triage area where vital signs and blood glucose was checked.

The HF team had advertised extensively about the free medical camp which was evident from the large, patient turn out. Overall, we saw 2400 patients in four days. Despite being poor and underprivileged the Guatemalan patients exhibited remarkable discipline and respect for us.

The level of poverty and lack of access to health care in these patients particularly struck me. All our days were very busy; we would only stop for lunch, which was provided by the HF team. Local news reporters came and interviewed a few physicians and volunteering students and provided coverage of our HF team in the newspapers.

On our last medical camp day, the mayor of the city had arranged a small ceremony to thank us for our efforts in providing health care to their community. We received a lot of appreciation from people in Guatemala. Even my interpreter told me, “You all have a big heart to come to our country and help poor people.” When we were dropped at the airport to come back even our driver said, “thank you for what you do for my country.”

All in all, we had a wonderful trip. I considered myself very fortunate to be able to serve and contribute. It is the blessings of the Jama’at of the Promised Messiah (may peace be on him) that we have an organization like HF that provides service to humanity without any financial gain.

This trip also provided invaluable hands-on experience for the volunteering students and instilled a zest for human service that is difficult to inculcate. Many of these students are either pursuing or contemplating a career in medicine. I would strongly recommend Physicians and students of our Jama’at to consider volunteering on a medical mission with Humanity First.