Lisa Lestishock - CMC Missioner
Located just on the outskirts of Guatemala City, the MSC health clinic serves those who live in houses of cardboard, aluminum and wood that cling to the steep hillsides known as "the embankments". As part of a nursing team there, I provided care for women, children and the elderly. We also taught classes to "health promoters" women from the neighborhood who learned basic wellness and health-promotion information so that they can be a resource within their own community.
As much as I touched the lives of the Guatemalan people, they touched mine, and I will never be the same. I will never forget the smiling faces of the children or the tears of Doña Rosa, one of the health promoters, who cried at her graduation overjoyed that she could learn, and so thankful for the opportunity. Beyond work, I formed some of my strongest friendships with a group of Guatemalans with whom I climbed volcanoes. I learned from them and appreciated their spirituality which is so connected to nature. We prayed together before each climb, and together we recited a most beautiful prayer upon reaching each summit.
At first, I looked on my volunteer experience as a period that I would take out of my life to do something I wanted to do. Before long, however, it became my life. I treasure the perspective I have on life now, as I look for ways to integrate my life in the U.S. and my Guatemalan experience. I continue living a simple lifestyle and working in underserved areas.
