The village of El Triunfo, Guatemala, holds a special place in Louise Elliott's heart.
The vast landscape is flush with greenery and cloud forests, known for its coffee, corn, and bean crops.
St. Clair College second-year students Morgan Merritt, Jerry Sikl and Sanaa Shaaya are going to Guatemala in January to administer medicine in El Triunfo. (Rich Garton/St. Clair College)
But as Elliott knows, it's also a place where access to doctors, life-saving medicine and treatment is hard to come by.
That's why she founded Guatemala Hope in 2000, after her Parish - St. John the Evangelist of Woodslee - sponsored a series of refugees from the village, including a woman named Rosa Gutierrez. Elliott and her fellow parishioners felt compelled to help Gutierrez's friends and villagers back home.
"After visiting El Triunfo in January 2001, I was able to confirm that while challenging, it would be feasible that we could bring volunteer groups and goods to assist Rosa's village, and so the adventure began and spread far beyond our parish," said Elliott.
25 years later, Guatemala Hope has grown into a collaborative effort where volunteers travel to El Triunfo for a week-long medical trip, which now involves approximately 25 medical staff, translators, cooks, and support teams.
"The greatest joy on any trip is seeing the families who return each year, greeting them with a hug and being able to tell them that we will see them again next year," said Elliott. "Knowing many of their stories of how their lives were improved, or even saved by Guatemala Hope medicines and projects is overwhelming."
This year, for the first time, St. Clair College is sending three students and a faculty member in the Pharmacy Technician program to help administer vital medicine to villagers.
Prof. Kaitlyn Harnden believes this is a special experience for St. Clair students, who will get to experience diverse cultures, fostering empathy and understanding, while developing collaboration and leadership skills in the process.
"I have not heard of any other Pharmacy Technician colleges providing this opportunity to their students," said Dr. Harnden. "I believe experiences like this at St. Clair College give our students the opportunity to Rise Above and have a unique student experience that they would not be able to get elsewhere."
It's an opportunity that second-year Pharmacy Technician student Jerry Sikl jumped at immediately. Sikl's mother hails from Costa Rica and he has visited her village several times.
"It feels like making a difference, helping people out is basically helping that young version of my mom when she needed help at that time," Sikl said. "It opens your eyes to how other people live. It helps provide that layer of giving, understanding, the empathy because you never know what a lot of people are going through."
Sikl, and two other students were selected to go on the trip from Jan. 17 to 27, 2025, where they will see roughly 1,200 patients at a pop-up clinic.
For most Guatemalans, this will be the only doctor or health care professional they will see until Guatemala Hope volunteers return the following year.
"It will not only be a chance for them to practice their skills in a very different setting but will also give them a glimpse into life in a very poverty-stricken area," said Elliott, calling the addition of St. Clair College students to the medical team a tremendous gift.' "They will be able to give additional attention to our patients, ease the workload of our pharmacy staff and further improve our instructions and health care teaching when we hand out medications."
Morgan Merritt, also a second-year Pharmacy Technician student said this will definitely not be a vacation, but rather an eye-opening experience rooted in care and giving back.
"We're bringing medicine over to people who would normally have to walk for days for a chance to receive such care," said Merritt. "And hopefully, we save a few lives in the process."
"I never would have thought in my education that I'd actually get to go somewhere this far away to help treat patients," Merritt said.
The students are working on special cards, which have medication instructions translated into Spanish to help villagers understand how best to take prescriptions.
Guatemala Hope volunteers will stuff hockey bags with about $8,000 of medicine and supplies to treat heart disease and diabetes, given mostly by individual donors and past missionaries from Windsor-Essex. They also purchase about $12,000 worth of medicines and supplies when they land in Guatemala.
The team is still looking for donations of hockey bags, air mattresses and sleeping mats, toothpaste, toothbrushes and dental floss and education supplies.
"Even though I am so excited for our students to gain this invaluable experience, we all know that it is the patients in Guatemala in the underserved areas who will be able to now receive essential medical care, health education, and access to treatments that they might not otherwise have," said Prof. Harnden.
To date, 242 Canadians - most from the Windsor-Essex area - and 61 Guatemalan translators and health professionals have joined and volunteered on the 55 medical, water, agricultural, education, housing, development and social justice mission trips since the founding of Guatemala Hope.
Prof. Harnden and the three students say they feel honoured to go along for the trip and become part of the solution for the people of El Triunfo.
"Each person will be welcomed and treated with great dignity and respect," said Elliott.
"They leave knowing our group of Canadians, who return year after year, love and care about them and their families."
St. Clair College staff, students and faculty pose with Louise Elliott of Guatemala Hope ahead of their mission trip to El Triunfo in January. (Rich Garton/St. Clair College)
