After a week of Spanish classes, I’m feeling confident that I can grasp the big picture of a sentence while maybe missing some of the nuances. After our lectures from Dr. Fredy Salanic on the Guatemalan healthcare system and the role of traditional Mayan medicine, I now have a better picture of just how much more I have to learn.
Thankfully there were pauses to translate some of the more complex topics as I started to notice not only how many words I was missing, but how many I was misinterpreting entirely by not having enough context. What I was able to learn, however, is that the Guatemalan healthcare system has a lot of holes in it and that the funding that is supposed to be used for it is being allocated inappropriately. As a result, the people are paying vast sums of money for the care they need and are suffering in other ways because of it.
The second part of the lecture today focused on Mayan medicine. The most interesting part for me was learning that Mayan medicine is more than just treating ailments, but how it is an expression of Mayan culture and faith. There were certainly some aspects that modern medicine would deem useless or even harmful, but there are also some aspects that are equal or more effective than their western counterparts. I look forward to hearing from the comadrona on Wednesday to learn more.
Nick in Guatemala 