As we round out the Guatemala stop I'm feeling re-motivated about the project and catching up on posts. Our internet on the ship is 1980s slow (yep, it actually predates the invention of the world wide web) which makes it tough to keep up with the outside world. So I'll mention it here and move on... Here are some pictures from my day with the veterinarian team. We started with a 1-hour ride through the muddy and roadless jungle to reach a central ranch where local farmers brought their stallions (unbroken horses) and a few cows for deworming treatment. While not the most sustainable intervention, from the vets' perspectives, the emerging theme of the mission is to arrive with what you have and do what you can. An unexpected bonus of this particular stop was the opportunity for the vets to talk with the local group about more effective and kind handling of their animals. The vet part of the mission has been an interesting group to study. They often work in the most rural regions of each stop and have close interactions with the local population. In many of these countries agriculture is an economic driver, supporting the majority of the rural community. From a public health perspective there are some interesting links. Health-wise, animal to human transmission can be a significant issue for the spread of disease, from handling of live animals to meat for market. The healthier the animals, the better the meat, better price, and subsequent economic opportunities for farmers. Additional income also has links to people's access to care. Although our medical mission is to support the public health system, the reality in these parts is that of the private sector health system, especially in rural areas. So healthy animals = healthy owners = enhanced access to the market = potential for increased access to healthcare. Of course the expatriates are not lost on the benefits of cheap labor + land and own large parts of the sector as well so that a few own a large percentage of the wealth. For our vet team, this has presented a challenge when the MoA-identified farms are not necessarily those most in need. Another challenge for our vets is a complete lack of supplies or contacts needed to complete more sustainable and useful serviceable. This theme to be explores further in my report but needless to say it was an eye-opening experience. As you can see from the pics it was a hot, muddy, and sometimes dangerous day. But in the end we all learned more about local practices, checked our own expectations, and did the best work possible. I very much enjoyed the opportunity to get off the ship and look forward to my next fieldtrip with the vets, a great and often overlooked part of the mission.
