Lake Atitlan

I found out recently that Bryan Bennett, a BYU student, went to Lake Atitlan and gathered research for a project Jason Fairbourne was conducting. Jason Fairbourne is the founder of the Microfranchise Initiative and does extensive microfranchise work. Bryan told me about Lake Atitlan after I watched the Pueblo a Pueblo documentary and posted what I learned last week. His research, combined with those who went with him, will be invaluable as I continue to study the recent history of health care in Maya Guatemala. I will keep you all posted as to what he shares with me. Thanks.

My website!

Although I haven't thought a whole lot about my website, I'm excited to make it. I want it to represent the Mayans well and their history. The podcast will go on it, more pictures to illustrate Mayans living in Guatemala. I will let you know more.

As far as learning about Guatemala's health care history, I watched a short documentary on what is called the "Hospitalito", or the hospital that Pueblo a Pueblo put up some years ago by Lake Atitlan. It offered surgical procedures, immunizations, and many other essential services. Unfortunately, this hospital was destroyed in 2005 due to a mudslide that destroyed many homes as well. It has in the more recent past made plans to move into a permanent location again. If you're interested in what they do, their website is http://puebloapueblo.org.

Many Mayans live next to Lake Atitlan, and there are many dialects there. I watched a short video in one of the Maya dialects that showed how to use an inhaler. I thought this was a neat thing, because it allowed the patients to know what to do outside of the clinic--it made them more self-reliant. I will continue to research this.

Planned sources of additional data for this blog

Currently I am working on finding more information for this blog. Some of the planned resources include:
1. The first floor of the BYU Harold B. Lee Library in the Social Science section where the Maya Guatemala books are.
2. A nurse in Momostenango, Guatemala that could give me so more perspective and information.
3. Professor Christianson, who teaches at BYU.
4. Adriana Smith, a BYU alumnus who knows about Antigua, Guatemala.
5. Choice Humanitarian, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah that works directly with certain Maya groups and is planning on building a hospital in Guatemala.
6. More dialogue with Doug Wendt, who has been to Guatemala multiple times.
Etc.

My quest to find Guatemalan historical information

For my Excel assignment, I really struggled to find great measurable statistics for infant mortality or other health related information in censuses and in other primary records. Eventually I found a great study comparing infant mortality rates from the 1940s and the 1980s. Guatemala's rate was also listed in comparison to a handful of other nations. The link is http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/529000. Click the pdf version at the top, and scroll down to page 55. Only one person can view this article at a time. I hope you find this interesting.
--Travis

Advice from Sister Crandell about the Excel/Access Assignments

For all those in Sister Crandell's class and for personal reference, I wanted to include her advice to me yesterday as to how to go about gathering statistical data. My topic requires extra research, but fortunately Sister Crandell and I found provincial records in Guatemala in the 1800's, so I will for the purposes of this assignment look at age as a determinant of health. I am going to compare rural cities adjoining each other to have a good sample to work from, which requires a map. Also, I will put additional demographic information such as occupation, marriage, and location (city) into access so I can query across these different demographic factors.

I hope this helps those struggling with these assignments. Go talk to her like I did; she was very helpful.

Check out my new podcast!

I added this podcast to my blog. It will help anyone understand how to research a topic. The material was taken from an interview with my aunt, Suzie Roper, who teaches a Research Methods class at BYU Provo. Enjoy!

Discussions with Elisabeth, Professor Botto, and Doug Wendt

I wanted to post some of the things some amazing people have told me about health in and background about Maya Guatemala.
The first involves an interview with Elisabeth Hess, a BYU student who went to Guatemala and took excursions to the Maya villages of K'iche descent. She told me the biggest problems they have faced are job security and food security; in other words, it is quite difficult to save anything for the family.
She said that diarrhea was a huge problem because the water is not sanitary in certain areas. Also, the teeth of even the children are rotting. The men work in the cities, leaving the women in rural areas behind for periods of time. There are twenty three national languages there, and there are many market days. Unfortunately, during rainy season the roads become really muddy, making travel to governmental clinics very difficult.
Lastly, she said that despite their struggles, they are incredibly hard-working.
Next, I talked with Malcolm Botto, a head professor over the Kennedy Center at BYU. He has been to Guatemala among the Mayans and told me he did know of a nurse that works there who can tell me more about Maya health care history. He told me the health care situation in Momostenango is not good and should be investigated.
Finally, I chatted with Doug Wendt, the winner of BYU's 2009 Social Venture Competition called the Tipping Bucket. He also has been to Guatemala among the Mayans and loved the idea of health clinics where they are needed and pointed me to organizations who can help me research more.

This was a long post, but it is well worth the time to research this. I am excited to present more research coming very shortly. Thanks.

Discussion with my aunt (Susie Roper)

This past Monday evening I visited my aunt's house to discuss researching the history of health care in Maya Guatemala. She happens to be a professor at BYU Provo teaching a course called Research Methods. She gave me a few great pointers to remember while researching. The first was to start by asking the head of the Social Sciences department at the Harold B. Lee Library for more information on this specific topic. This was great advice, because he will know where to find more, and he may lead me to other resources such as the internet.

Second, she told me to narrow my topic down. This is important because when one is researching they must begin with an argument (hypothesis), and then they should find research that supports that thesis. For example, my argument would be that as time has progressed from the 1950's to the present, health care was more widely distributed and had increased quality care in Maya Guatemala. If one finds evidence wholly contrary to the hypothesis, then one should state that.

Third, we concluded I must branch out and search in medical journals, the internet, those with practical medical experience, and additional sources in order to cover my bases.

I am so grateful for her generosity and hope all of you learned something to use when researching your topic of interest. Thanks.

A couple of great updates

First of all, I just wanted to express my gratitude for the Wikipedia assignment we just completed. It forced me to think about how to take the research I have and put it into a professional format. If you're interested in the contribution I made, the link is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala. I added the section entitled "Medical anthropology and pluralism."

Second, I am pleased to announce a friend of mine--Aaron Holmes--found out about a doctor who just came back from Guatemala with his medical supplies. So guess who is going to ask him about the history of health care down there? You guessed it.

Third, Malcolm Botto just returned from a study abroad in Argentina. Professor Botto teaches K'iche at BYU Provo and will be helping out with my Social Venture Competition project. He also knows quite a bit about the Mayan culture, having worked there himself.

Link to my wiki; the motive behind this blog

I recently created a wiki that corresponds to the research I'm doing for this blog, which is actually the reason I created this blog in the first place. For those of you who are interested, the link is http://microconnect-socialventureteam.wikispaces.com/. I will be entering the BYU Social Venture Competition in late January 2011. This competition is about having the best business plan that addresses a social issue, such as poverty. I plan on going with my team to Guatemala and teaching health in a community setting and ways to renew local resources as well as capitalize on business solutions for resources (such as eco-tourism) that help make the communities sustainable. We plan on going to around four locations. I am so excited! If any of you know about health care, education, international development, environmental solutions, or tourism (or if someone else you know does), please let me know!

Why K'iche?

Someone commented about why I am focusing on the Mayan population in Guatemala that speaks the K'iche dialect. This is a great question. There are two reasons for this: One, the research that I have found focuses on this under-served group, and so ease of access is one reason. The other, and more important reason, is that I am preparing to present a business plan for the BYU sponsored Social Venture Competition in 2011, and I needed a specific, narrow group to focus on as we prepare to work with other local organizations and the population to create four health clinics that over time will eventually be run by them.

K'iche Focus

While I will be studying some general health care trends, I will do a great deal of research on those Mayans who speak K'iche in more rural areas. This is to be more specific and do a needs analysis based on historical health care implementation. I am currently looking at three locations to the southwest, where the data is more accessible. I will also be contacting organizations working there so they can tell me what they have done in the past. Enjoy!

Welcome to this site!

Hello everyone! I can't wait to present information on such a wonderful group of people, the Mayans of Guatemala. Because of health care issues happening over there, I feel strongly this was what I should discuss, and so now here this blog is! I'm also excited to learn more about these people, and I will keep you posted. I encourage your participation. Thanks.