Dr. Brezinski helping a patient with his medical skill and his Catholic faith.

On April 10th to the 20th there was a Helping Hands Medical Mission in Guatemala.

RegnumChristi.org spoke with Marichu Mercado, Development Director for Helping Hands, on this truly inspiring event.

What is Helping Hands Medical Missions (HHMM)?
Helping Hands Medical Missions is a nonprofit organization providing humanitarian aid in rural areas of developing countries. It offers its volunteers a transforming experience and the opportunity to share their faith while selflessly serving others.

Who participated in the mission?
HHMM brought together twenty-three people for the mission, including Father Fergus O’Carroll, LC, Brother Mathew Green, LC, and Lupita Assad, HHMM International Director. There were also four doctors from the US, three from El Salvador, one physical therapist from El Salvador, three volunteers from the US, two volunteers from Mexico, one surgery technician, four nurses, one nursing student, one medical student from the US, another from Canada, two from Mexico and four from El Salvador.

The local Regnum Christi team provided two doctors from Guatemala City, fifty-four missionaries and numerous translators. Carlos Pinto

	Father Fergus O’Carroll, LC, celebrating Palm Sunday Mass. Christ was definitely the center of this mission.

served as the General Coordinator of the Mission and Luis Pedro Unda as the Hospital Coordinator. Pedro Molina, the assistant Director of the Guatemalan Regnum Christi Section, and his family were present helping at all times, with much humility and self-giving.

Where did the missionaries stay?
The missionaries stayed at first in host houses in Guatemala City, later at la Hacienda La Concepcion located by a sugar cane refinery near Escuintla 40 kms south of Guatemala City, and the last night at host houses.

Is another HHMM planned for Guatemala or any other country for the near future?
We would love to return to Guatemala next year. So far this was the best organized mission yet and the good we were able to accomplish in a such a short period of time was inspiring, especially when we consider that the whole mission was organized in less than two months. Our next mission will be in the Amazon of Brazil in July. The

	Melanie teaching the children how to pray.

calendar for the missions is listed on our website, www.hhmm.org.

How many HHMM missions have there been in its history?
HHMM has organized a total of twenty-nine medical missions: sixteen in Mexico, six in El Salvador, three in Venezuela, two in Brazil, one in the Dominican Republic and one in Guatemala.

What were some of the results of this latest mission in Guatemala?
There were 2000 patients seen and twenty-four operated on. The mission got newspaper coverage three days in a row on the front page. Carlos Pinto, the mission coordinator for Guatemala, has mentioned that people have become interested just by reading the newspaper. He also said that the missions helped to make everyone feel part of a large family, that they served to unite his local Regnum Christi team and that many people have expressed interest in Regnum Christi having seen the work of the mission. So as you can see the results were amazing.

(May 13, 2003)