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Empty Nest Magazine |
TRAVEL
Empty Nesters and Purposeful Travel
by Connie Wesley
Searching for Novelty, for Meaning We often look toward traditional travel to add excitement to our days, but such trips may not give us the sense of connectedness and meaning we crave. We see places and people, but rarely are we touched in the essence of our “being”—awakened to something new. Since the age of our country’s “Camelot,” young people have flocked to the Peace Corps, Teach for America, college semesters abroad, and other similar programs, seeking this connectedness. These often untapped opportunities of our own youth still linger in our minds and play with our emotions. However, if we realistically evaluate our present capabilities, such as health, economics, jobs, failing parents, and arriving grandchildren, being away from our homes—and, even more, our country—for a year or more is probably not in the cards. Fortunately, though, with a little investigation, short-term opportunities can be uncovered.
A Mobile Health Fair Our experience in Guatemala was interesting. Two local women prepared our food. The men slept in bunk beds in the wing on the west side of the central common room, and each woman had her own double bed in rooms on the east side. Every day, the medical crew and four translators piled into vans with 10 suitcases of medical supplies and equipment, to drive more than an hour to a village. There, we set up our health fair in the village church or in a classroom. The locals are Mayan, and because they live in remote areas, they rarely have access to medical care. Normally, it could take them a day to get to a clinic. As a result, they would lose that day’s work or schooling. In the short time we were there, we saw more than 360 patients and administered a variety of treatments: Supplying age-appropriate vitamins, pain relievers, eye care, and glasses. Removing body lice. Deworming. Issuing public health instructions. A few patients were found to have serious health problems—they were advised to go to a clinic or hospital for further treatment.
This health fair group (sponsored by a church in Minnesota) had organized four previous trips to Guatemala, and offshoot efforts have since developed. One new group installs more efficient home cooking stoves, which can make a big difference in the health of the local people. The new stoves have a chimney that removes the smoke from the home, so eye irritation and respiratory problems from cooking-stove smoke, which were common concerns at the health fair, are reduced. In addition, the old stoves use as much as three times the amount of wood as the new ones do. This wood consumption reduces the forests and also devours people-hours in the never-ending need to collect it and carry it home. Finally, efforts to financially support schooling for some of the children are growing.
Touring, Too!
Links Connie Wesley, BS, MA, Wheaton College, has finally eased her fourth child into independent life. Her empty nesting activities include working one-on-one with students with disabilities as they are mainstreamed into public schools, quilting, traveling with husband John, and visiting their four children and three grandchildren in Maryland, Michigan, Oregon, and California. Connie last contributed to Empty Nest in fall 2007, with “When Does the Empty Nest Begin? Reflections on the College Search.”
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Empty Nest: A Magazine for Mature Families
© 2009 Spring Mount Communications
You can overcome this ennui by going back to school, traveling, changing jobs, or buying a new or second home. During these shaky economic times, however, the latter two options aren’t always the most feasible.
John is a retired pediatric surgeon, and we joined two other doctors, two nurses, and a group planning to do construction work at a local school. Our team stayed at a Methodist camp in Lemoa, in the highlands of Guatemala, just northwest of Guatemala City.
The villagers welcomed us—they were friendly and appreciative. When they could, patients paid a small amount to visit the health fair. Nonmedical volunteers helped set things up, counted pills, administered pregnancy tests, tested and distributed glasses, and played with waiting children—generally being U.S. ambassadors of friendship.
We enjoyed visiting the town of Panajachel on Lake Atitlan, the Mayan ruins of Iximche, the town of Chichicastenango, and the touristy but quaint city of Antigua, where we climbed a volcano and found ourselves just yards from flowing lava. We returned home with an appreciation and affection for the Mayan people of Guatemala—not just their cities, hotels, and sights. We were blessed with a desire to return, continue the efforts, and perhaps find new avenues to assist them. Such should be the aftermath of every trip, and such is what awakens that inner connection to life.