Text and Photos by Ken Thomas
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In the mid-1990s, Tim and Doris Spurrier of New Covenant World Missions began to establish a hospital in the poorest region of Guatemala, the town of San Benito in the northern Peten region. By 1998, their Hospital Shalom was ready for electric power. As a former electric lineman with Haywood EMC I had done similar work in crisis areas through the charitable organization Samaritan’s Purse, so when Samaritan’s Purse electrical engineer Bill Wright asked me to help in Guatemala, I prepared to go. Soon, however, we learned that Guatemala’s deteriorating political situation put an end to our plans. New Covenant World Missions lost ownership of Hospital Shalom, and the Spurriers themselves were forced to leave the country.
But the Spurriers did not give up. In March of this year, Hospital Shalom finally opened. Haywood EMC in Waynesville, Central EMC in Sanford, the Haywood Rotary Club in Canton and Samaritan’s Purse of Boone all were part of the story.
In Guatemala, near the remains of amazing Mayan culture, we see extreme poverty. Families farm every available square inch of soil. It is common to see corn literally growing right up against homes with narrow trails from the doors. Most homes do not have indoor or outdoor plumbing. People heat and cook with wood and travel mostly on foot or by bus. A two- or three-room place can typically house eight or more people. Few homes have refrigeration, and everyone washes clothes by hand or in nearby lakes and rivers.
Local people have had little hope for survival in cases of severe injury or illness. Before Hospital Shalom, the closest hospital was more than 185 miles away, a 10-hour drive, in the capital, Guatemala City. With no posted speed limits, most two-lane rural roads are unmarked. On blind curves drivers pass old reconditioned school buses donated by U.S. organizations. The multi-colored buses stop in blind curves to pick up or let off passengers on the roadside.
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