Summer Archives

Lisa Koenig Guatemala City, Guatemala - Shalom Foundation - Moore Pediatric Center

The Moore Pediatric Center represents the largest component of The Shalom Foundation’s medical arm in Guatemala City, Guatemala. The Moore Center opened in 2011and hosts mission teams of surgeons from the United States for ten day periods in which they perform roughly sixty operations for children of poverty from throughout the country in Guatemala. Representing and being supported by The Ingram Scholarship Program, I had the privilege of working for The Moore Center for 8 weeks during the summer of 2012. My primary contribution was the creation of the Center’s first website, which also facilitates patient and volunteer intake, donations and sponsorships, and other general inquiries. Preceding this project I spent one week with a nursing mission team in rural Guatemala, and my work with Moore ended with a very special opportunity to accompany a young Guatemalan girl to the United States for a life-saving surgery that would remove a large vascular malformation on her face. This report highlights the many lessons, successes, struggles, and ultimate results of my eight-week journey.