What are we doing in Guatemala??

On February 3 we arrived home from New Zealand, happy but tired. No sooner had we pulled the Tevas, shorts and sunscreen out of our suitcases, we were filling them back up again. This time with wool sweaters, a fresh box of Immodium-D, and what seemed to me like a lifetime supply of malaria pills.

Forty-eight hours after our plane landed at JFK, we were hoofing it to Newark to board a plane for Guatemala. At 5:30 in the morning. The next earliest flight on the television monitor at the monorail station was 6:05 am. I half-expected they'd give us a prize, or at least ringing applause, for being the very first flight out of Newark that day.

Nestled among the sleepy kids and coffee-slugging business travelers on the plane, I sat quietly reading the flight data on the little screen embedded in the seat in front of me. Funny, it took me a full two minutes to figure out it was totally in Spanish.

And though "velocidad" and "altitud" had easily slipped past my radar screen, I knew I'd have more trouble saying things like "your eyes are healthy, but since you're diabetic you do need to keep your blood glucose well-controlled in order not to lose your vision" and "you'll need a pair of bifocals to see far for driving and near for sewing and reading". Good thing I brought not one, but two, trusty Spanish dictionaries to get us through the week.

This was my third VOSH trip, and I was excited. For those of you outside the ophthalmic community, VOSH stands for "Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity". As its website states, it is a "non-governmental, non sectarian, apolitical organization" with 35 chapters scattered across the globe. Each chapter goes about things a little differently under the larger umbrella organization, but the goal is always the same: to bring basic eye services to disadvantaged populations worldwide.

Ever wonder what actually happens to the old eyeglasses you've left in donation boxes, or given to your local optical to pass along for charity? Those glasses are hand-delivered by volunteer groups like VOSH to people where local eye care is nonexistent, or too expensive for the average person to afford.

Because of a personal connection through my father-in-law, my two previous volunteer trips (to Buenos Aires, Argentina in March 2007, and to Tocoa, Honduras in February 2008) had been with a VOSH group out of Kentucky.

I have to admit that as a skeptical New York metro-area soul, I was initially cautious about joining a group "from the Midwest." I (foolishly, as you'll soon see) imagined that on these "mission" trips (the term kept floating around in the emails the group sent out), there would be prayer meetings and religious conversions right there alongside the exam chairs. And worse, I was sure I'd be surrounded by uptight teetotalers.

So you can imagine the shock and relief I felt when soon after I arrived in Buenos Aires and we had all shaken hands and exchanged polite introductions, the clock struck noon and someone in the group suggested we all go for lunch- and a round of beers.

Soon I embarked on a wonderful adventure with some of the kindest, most hard-working and fun-loving bunch of people you could imagine. As it turned out, no one was there specifically for religious purposes though spirituality certainly is a driver for many folks in the group, as it is with most acts of charity.

Even more so, I sensed a shared love of travel, and an instinctive interest in getting up close and personal with people in a culture totally foreign to our own.

By the time this Guatemala trip came around, Dan had heard so much about the good work and good times our group had had together in the past that when he was invited to come along, he didn't hesitate more than a few seconds before signing himself up.

And away we went.

Find out more about VOSH here.