(Photo opposite: Ak’Tenamint Clinic on Guatamala’s Rio Dulce) Crouched in the little wooden canoe whose put-put motor shimmered beads of water into gossamer wings, we skimmed over the water like a dragonfly. Leaving the thatched roof clinic of Ak’Tenamit in our wake, only we disturbed the stillness of a beginning-of-the-world dawn. Stark white herons decorated dense green jungle cliffs as we passed under an arched bridge of fog, following twists and turns of the river as life on the banks began to stir. Each bend in the river revealed a different scene -smoke from a breakfast fire, a friendly wave from a woman bending over the early morning wash, a fisherman and his son stringing a net from their canoe, a rubber plantation and here and there cows grazing on green pastures. Forty minutes later we pulled in at a small clearing.

A man escaped from a Mayan stele waited for us. He was lean, with a high forehead and sharp nose, but this man, unfrozen from stone, was smiling. The load he was to carry strapped to his forehead with a banana leaf headband, was not wood or stone, but a portable dental chair. The four of us unfolded ourselves and stepped ashore. Norma, an anthropologist, me, a curious observer and the reason for our journey, Valerie and Sandy, two volunteer dentists from New Zealand who for three months would practice dentistry without electricity, using the traumatic restorative technique (ART). They were donating their leave to the Ak’Tenamit Project.

“Ak’Tenamit” means “new village” in Q’eqchi (Mayan). The Project, started by Steve Dudenhofer of Florida and his friend Jonathan Carr, grew out of Steve’s dream of helping the Q’eqchi help themselves. The Q’eqchi who live in 40 remote villages in the Rio Dulce area were displaced by the political violence and land reform in the 1980’s. Steve’s audacious dream is to tackle economic, educational, social and medical problems through a non-profit organization using international and local volunteers.

The dental chair and the dentists quickly disappeared up the trail as Norma stayed with me. The setting, a path under arching trees, was idyllic until I tried to walk. I thought I wouldn’t make the first step as my rubber knee boots sunk into mud that had been waiting a millennium to trap me. Every step was a challenge. I marveled that Sandy and Valerie had disappeared, but they were in their third week and were accomplished mud walkers. By the time I reached the first footbridge, a split log listing to one side, I knew my rubber boots would slip. They did and I ended up a mud woman but managed to hold my camera aloft.

(Photo opposite: Dentists and their equipment arrive near a village on the shore of the Rio Dulce.) We reached the village twenty minutes later and Norma suggested we visit her “family” first. Living with a family for two years, her job was to determine the village needs and how they could be met. I already had several suggestions as walking through the village from house to scattered house was as laborious as walking the trail and this was the dry season. The thatched houses, largely hidden under a canopy of trees, were built around a soccer field, much as the ancient Mayans built villages around a ball court. But here the hint of the past ended, as these refugees in their own country were too poor to buy the thread to weave and embroider their traditional clothing.

Norma’s thatched roof home was simply furnished with hammocks in the living room and bedrooms and the kitchen contained a raised hearth, table and chairs. I marveled at the serenity of the wife who had known a better life. After greeting the wife, three of the children followed us to the river, the girls to wash the clothing they wore and I to do likewise.

After washing we slogged through the mud to the schoolhouse, where Valerie and Sandy had set up their dental practice on the front veranda of the cement block building.

The patients were mostly women as the men were in the fields planting corn. An educational program would be needed before parents would see the benefits of preventative dentistry for their children. The women were stoic throughout the procedure. And so was the “cheering section” as Valerie called the interested by-standers seated on rails around the porch.

For filling teeth they used the atraumatic restorative technique (ART) developed by the World Health Organization in Cambodia and Thailand. The tooth has to be in decay with the enamel broken. The tooth is cleaned and filled with a compound containing a conditioning agent and a fluoride component. Valerie hopes that locals can be trained in this technique soon. No injections are used for fillings. They would only need to clean the tooth and know the anatomy of a tooth.

The patients with extractions were cautioned not to work in the fields the next day and not to eat solid food. Those who had extractions were given aspirin and those with only fillings were disappointed not to receive their aspirins. All would have preferred gold fillings to the white compound. It is not the way of Mayans to be effusive with thanks, but Valerie and Sandy knew that they had relieved the source of constant pain for many of the women.

(Photo opposite: Volunteer dentists at work in a village in Guatamala.) Around four o’clock while we were waiting on a grassy bank for the dragonfly to return, I asked Sandy how they happened to volunteer in Guatemala. They had heard about the Ak’Tenamit project from Allen Lovejoy, a retired U.S. Marine who spoke to one of the Dental Research Organizations in Wellington New Zealand. They laughed when I told them I thought they were modern-day saints and told me of the time right before Christmas when they were on their third day eating tortillas and extracting teeth in a remote village and looked at each other and said in unison “What are we doing here?”

When we returned to Ak’Tenamit, Sandy and Valerie were exhausted after filling seven teeth and extracting sixteen, but they headed for the kitchen to find the pressure cooker and sterilize their instruments.

I wandered through the Schweitzer-like compound looking for other volunteers. Becky, a board certified nurse practitioner came for three months and stayed two years working with women in pre-natal care, birth control education and a vaccination program. Steve from Wales had taught in the elementary school for three years. Lina from Washington came for a month to help with saleable art projects. She had raised enough money from garage sales to bring a computer with her. Lisa came for three months and is on her third year as a fundraiser. Most of the funding she says, comes from organizations such as Rotary, Kiwanas, churches and individuals. She stressed that 90% of the money goes to the people and they in turn have to participate in the project. For instance the villagers who built the clinic received credits that could be redeemed for health services. When volunteers go to the village the villagers must feed them.

Individual donations are used for ongoing costs such as medicines. Other projects include a literacy program for children and adults. Lisa looked fondly across the river to the “El Viajero” restaurant where volunteers who serve more than a year celebrate their anniversary with a fish dinner, a welcome treat from their daily routine of rice and beans.

It is clear that Ak’Tenamit has an abundance of faith, hope and love in a project that gives new meaning to adventure travel. All that is needed is a steady flow of charity.

Getting There:

Location: A 40-minute boat trip from Livingston on the Rio Dulce. To get to Livingston take a first class bus from Antigua to Puerto Barios and a water taxi or ferry from Puerto Barios to Livingston on the north shore of the Rio Dulce. I took an overnight tour to Copan Honduras from Antigua and left the tour at Rio Dulce. Check at the dock in Livingston or at La Casa Rosada for motor boats to Ak’Tenamit.

Ak’Tenamit Information: Medical staff is always in demand as well as long-term teachers. Other needs vary from construction workers to well drillers. Ak’Tenamit has a floating dental clinic now, and a restaurant and gift shop in Livingston. There are also two community lodges used by local guides for hiking tours. Check it out at www.Ak’Tenamit.org

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