Rotoplast Does Great Work

The Rotoplast organization sends official photographers on their medical missions and sometimes, if we’re very lucky, we can see one of our donated quilts in action. This organization sends medical teams to countries around the world to aid children with cleft lips and cleft palates and we try to ensure that every child receiving surgery will also receive a comforting quilt to keep at the hospital and when they go home.

I donate quilts to Rotoplast thru the Sunshine Quilt Guild, facilitated by Terry Hoskins in Wells, Maine.  Our on-line guild welcomes new members to join us in this worthwhile cause.  Check us out at:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sunshine/

Recently, I was very fortunate to read about a little girl named Marina.  She and her family live in Guatemala and she and her father had to travel over 9 hours by bus so she could receive surgery.  They learned of Rotoplast and the medical mission through Marina’s school teacher, who saw an ad in the newspaper place by the Guatemala  hosts - the local Rotary Club of La Asuncion in Guatemala City.

The photographer of this particular mission was fantastic.  Marina is shown here in her pretty dress:

The indigenous people of Guatemala are descendents of the Mayans - and in rural towns and villages, they still often wear traditional clothing like Marina’s.  Their fabrics are handwoven from natural materials such as cotton or wool.  The blouses are called “huipils” and the skirts are called “cortes”.  The colors and designs have a variety of meanings, from designating their home village to their marital status.  It takes anywhere from one to three months to complete an outfit, working several hours a day.

Here is Marina going into surgery with a quilt that I made:

Here is the entire quilt:

Here are Marina and her Dad leaving the hospital grounds to return home after her succesful surgery – Bless your heart, Marina, and may good fortune follow you always:

All of the fascinating information above about the clothing was provided by the wonderful official photographer of the Guatemala mission.  My thanks go out to this talented individual for his evident compassion for the people of Guatemala.  To read his entire report, check out this link: http://rotaplast.typepad.com/missions/2012/03/guatemala-2012-meet-marina.html#comments