Guatemala Emergency Plan

EMERGENCY PLA

US Embassy:

We suggest you to register in the US Embassy website or contact them https://travelregistration.state.gov/ibrs/ui/ to have first hand information in case of emergency. Please take 2 photocopies of your complete passport and carry them with you. (same with the cedula for the Guatemalans.)

Food:

The meals are provided by the camp, and it is a lot like Guatemalan average meals. If you have a special need for meals, please let us know and prepare yourself in advance, because there will be no chance to have something different. We will have small chances to pick different groceries than the ones that will be provided in the meals, and that extra would have to be on your own budget. Bring granola bars, snacks, etc. in case that you want to supplement.

Lodging:

Guatemala City:

You will be staying at the Hotel Xamanek. This guest house is located in the modern urban tourist area of the city, and will be used by other guests as well. There are enough things to do, see and eat around, and is a safe area to hang around during daytime. There are a couple of malls nearby. Most of the Staff is Spanish Only.

Leaders can be provided with a key, but normally, only by leaving the building and ringing the doorbell you will get someone to open for you.

You need to bring a security lock with you, or buy one here (nothing fancy, something like this should work fine). The hotel won’t be responsible for any lost, and even do you will be there only a couple of nights, it might be important for you to have one. Maybe Dr. Corbitt can add some other specifics that I am missing.

Izabal:

You can see the details in http://www.misionelfaro.org/HOME.html.

Transportation:

We are going on a bus provided by a long-time contact for several mission trips. His company has all the permits required to go to the location, and his drivers are capable and competent. They will be there only to drop and pick us. Still to be decided if we will have an extra car over there, but the administrator of the camp will be there 24/7 with his car, and in case of emergency or if something happens on the road, we have the contact with the LITEGUA company, which is the safest bus company that drives to that side of the country.

Health Problems:

We will have a first aid kit over there, but maybe you can bring your personal first aid kit, and any medications that you need to take. Let us know about it ahead of time if this is the case, to know the equivalence of the name in Spanish.

One of the staff from the School is a certified nurse (Janina), and Liz has background and experience in First Aid with the Red Cross. In case that we need a doctor, we can contact Dr. Campos by phone (he is bilingual) and in a major emergency, the administrator of the camp could take whoever needs aid to the local hospital. In the case of the group from the US, you need to contact BuildaBridge to understand the terms of the insurance that you are going to have here, in order to use it correctly.

Contact:

We will have several cell phones with us, in case that someone needs to contact one of the artists or locals. Most of the locals will bring their cell phones, but we are not sure that all of the cell phone companies have signal range over there. Make sure that your contacts know the time difference, and be aware that during class periods, you won’t be able to answer the phone. Schedule will be provided shortly.

We will have one computer, potentially with internet access, but the usage of it will be primarily for communication overseas, and with consideration of the other 25 adults that will want to use it. It will only be available during the nights, after bedtime.

Cell phones provided by BuildaBridge have a limited amount of minutes charged on them. You need to agree on how all of you want to use them. Here are the numbers, and these are the persons that will have the phone with them. Guatemala’s Area Code is (502).

LIZ HERRERA: 5606-9392

Dr VIVIAN: 4341-7432

CHARLENE: 4379-6168

(for the last one, we just have the SIM card, so it wont work unless someone brings a phone with a charger.)

Evacuation:

Rainy season is over, but the camp is near the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, and from time to time we hear from evacuations in the villages over there because of flooding or hurricane alert. We are not going to evacuate unless the CONRED (Emergency Coordinator) form the Guatemalan Government ask for that. They are aware that we are going to be in the camp, and they will make sure that we know what to do in case of an emergency.

Translators:

We will have introductory, informative and training meetings with the local staff, so by the time that you all get here, they will know each other, and know about BuildaBridge, the songs, games, etc. that we will have. All of this is in Spanish, and I have it with me in case that you want it, but most likely you will catch it up over here. Ideas of games and songs are welcome to incorporate. (Please send the lyrics and the instructions so we can add it to the booklet that will be provided to the artists and volunteers.