A Latin America Blogger’s Epic Quest to Help the Fight Against Preventable Blindness in Guatemala

In this interview with Cathy Brown, the editor of the Expat Daily News blogs for Central and South America, she describes the aspects of life in the U.S. that drove her to move with her young family to Argentina.

She also tells us about a challenging fundraising effort she’s pursuing on behalf of a nonprofit medical organization that is providing free eye-care services in an effort to fight against preventable blindness in Guatemala.

To attract attention to the cause, Cathy will be climbing the highest mountain in the Americas.

Cathy is a new acquantaince of mine on the blogosphere, but so far I like what I see. She writes for her expat audience in a conversational tone about thought-provoking aspects of Latin America. Judging from her current and past fundraising efforts, she seems equally passionate about helping less fortunate people in the region.

What are some of the specific things about life in the U.S. that made you decide to move from Michigan to the Argentina?

The pace of life was too fast and intense for me.  I looked around and saw kids being raised as mini-adults, going from school to activity to event to blah, blah, blah.

I was to blame, too, as I got sucked right into it.  And most of the adults I knew were too busy working their butts off around the clock to enjoy the moments…and for what?  To maintain their things.  Their huge house.  Their toys. I am not against things at all.  But when I see a large part of the population having the spirit sucked out of them from debt, this made me sad.

I didn’t want my kids growing up to think these things were normal…but why wouldn’t they unless I showed them another way?  I had traveled in Latin America previously, and immediately felt comfortable with the priorities and the way of life here.

What type of “real change” were you looking for by moving to South America?

I wanted my kids to be raised in a culture where it was okay for a teacher to hug and kiss a child, without fear of having it taken wrong.  I like that in Latin America every single person I see on the street makes eye contact, and everyone still opens doors for and gives up their bus seats for women and children.

I wanted to be forced to pay cash for things and move away from the instant credit lifestyle.  I wanted my family to be bilingual.  I wanted siesta, and afternoon tea that lasts for hours as I connect with my neighbors. I wanted a chance to just breathe and enjoy life slowly.

Why did you pick South America as opposed to some other part of the world?

My kids already had traveled through Peru, so were a little bit familiar with the Latin culture. My two oldest knew some Spanish already, so I figured the transition would be as easy as it was going to get.  And if I had to pick a language that I wanted everyone to master, Spanish seemed practical.

If you had a chance to do it over again (i.e., move to Argentina) what would you do differently?

Not much, actually.  We came here with no plan, no city, no house in mind.  And that openness led us to some incredible experiences that we would never have had if we were stuck to a set plan.

There is one thing, though.  I would have packed an entire suitcase of peanut butter, maple syrup, Kukicha tea, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, and exotic spices.  I find myself missing those things more than I can bear some days!!

What has been the most surprising aspect of living in Argentina?

How easy it was to move.  When you are in the US, or wherever you are, you think it is so difficult to move a family abroad.  You overthink it and most people never get to the action part out of fear.

They are scared of things that probably wont ever even happen.  But for me, the reality was we just did it.  Sold or gave away most of our crap, and bought one way tickets to Buenos Aires.  The two adults in the family had no Spanish.

Our son broke his leg and needed emergency surgery our fourth day here.  We had no house here.  If we can pull this off, and still think it was pretty easy, anyone else should have no problem.

And here we are, and I am thankful every day that we did this.  I can’t imagine my not having given my family this experience now.

How did you find out about and become involved with raising money for VOSH–the medical clinic in rural Guatemala?

Actually, my nine year old daughter is the real climber in the family.  She was a competetive rock climber in the states, and through her contacts we heard about some people doing a climb of Kilimanjaro for charity.

I went home, did my due diligence on VOSH, got behind their philosophy 100 percent, and within 24 hours had signed myself up to climb Kili.

I raised $22,000 for them, and am proud to say that half of it came from little kids at the local elementary school.  The kids had so much conviction and passion to help out other little kids going blind.  They were amazing with how they got together to raise all that money, and most of it came in the form of nickels and dimes from their piggy banks and allowances.

What is VOSH’s main purpose?

VOSH has a project in Guatemala where they offer free eye care.  They specialize in giving sight-restoring surgery free to those that need it, which costs VOSH only $200 for supplies.  This is what we are raising the money to cover.

Yeah, I know…Imagine $200 being the difference between being able to read to your kids, or being able to work to provide for your family.  But for the rural residents in Guatemala, it may as well be $1 million.  It is completely out of reach.  Through my efforts, I want to raise $40,000, enough money for 200 surgeries.

VOSH has volunteer, unpaid doctors that do the surgeries, and they also currently pay for the education and training of local Guatemalans to become surgeons to continue on the missons.  It is a community effort, and they do what they can to empower the locals.

I love this charity because it is not from the mindset of “we are rich, all-powerful Americans and we are here to fix all of your problems”.  It is more “Hey, we have the opportunity to help, and we would love to help you help yourselves also.  Let’s work together not as problem/fixer, but as two human beings with a common goal.”

You mentioned on your blog that for your last fundraising effort for VOSH you raised over $20,000 by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. This year, you’re planning a similar effort which involves climbing Aconcagua–the highest mountain in the Americas. Are there any lessons you’ve learned from your last experience that you will apply to this one?

I was blissfully naive last time.  I can not go back to that state of mind, no matter how hard I am trying to.  This time around, I know exactly how difficult it will be.

I know to what extremes my body, mind, and spirit will be pushed.  I know I may hit a point where I break down and cry, thoroughly convinced that I have absolutely nothing left in me, and I still will need to dig deep and somehow put one foot in front of the other.

What are you doing to train for this?

I am by no means athletic or sporty.  Reality is, I am an out of shape klutz.  But I am a determined, stubborn, and motivated out of shape klutz!   I am running long distances to increase lung capacity, going on long hikes with rocks and gallons of water loading down my backpack to build strength and endurance, and doing core strength training.

I need to be in the best physical shape of my life, just to be able to take out one variable of fifty that might hold me back.

But just as important is mental training.  I have to work on pushing myself even when I don’t want to.  For example, if it is raining or I am not feeling great, I need to get over myself and still get out there and train.  Life is not going to be perfect on the mountain, that’s for sure.

I will most likely be vomiting, with diahrrea, have a splitting migraine headache, not be able to breathe, haven’t slept well in days, it may be a blizzard, camp morale may be low…and I still need to be in the right frame of mind to want to put on a 50 lb. pack and trudge uphill.

What’s the best way to find out more about VOSH and donate money?

You can contact me at cathy@expatdailynews.com, and I will answer any questions I can.

You can go to www.voshpa.org to learn about their Guatemala project and to donate by Paypal or Credit card (but just make sure to notate “Cathy Brown, Climb for Sight” on the transaction so VOSH and I know how close I am getting to my $40,000 goal.

You can write a check made payable to VOSH PA Climb for Sight, and mail it c/o Sheri Blaskis, 6034 Myers Lake Rd., Rockford, Michigan, 49341.  Include your email so I can send you a receipt and a thank you.

I am also looking for corporate sponsors, and run two very popular websites www.expatdailynewssouthamerica.com and www.expatdailynewscentralamerica.com for travelers and expats…so in exchange I can offer great PR and advertising there for any company that steps up to help.

Remember, all donations to VOSH are tax-deductable.  And I am not picky!  The ten dollar donations mean just as much as the larger donations.  It all helps in the end, so whatever you can offer, please do!  Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for your financial and/or moral support!