Over the last century, the Maya have been the recipients of much in the way of medical care and social assistance. Unfortunately, the kinds of assistance received have not come close to solving the problem. The problem is that the assistance, although well-meaning, has not come in either sufficient quantity or an appropriate manner.

Although many medical missions go to Guatemala and Southern Mexico, the presence of the health care personnel is transitory. They come for a week or so, deliver health care in the form of treating acute diseases or correcting congenital, surgical problems, and then they leave. The problem this method engenders is that there is neither adequate follow-up for the acute diseases and congenital abnormalities treated nor any ongoing care for chronic diseases.

Another common method of intervention is for a group to come to a village, erect a building, such as a kitchen in a school or a set of public bathrooms. With the completion of the project, the group presents the finished building to the community and goes back home, leaving responsibility for the functioning and maintenance to the community. Generally, however, the effort is wasted for two reasons. Oftentimes, the project does not blend into the culture of the Maya. And no one in the community has sufficient training or experience to use or maintain the new facility.

So as the Maya see it, people and projects come and go, but nothing for them really changes. It is with this frustration in mind that Mayan Medical Aid operates differently. We intervene with an eye toward sustainability. We only implement projects that are in keeping with the culture of the Maya. We train workers from the community to be successful. And we stick around until the project can function on its own for the long-term.

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