Guatemala Health Initiative

25/04/2026

Friends near and far

25/04/2026

Friends.

At its core, GHI is built on partnerships between institutions. Agreements, programs, shared goals. Work that spans years and, now, decades.

But behind every partnership are people.

Chonita’s visit to Washington and Philadelphia showed something quieter and just as important. Smiles between old friends. Introductions that become new friendships. Moments that look simple, a photo, a line of people, a quick conversation, but carry years of connection behind them.

Some of these relationships go back a long time. Zoe Barbati. . Guidera. Others reflect newer connections across organizations and public leadership, including 's Monique Howard and Beste Erel Windes.

Different paths, shared purpose.

These are the relationships that hold the work together. They make collaboration real. They sustain it over time.

Twenty years in, GHI is still growing because these friendships continue to grow.

GHI. Just Life Shared.

19/04/2026

From a Zoom planning meeting screen to cherry blossoms in Washington.
From the Smithsonian to her first train ride on the Amtrak
From city streets in Philadelphia to a simulation lab delivery.
From a despedida meal to a departure at Newark.

So many firsts in one week. First plane ride. First time outside Guatemala. First visit to the United States. First subway. First train. First international public talk.

And through it all, the same presence. Curious. Steady. Observant. Joyful. Chonita!

Chonita grew up in a large family in Santiago Atitlán. This week she moved through new places, new systems, new experiences, carrying with her the same purpose that guides her work every day.

This post is not about the events and programs of her visit. That will come later.
This one is about the journey. The first steps. The openness to experience something new.

Chonita.

GHI. Just Life Shared.

15/04/2026

LA QUETZAL HA ATERRIZADO!

Welcome, Chonita Damián.

GHI is excited to welcome Chonita to the United States for her one-week visit to University of Pennsylvania . Many in our community know her as an extraordinary partner and nurse at Hospitalito Atitlán. Others know her as the founding director of the Indigenous Maya School of Nursing.

After busily admitting, enrolling, teaching, and graduating her first class of nurses in December 2025, Chonita found the time to visit the US this week. She landed at Dulles Airport and spent her first day in Washington, DC. From there, she boarded the Acela to Philadelphia. In Philly, she visited the Franklin Institute, moving from one kind of locomotive to another, old and new.

This week she will reconnect with longtime partners, share her experience as a nursing and educational leader, and build new relationships to advance her vision.
GHI is over the moon to have her here.

GHI. Just Life Shared.

15/04/2026

Still watching this student led anatomy lesson.

14/04/2026

Viewer discretion. This post includes cool anatomy images and a look inside the human body. It's anatomy class at URL, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud.

What does it mean to learn anatomy?

For many physicians in the past, it meant standing over a cadaver, one chance to cut, one chance to get it right. The room filled with the sound of bone saws. Real cadavers are unforgiving. The constant balance between tissue preservation with chemicals and the natural march of decomposition. Formaldehyde, the preserving chemical, stayed with you, on your hands, your clothes, your friends, your home, long after you left the lab.

You learned carefully. You learned deliberately. You had one chance to learn.

At Universidad de Rafael Landívar, we saw something different.

Seventh year medical students at the Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud demonstrated the table, a virtual anatomy platform that allows students to explore the human body layer by layer. Organs can be isolated, rotated, and examined from any angle. Structures can be removed and replaced. Age and s*x can be adjusted. Physiology can be visualized in motion. Clinical correlations can be built directly into the learning.

No single cut. No lost opportunity. No lingering formaldehyde.

Our Penn GHI students did not come to teach. They came to learn. Check out the quiz at 1:56. There is sagital, horizontal, coronal, what is that last section called?

Innovation in medical education is not one direction. It is shared. It is evolving. It is happening in places we must pay attention to.

And yes, at the end of the session, no one smelled like anatomy lab. Progress happens.

GHI. Just Life Shared.

Universidad Rafael Landívar University of Pennsylvania

13/04/2026

RSVP today!

We are excited to welcome Chonita Damián to Harnwell College House and GHI this Wednesday, April 15, to speak about leading the Indigenous Maya School of Nursing at Hospitalito Atitlán. This is the first accredited and legally recognized nursing school in Santiago Atitlán.

Join us to hear how local leadership by women is building the future of nursing and community health.

If you are not a Penn undergraduate, you must RSVP to be added to the guest list.
Scan the QR code, email ghi.upenn@gmail.com, or see the link in the comments.
Penn Medicine Penn Nursing University of Pennsylvania

08/04/2026

We can’t stop watching the jump and splash!

07/04/2026

Join us for an inspiring evening with Concepción Damián Ixbalán, a leader in nursing and education in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. 🌎

Learn about her journey, the creation of a Maya Indigenous nursing school, and the future of healthcare in rural communities.

📅 April 15
⏰ 7:00 PM
📍 Harnwell College House Rooftop Lounge

All are welcome—don’t miss this powerful conversation.

06/04/2026

A day of .

Each year, GHI sets aside time to pick coffee with one of our favorite local growers on the slopes of Volcán San Pedro, followed by a visit to the CoAtitlan, R.L. cooperative, founded by local farmers to process their harvest.

Coffee picking slows you down. You feel the altitude, the sun, the shade of the trees. Your hands get sticky with the juice of the coffee cherries and dusty from the earth. The basket sits at your waist, held by friction, shifting as it fills. You adjust, you keep picking, you add your harvest to a shared bag.

At CoAtitlán, we borrow a traditional hand-cranked defruiting machine. The bright red cherries are pressed, releasing the bean inside, still covered in its shell and honey. From there it will ferment, dry in the sun, and eventually become the coffee that moves around the world.

This hillside, often called remote, produces something that brings energy and comfort to billions of people globally every day.

Coffee picking reminds us of something simple. The world is built on small, shared work; networked to a larger us.

GHI. Just Life Shared.

University of Pennsylvania

06/04/2026

Interested in being an agent of change, connecting the US and Guatemala? Check out this job opportunity:
https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4397726654/

Posted 3:33:25 PM. About AHAAmigos Hospitalito Atitlán (AHA) is a US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.