On a Mission

When Jane Bartel made her first trip to Guatemala as a member of Highland Presbyterian Church in 2006, she was captivated by the country's beauty and the friendliness of the people.

She put on puppet shows for children, worked on a reforestation project and helped clean up a school building.

"I really liked the people, and I was excited about being in another country and helping out," she said. "It made me feel very humble -- and maybe I was waiting for direction for what I was supposed to do."

In 2007, Jane's first granddaughter, Evelyn, was born with a cleft lip and palate. The condition is a common birth defect in which the lip or palate do not completely develop. Nearly all of the children with the condition in this country have lip and palate surgery by the time they are 2 years old, and most develop normally, Jane said.

One of the doctors who took care of Jane's granddaughter was from Guatemala. Many doctors from the U.S. make medical-missionary trips to Guatemala to perform the surgery. But he told Jane that some of the children in that country who are born with cleft lips and palates die before surgery can be done or they are so malnourished that they are not strong enough for surgery.

She called her husband, Joe Bartel, and said, "We're going to do something to help those babies survive."

In late 2007, Jane, 57, returned to Guatemala -- this time with a determination to help. She brought photos of her granddaughter, the special bottles that the babies need and a breast pump. She and her husband visited a mission and met a pediatrician, Dr. Kate Leonard, who was living with a family who had a baby with cleft palate.

Leonard put them in touch with a family who had a 4-


month-old son, Francisco. He had been turned down for surgery because he was too anemic.

The Bartels met Francisco's family. With the help of a translator, they told their granddaughter's story. The meeting was an emotional one, Bartel said, because they shared the same unusual and difficult experience. Francisco's mother also told Bartel about two babies with the condition who had died.

"We realized how important it was to continue on with this mission," Jane said.

Before they left, Leonard helped the Bartels put together a basket to be left at a local clinic with the bottles, the breast pump and soap to clean the bottles. There was a note written in Spanish that explained how to use everything.

"Is this going to be one and done?" Joe asked his wife.

Jane said it was not.

Jane returned to Winston-Salem and contacted Medela, the manufacturer of the special bottles.

Medela gave her 140 bottles and 80 breast pumps to take to back Guatemala. Over the past year, Medela has given Jane an estimated $3,000 worth of bottles and pumps.

Jane and her husband established Evelyn's Baskets of Love and Life, which pays for bottles, surgeries and provides other types of help to children with cleft lips and palates in Guatemala. Evelyn's Baskets of Love and Life is a partnership with Porch de Salomon, a Christian mission in Guatemala.

Her husband, who retired in the fall as Forsyth County's director of budget and management, supported her work and helped with managing the finances for the project. Since retirement, he has joined her as a full partner in the outreach.

In March 2008, Jane returned to Guatemala with 24 baskets full of items needed to care for babies with cleft lips and palates. The baskets had photos of Evelyn before and after her surgery and told her story in Spanish. Jane planned to visit hospitals and clinics and leave a basket with each one.

Within a few days, she heard about a baby who was sent home with cleft lip and palate. After two days of searching, she found the baby and visited him and his family. The baby's name was Diego. He hadn't eaten in two days. He took to the special bottle immediately.

Jane and Diego's mother held hands, and Jane showed pictures and told her granddaughter's story to the family through a translator. Bartel told Diego's mother that doctors do not believe it was her fault that her child was born that way -- a common belief among some Guatemalans.

Diego's mother cried, but seemed relieved, Bartel said.

"I had brought hope to this family," she said. "I was not only bringing them bottles. I knew what it was like to have a child like that."

During that trip, Jane visited 10 hospitals and clinics and left all the baskets and found more places to return with more baskets.

In some ways, Joe said he is amazed by what his wife has accomplished. But in another way, it doesn't surprise him.

"If you know Jane as I do, when she puts her mind to something the sky's the limit."

Heather Ferguson, the director of Christian education at Highland Presbyterian, organized Highland's mission trips to Guatemala. She said that the Bartels are making a difference.

"What you hope in doing these trips is that a little spark is going to happen," she said, "and someone's passion is going to ignite and someone is going to be transformed. Jane is the perfect example of this."

Jane's empathy for children with cleft lip and palate adds an extra dimension to her work, Ferguson said, and it is changing lives in Guatemala.

Parents often labor under the belief that they have done something wrong when their babies are born with cleft lips and palates. Jane's work is helping to remove a long-standing stigma, Ferguson said.

In addition, Ferguson said, Jane is changing lives of children who will be able to grow up and look like everyone else.

In March 2009, Jane returned to Guatemala for Diego's first birthday party. By that time, he had had surgery, which costs about $300. It was paid for by Evelyn's Baskets.

Diego was special because he was the first baby she had helped. She envisioned him meeting her granddaughter some day and watching him grow up.

But soon after returning home, Jane received bad news. Diego had died from worms or parasites. Doctors aren't sure.

"That about broke me," Jane said.

She said that she questioned whether she should continue her work.

"I realized that I still needed to carry on," she said. "There's a need for these babies to be saved. Evelyn was saved because of where she lived. I felt that God had given me a task on Earth to do."

She estimates that she has distributed more than 70 baskets, and she can count at least 20 children who have benefited from the use of the bottles and other equipment. Evelyn's Baskets has raised about $9,000 to help pay for surgeries and other expenses.

Jane is planning to return to Guatemala this spring.

It's important to revisit the areas where she has gone before. Sometimes people need a refresher on how to use the equipment in the baskets and work with the babies, she said.

She would like to see others get involved in the effort, since there is a limit to what she and her husband can accomplish on their own.

"We will continue this mission to help these babies," she said, "so that they can have a life like Evelyn."

mgiunca@wsjournal.com


727-4089

For more information on Bartel's work in Guatemala, go to www.evelynsbaskets.org