This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on ISI (2)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related letters  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Humanities  • Humanities, Other  • Alert me on articles by topic

Maya Roberts, YSM II
New Haven, Connecticut
maya.roberts@yale.edu

JAMA. 2006;295:1491-1492.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

While the self-styled medical missionaries are piling into the back of the truck, I spot a young man, at most 19, wearing a cowboy hat, smoking a cigarette, and leaning against the makeshift frame that converts the backs of pickups into the primary form of public transportation here in Guatemala. He is not a licensed medical professional; he is an American on vacation and he is about to distribute medication to patients.

I do not think he is aware of the power he radiates in this community. We are in a modest-sized village in the temperate green midlands of Guatemala, the coffee region. The most substantial source of income here is from day labor on the plantations, during the November-to-March harvesting season. Clean bottled water and fresh produce can be purchased at a lively outdoor market on Tuesdays and Fridays. However, for most families, these are . . . [Full Text of this Article]

RELATED LETTERS

International Volunteer Medicine
Melissa San Julian Mark, J. Tyler Roseman, Robin L. Caperton, James J. Daniero, Maria Frontini, and Jennifer M. Snaman
JAMA. 2006;296(6):652.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

International Volunteer Medicine—Reply
Maya Roberts
JAMA. 2006;296(6):652-653.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

International volunteer medicine.
Mark et al.
JAMA 2006;296:652-652.
FULL TEXT