Who We Are, The People We Serve, Cost and Length of Trip

Who We Are

Diane and Steven Gele with Kuna People

Christian Medical Missions, Inc. (CMMI) is a 501-c-3 organization established in 1990 to provide medical, dental and eye care to the indigenous people of Central America. Every year is an adventure that involves new people in our efforts to reach out to those in need of medical and dental attention.

Our twenty-six years have been busy ones. We've made 81 trips and helped about 95,000 people in Panama, Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras. We've saved some and stabilized others, we've relieved pain and anxiety and improved nutrition and vision, we've educated and been educated, we've given our services to people who could never afford them. Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Muslim--we've gone out together under the umbrella of a Christian Medical Mission to give of ourselves, and in the process we've recieved gifts we couldn't begin to imagine, from fellow teammates, from those we serve and those who serve us, and ultimately from God, our Father.

The People We Serve

Typical Kuna HouseIn 1992, CMMI sent it's first mission team to a small hamlet on the Pan-American Highway (a gravel road only passable with off road vehicles in the wet season) known as Waucuco. The area is home to missionary priest Fr. Wally Kasuboski, a Wisconsin native working in Central America for the last 40 years. The people of the area include homesteading Panamanians looking for new opportunities on the Panamanian frontier and indigenous tribes of Kuna, Embera-Chocoe and Wounaan Indians.

Since that time, CMMI has expanded it's medical services to Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras.

 

Length of trip and Cost:

We normally leave on a Saturday, acclimate and explore on Sunday, work Monday through Thursday, go to Antigua for 2 nights where we relax after the hectic week.  The cost is an airline ticket to Guatemala City and a trip fee of $900 which covers