Provide emergency medical intervention for a child in need:

For 35 years, Hope of Life has been providing nutritional support through medical intervention for children at extreme risk of death caused by malnutrition. In 2020 alone, rates of malnutrition in Guatemala more than tripled, and our on-campus St Luke’s Nutritional Recovery center has been filled to overflowing with patients, forcing us to delay village visits or refer children to sub-standard area hospitals. Put simply: the need is exceeding our capacity to serve.

The mission of Hope of Life is, and always will be Saving Lives. At the very center of that mission is our Medical Intervention program (formerly referred to as the “Baby Rescue” program). Having worked closely with more than 308 villages for 35+ years, HOL has a far-reaching local network of healthcare workers and emergency responders who alert us when families experience nutritional crisis. Several times a week, our emergency medical teams travel to remote villages, often hiking the last portion of the journey on foot just to reach these mountain communities. Once the child and parent have been delivered to our Nutritional Recovery Center on campus, children receive treatment at no cost to their families.

At Hope of Life, we believe in a Practical Gospel, in which we never meet a spiritual need without first meeting physical needs. We have seen time and again that meeting physical needs paves the way for effective evangelism and discipleship. We believe this work shows God’s love to people who will be profoundly impacted by compassion and care. Thats also why, when healthy patients and their families are released form our care, we connect them with the local church and include local pastors in our follow-up care for up to one year. Your support of this program will truly Save Lives that would otherwise have been lost. No other program more closely aligns with our mission than this one, and is truly the heartbeat of all we do.

Franklin

Franklin’s Story

At 5 years old, Franklin was admitted to our Nutritional Recovery Center, St. Luke’s. Weighing in at 22 pounds (less than half the normal body weight of a 5 year-old boy) Franklin was dangerously malnourished and suffering from both pneumonia and rotavirus. The real danger, however, was his hemoglobin levels: Franklin presented a 5.0, while normal range for a boy of his age is 12-15. Franklin was in real danger. Our team intervened and was able to help Franklin not only physically recover some pounds (he’s up 15 and counting!) and a whole lot of electrolytes, but we saw him flourish.

When Franklin began to recover some strength, he became a bright light. All of a sudden, a happy and outgoing personality was shining through! Before coming to Hope of Life, Franklin lived with his parents and four siblings in the village of Romelia, and after 57 days of intensive care from our expert team of doctors, nurses, nutritionists, social workers, nannies and therapists, he was ready to head back home!