On Wednesday, July 16, Dr. Tom Gelhaus hosted a talk at the Owen-Withee High School IMC about his mission trips to Central and South America. The talk started with Barb Finkelson sharing her experience and how Dr. Tom roped her in. She said that the experience is enlightening and that the most important take away from it is that it is a learning experience. Spending time getting to know the people, culture, and the struggles. She highlighted the coffee farmers and the women’s center.
Dr. Tom took over the talking with a slideshow presentation run by his wife, Mary. Dr. Tom and Mary said that they went on a trip to the Mexican border early this year and are planning another mission trip for next spring to San Lucas. Dr. Tom has been going on these trips since 1992 with his main focus being dentistry. Dr. Tom and Mary decided to create a nonprofit, called Muchas Sonrisas, to help get dentistry materials and raise money. In Spanish Muchas Sonrisas means Many Smiles. They have a Facebook page and are mostly focused on dental materials and dentistry.
Dr. Tom started his work in Bolivia with various mission and Catholic groups. He started with makeshift dental operations moving from village to village. One of Dr. Tom’s next visits was to Guatemala after someone said that they had dental equipment and they just needed a dentist. During this visit, the Guatemalan civil war was still ongoing which meant that their dental supplies were seized at the border and were not released until the Americans had gone home and with them, the money. The next year they learned, and brought extra money to get their supplies released by the government. Dr. Tom then highlighted the trials that the people down there go through. The plantations that are owned by large corporations, the housing situations, the working conditions. The young children that are forced to work in sweat shops and farms with little pay and no medical access.
After that Dr. Tom talked about his work in Peru with Father Sebastian and Father Joe, who both have local Wisconsin connections, and setting up home units that are reminiscent of Boys Town. Dr. Tom spoke about Common Hope, a Minnesota based non-profit that focuses on helping children and families in Guatemala. Dr. Tom also did some work in Honduras with portable dental units. And Honduras was the only place that he was fearful. He said that while he was there, people were killed. And he did dental work on cartel members.
One of the last places that he went and is planning to go on future mission trips is San Lucas where they build houses, serve food, learn about the Cafe Juan Ana coffee, provide healthcare, and encourage education. Sometimes instead of building an entire new house, all that is required is a stove and chimney to make cooking more efficient (and use less wood). He especially highlighted the Cafe Juan Ana that pays above market rate prices to small Guatemalan coffee growers. More information can be found at juananacoffee.org.
One of the big things that can be taken away from the mission trips is just how naive Americans are about the rest of the world. The trips are primarily a learning experience and it is greatly encouraged to come back to the U.S. and tell others about their trip and what they saw and how they helped. Americans are generous but they are ignorant about the corporations that own the land and exploit the people, solely in the name of greed. Dr. Tom highly recommends the book “The Land of Open Graves” by Jason De Leon which talks about the human consequences of migration in the Americas along with the true root causes of a system that is broken by design. But not everything is depressing.
“Is there hope? I don’t know. Where I see hope is in the volunteers I see. From the states,” Dr. Tom said. And the first step is to think about what we buy. That we need to buy Fair Trade, not Free Trade. And that we need to think globally, but it can start small. Stop drinking Starbucks and look at the product labels. These trips change people. They change how people see the world. They change how people act. Each trip takes about 7-10 days and costs about $500 plus airfare. Anyone who is interested in the Mission Trips can contact Dr. Tom Gelhaus or Barb Finkelson. They would love to have more interest in their work. Especially from younger generations.