Twenty yellow baby chicks are sitting in their cage on the porch of Margarita Sicajau's house. In a few minutes, they will be removed from their home and gently guided into the hands of the CARE Youth Corps (CYC). Today's journey has taken us to the village of Monte Mercedes, where CARE's agriculture project extends its generous hand to more inhabitants of our Central American home.

Our four-hour morning visit is spent helping the CARE staff vaccinate the animals of seven local families. CARE employee Otto Niel Bixcul, who has arrived only minutes before us, heralds our arrival into Monte Mercedes. He steps out of his Jeep, smiles to us, and beckons in Spanish for us to follow.

CYC members learn about vaccinating livestock, including preventing Newcastle disease in chickens. The students place a drop of vaccine in the chick's eye to prevent the disease. (All Photos © CARE 2002/David Rochkind)

Although today's walk is nothing compared to yesterday's hike into the tips of the sky, there are still some heavy breathers in the group, and I am one of them. But time is short, there are seven houses to cover and Otto quickly jumps into an explanation of our morning activities.

"This work is organized with a different aspect of CARE's agriculture project," he says. Otto explains that we not only will be working with the week-old chicks being held by Clare Cameron, Kathryn Ebert and Jerrell Jordan, but also goats, pigs and possibly cows if we manage to get to the seventh house by noon.

"We are vaccinating the baby chickens against Newcastle, a disease of paralysis where the chicks won't eat or drink," Otto continues. "In the next few weeks, they also will need medicine against cholera and smallpox."

This CARE project provides loans for the seven families to purchase medicine and more animals if needed. And the price for medicine is only 38 Quetzals, so it is easy to purchase, and debt stays low.

Kenneth Butler and Clare Cameron learn how to de-worm goats in Monte Mercedes.

Jerrell Jordan, who is cuddling one of the tweeting birds in his arms, is the first up for vaccinating. It takes a little help, however, because holding the birds correctly is a big part of making sure they get the medicine.

"Hold the bird on its side in your hand," Otto instructs Jerrell, "then take the eye dropper and place the medicine in the chick's eye." After a little struggling with a hyper and frightened chick, the bird is safely vaccinated and is placed down by Jerrell. In nearly 20 minutes, all the baby chickens are placed back into their cage. All but one CYC member is ready to move on. Kathryn has grown attached to one bird in particular.

"The first chicken, Honeydrop, was my favorite," she says. "He was so soft."

Most everyone likes the chickens, but more work lay ahead of us. We walk around Margarita's house to pay a medicinal visit to her goats.

Goat vaccinations are much more complex. The animals require two vaccinations, one administered orally and the second -- you guessed it -- a shot in the butt. With four goats varying in demeanor from shy to cantankerous, the process takes a significant amount of time. Plus, we're afraid of being head-butted or kicked by the angrier animals. Each dose of medicine requires one person to hold down the animal, and another to administer the medicine.

Kathryn Ebert fills a syringe to vaccinate a goat.

Otto begins a demonstration on how to provide the oral medicine, which is given to the goats to prevent parasitic sickness. The "holder" is responsible for gripping the neck of the goat, while the other individual pries open its mouth and pours the medicine in with an un-needled syringe. Relatively easy -- save the fear of being attacked by an enraged animal -- this task was finished swiftly.

The next task, however, would take the courage of 10 men, or women, and none other than Kathryn Ebert herself steps up to the challenge. Along with "holders" Jerrell Jordan and myself, she inserts the needle into the goat's hindquarters with only a squeal of discomfort from the animal. Later, Kat and other brave members of our troop would be congratulated with high-fives for their moxy.

CARE staff member Otto Niel Bixcul teaches Hammad Ahmed and Clare Cameron how to vaccinate a goat.

The morning continues with more vaccinations and more visits to houses in the village located just a hillside away from the coast of Lake Atitlán. Pig vaccinations follow the goats of Senora Sicajau's home. Again, two different medicines are given, one administered orally and the other administered through a shot in the rear end. The first serves to ward against parasites and the other is a B-complex mixture to increase health.

Only one complaint is made in regard to the pigs: "I was surprised the pigs squealed like sirens," Hammad Ahmed remarks. The pigs -- much more squeamish than goats --screamed at all stages of the vaccination and the screaming was much worse when the needles were inserted into their backsides. But then again, who wouldn't scream?

After a day on the farm, CYC kids grab some shut eye on the road to Antigua.

A little after noon, our work is done. We didn't finish vaccinations for all seven households, but time was cut short by the two-hour drive to Antigua. Before our departure to Monte Mercedes, we packed our bags, tossed them atop the CARE van and waved goodbye to the Hotel Regis and Panajachel. A large step in our journey is complete; there will be no more school visitations or greetings to families as we step into their homes to farm, cook or weave with them. We have seen as many of the projects as we can during our short visit, and now we get a little down time before departing to the States. We head off to Antigua, where food, shopping and relaxation await us.

Journal entries are written by Kenneth Butler, student-writer for the CARE Youth Corps.