Take medical supplies to remote village Kimball Area High School junior Kayla Kastanek and her grandparents, (retired physician) Dr. Ron Brown and Kay Brown of Annandale, are on a mission – they will become part of a traveling clinic bringing medicine and medical supplies to the village of San Antonio, Nicaragua. Also going from this area are Sister Carol and Sister Aggie, nuns who run Clare’s Well. They leave Jan. 14 and will travel by plane, then boat, bus and horseback to the remote village of San Antonio. This is the fourth year Ron and Kay Brown are making the trip. The Browns were instrumental in setting up the clinic (held in a city hall-type building in San Antonio), which is only open when volunteers and medicines and medical supplies are available. Kayla said that people in the area hear the clinic is open by word of mouth and some walk many hours to get to the clinic for medical aid. Her grandparents help in getting the clinic set up once they arrive, and her grandfather helps with the patients. While there, the group will also aid in the building of a kitchen. The trip is organized each year through a church in Freeport, which makes arrangements through a priest in Nicaragua. Benefits in Freeport and an all-you-can-eat Belgian waffle with toppings fund-raiser (attended by about 500 persons) at St. Ignatius Church in Annandale, helped raise money towards purchasing medicine and medical supplies to be used by the traveling clinic. Kayla said some of the money raised from the benefits goes toward travel expenses for the group, but most of it goes for the medicines and medical supplies. Volunteers do have to pay for their own plane ticket and bus fare. Kayla, 17, is the daughter of Jeff and Becky Kastanek of South Haven. She is involved in basketball, FFA, band and softball. She also works part-time at Bella’s Coffee Shop in Kimball (which is co-owned by her mother and Stella Hurrle.) She has two sisters, 13-year-old Liz and 10-year-old Tina. Kayla said she has been wanting to go along on the trip with her grandparents for the past two years, but family members thought she should be a little older before making the trip. She is anxious to go and has no qualms about making the trip, but says her mother does have some concerns. However, it does help that she will be traveling with her grandparents. The group will be gone two weeks, returning Jan. 28.
