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NINTH IN A SERIES OF TWELVE Helping neighbors Utahns give of skills and energies to the poor of other nations Last updated 11/22/1998, 11:13 p.m. MT By Marjorie Cortez Deseret News staff writer       Sometimes it's the gift of Kool-Aid to a child in Mali.       Other times, it's a surgery rendered under austere conditions in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, or construction of a medical center in the Peruvian Andes.       When Utahns extend a hand to their fellow inhabitants of the globe, the exchange profoundly affects lives here and abroad.       In the past decade, thousands of Utahns have offered of themselves in countless humanitarian missions worldwide.       Through their work, children with disfiguring birth defects are made whole. Burned skin is grafted. The illiterate learn to read and write. People are taught the skills and given tools to improve their lives. Children in Patacancha, Peru, watch a group of Utah volunteers build a greenhouse in their village. Photo by Ann Watts       In return, workers experience what it means to make a profound difference in someone's life.       Thousands of Utahns volunteer abroad each year. The following vignettes are emblematic of their service rendered worldwide. Rope from heaven       A bundle of letters arrives at the Ouelessebougou-Utah Alliance headquarters in Mali, West Africa. The writers seek advice for various problems. Their crops aren't coming up as they had anticipated. Bugs are chewing on the leaves.       Not every problem can be resolved through correspondence, but the letters themselves represent a tremendous achievement. They are written by Malians who formerly were illiterate.       "These people used to ride their bikes three to five hours to ask a question or ask for help. It would be an all day or two-day trip. Now they write letters. That's really exciting," said alliance director Rick Van De Graaf.       The 13-year-old alliance operates under the principle that it is not sufficient to give aid or donate supplies. The best gift volunteers can render is the gift of education.       To that end, Ouelessebougou volunteers have helped train teachers and health-care workers. Schools have been constructed and equipped, wells have been dug and adult literacy supplies have been distributed.       A sage chieftain from one of 72 villages that comprise Ouelessebougou likens the alliance's work as "a strong rope from heaven coming down into our village. But we still have to climb the rope," Van De Graff recounted.       In Mali, the alliance is known as the "Utah Alliance." he said, using the French pronunciation.       "Most Malians have a very sketchy idea what Utah is really like. When a delegation came to visit they told us, 'We're very disappointed. We've seen movies of America. We thought everyone lived in skyscrapers and in big buildings.' "       While unfamiliar with Utah's landscape, they have become acquainted with Utahns' character.       "They have a strong sense of what the people of Utah are like rather than differences in the community and culture surrounding the community," Van De Graaf said. Indoor plumbing       She is a mother of five children who supports her family on 33 cents a day. Adam and Jared Watts work on a medical clinic in Peru. Photo by Ann Watts       To earn a living, she knits sweaters. To ensure her children eat every day, she eats every third day.       This summer, Utah volunteers installed indoor plumbing in her tiny home near Urubamba, Peru.       "You would have thought we would have provided some grand new mansion for her," said Salt Lake contractor Russ Watts.       In a place where half the children die before they're 5 years old and 70 percent of the population is unemployed, Utahns working under the auspices of the Humanitarian Foundation of the Andes left a bit of themselves in the Sacred Valley of the Incas.       This summer, volunteers built a 1,000-square-foot medical clinic. Thirty volunteers worked 4 1/2 days to construct the building.       Watts' son, Adam, collected building materials, supplies and tools — including a four-wheel drive pickup truck, from Utah suppliers and subcontractors as his Eagle Scout project.       The materials were collected in a West Valley warehouse, transported to Los Angeles, then shipped by boat to Lima, Peru.       Once materials arrived at the village, which is about 10,000 feet in elevation, 30 workers went about assembling the clinic. They worked from sunup to sundown, mixing concrete on the ground and operating their power tools by diesel-powered generators.       "It's probably the most compelling and worthwhile project I've ever done," said Watts. "The people were so thankful and sincere."       Organizers are lining up Utah physicians and health-care workers to staff the clinic on a periodic basis, Watts said.       In building the clinic, Utahns forged bonds with the Peruvians. Watts said he and his family plan to return to Peru on future humanitarian missions.       "When you're there, you're representing the United States. There's an underlying pride you take with you because of our freedoms and ability to help," Watts said.       "We do represent a lot of good in the world. To keep the good, we need to give it away."       During a ceremony to open the clinic, the Utahns were asked by their hosts to sing America's national anthem.       "They think of us as Utahns. They know where we're from. I know they were impressed we were willing to sacrifice our time and talents to improve their lives. There's a connection there between Utah and Peru," he said.       Construction of the medical clinic was part of a larger humanitarian effort in Peru during which volunteers conducted eye and chiropractic exams, distributed clothing and hygiene packets and trained people in dentistry, medicine, farming and sewing. Life-altering experiences       They are procedures many Americans consider a birthright. When children are born with cleft lips or palates, the defect is repaired in what in this country is considered a routine surgery.       In developing nations, such birth defects can lead to a life lived in the shadows of others.       Programs such as Operation Smile and Interplast have the ability to rewrite the script, said Dr. Carol Osborn, who has taken part in foreign medical relief projects since she was a college student in the 1970s.       "You will see a 17-year-old girl who goes through a 30-minute surgery and her life is changed forever. You've improved her chances for survival and opportunities in ways you can't ever imagine," said Osborn, a family practice physician at the University of Utah.       Osborn's job on these missions is to ensure patients are medically ready for surgery and to care for them afterward.       It is then that Osborn gets to know her patients as individuals and gains a better understanding of their cultures.       "People have a much greater richness in their lives than we can often perceive. Even though we have more material wealth, we may have a lot less soul; a lot less richness in terms of social and human relations," Osborn said.       "They may not have the same sort of bathrooms as we do but they have time to spend with their families and other people who matter to them. We don't have that because our society is so financially directed."       The missions enable physicians like Osborn to do what they have been trained to do, practice medicine.       "It's so much more direct than the kind of medicine I do on a day-to-day basis. In many ways, there's a lot less stress," said Osborn.       "First of all, it's not my livelihood. No one's giving me slips of paper that say 'You only saw 2.3 patients this hour. Your collections are only so much this month.'       "Eliminate that and the HMOs (health maintenance organizations) and managed care and you have pretty pure medicine. You're worried about the things you should be worried about." Digging wells, building bridges       Worldwide, they are among the poorest of the poor.       They have no access to clean water, basic medical care and education.       They are the focus of CHOICE Humanitarian's 20 yearly expeditions to Kenya, Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, Peru, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.       Some 4,000 volunteers — most of them Utahns — work alongside villagers to establish clean water systems, build latrines and render basic health-care services. Volunteers build schools, train literacy workers and provide instructional materials.       CHOICE volunteers return to the same areas five to seven years or "until it functions at a point it can be seen as 'graduated' area," said executive director Carolyn Dailey.       Mostly, volunteers of the 16-year-old Salt Lake humanitarian organization help natives to improve their station in life.       On weeklong missions, volunteers live and work alongside villagers.       Utah delegations may include college students, physicians, lawyers, homemakers, Explorer Scouts and families. Volunteers have ranged in age from 12 to 77.       Regardless of their economic status at home, every volunteer pays his or her travel expenses. Everyone is expected to work.       "There is a great equalization that occurs when you go into a village where there is literally nothing," said Dailey.       Although Utah-based CHOICE establishes long-term relationships with the communities they assist, most villagers know little about the Beehive State.       "The villages where we send expeditions are fairly remote. Many of the villagers haven't been outside their own village area. Some of the men have worked in the cities but the women and children haven't been there and in many of these places they don't even have a world map, so it would be unrealistic for them to hear of a place called Utah.       "They may have heard of a place called California or a guy named Michael Jordan. For the most part, their knowledge is fairly limited."