“When I arrived at the airport I was met by an armed bodyguard who had come to take me to my accommodation. At that moment I started to wonder what I was letting myself in for.”

Resting in the comfortable surroundings of her home in the West End of Dundee, Stella Brodie is taking time to reflect on what has been one of the most amazing and harrowing experiences of her life.

Stella, who works as a phlebotomist in the city’s Taybank Medical Centre, had just arrived at the airport in Guatemala City, to begin a month of volunteering with charity organisation Cross Cultural Solutions.

She had been dreaming all her life of doing such a thing and now she was getting the chance to do it. She had always imagined that she would work in an African country, but a combination of circumstances had led to her choosing Latin America as her eventual destination.

She had conducted some research into Guatemala, but nothing was to prepare her for the next four weeks, which would see her working in some of the most poverty-stricken conditions on the planet, in a city where random and brutal violence is commonplace. To compound the situation she contracted pneumonia, coughing so hard at one stage that she fractured a rib.

Fearing for her life due to both illness and the surroundings she was working in, Stella was able to dig deep and find the strength of character to go on.

“I had always been interested in doing a bit of volunteering, so when the chance came up to go to Guatemala I jumped at it.

“I realise now I had little idea of what to expect. I carried out some research on the Net and read some books, but to be honest that did very little to prepare me for what I was to see when I arrived.”

Guatemala is a country of beautiful scenery and rich in natural resources. It is also one that has been brutalised in recent decades.

In 1996 it emerged from a 36-year-long civil war, which pitted leftist, mostly Mayan insurgents, against the army, which — backed by the US — waged a vicious campaign to eliminate the guerrillas, resulting in over 200,000 people being killed or going missing.

Poverty is particularly widespread in the countryside and among indigenous communities, although there is a small wealthy population. Illiteracy, infant mortality and malnutrition are among the highest in the region, life expectancy is among the lowest and, in common with many of its neighbours, the country is plagued by organised crime, drug-trafficking and violent street gangs.

“The city is divided into zones and I was in Zone 2,” continued Stella. “It is one of the more dangerous areas of Guatemala City. Although the civil war is officially over, there is still widespread violence.

“My first week was spent working in a refuge for families that had survived the civil war. It was heartbreaking stuff. They were mainly Mayan widows, who had no money and nowhere to go.

“The conditions in the refuge were just horrific. There were old women lying in their own urine. The place was littered with vermin and what equipment there was unhygienic and antiquated.

“There was only one doctor for 75 people.”

If the first week was bad, then it was nothing compared to the subsequent three weeks.

As her second week began, Stella began to feel physically ill.

“At first I thought it was just a cold,” she said. “Then it started to get gradually worse. I had this terrible pain in my back. I felt just terrible. I woke up one morning and I knew it was something serious. I spoke to a fellow volunteer and told her I just had to get to hospital.

“At first I went to a public hospital but there was little they could do, so I got in touch with the local charity representative who directed me to a private hospital, where I got access to very good healthcare. I was told I had pneumonia and I needed immediate treatment.

“In a way I felt so guilty. I had been working with people who had nothing, absolutely nothing, and were desperate for any kind of treatment and here was me in one of the city’s best private hospitals. I had to pay for it, of course, but I still felt bad.

“I felt like I had no choice. I honestly thought I might die, thousands of miles away from my family. I did consider throwing in the towel and coming home and I think I did come quite close, but in the end I stayed and I think I made the right decision.

“In those darkest moments I thought of all the people who helped me by raising funds to enable me to do this and that helped me find the extra strength I needed to go on.”

Stella was able to return to her accommodation and after a couple of days of rest she was able to start work again.

At the start of the third week she was assigned to work in a hospital, which catered for the vast poor population.

Weakened, Stella found herself in the middle of what she could only describe as hell. Bodies lay all over the place, frequently with rats crawling over them. Again, any equipment was out of date, generally unclean and access to medicines was very restricted.

During the next two weeks she dealt with many harrowing cases, including a woman whose head had been split open by a machete wielded by her partner, and delivering a baby in a small room, while workmen attempted to fix broken lights overhead.

It was gruelling stuff, which Stella said at times made her even question her strong own faith, but despite everything she saw and endured, she has no regrets about taking the decision to volunteer there.

“It was a truly amazing experience in every sense of the word,” she said. “I saw some of the most appalling conditions that humans can exist in. I spent just a short period of time in the middle of it and I have the utmost respect and admiration for the doctors and nurses who work in the hospitals.

“There were times I wondered if I was doing any good at all. The situation is so bad that I felt like it was futile, but I hope I have been able to help even a few people.

“Guatemala is a country in turmoil. I lived in fear a lot of time. At nights I would hear gunshots near where I was staying and I thought to myself, there’s only a thin wall separating me from that level of violence. I was told repeatedly that under no circumstances should I go out at night. But these people live with that every day. It is truly astonishing.

“The day I left hospital after getting pneumonia, there were celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary of the end of the civil war, but the celebrations soon turned to violence and there I was, weak from pneumonia in the middle of a street battle. It was intense stuff.

“I did get to explore a bit of the country. I was able to climb a live volcano and I went to an international football match, both of which were very enjoyable but there were reminders of the harsh existence everywhere.

“Despite everything, I would go volunteering again in a moment. I may go again in a couple of years. I think I will go somewhere different next time. I would quite like to go to Brazil.

“I will be maintaining contacts with some of the people I met in Guatemala. I’m hoping to be able to establish some kind of fundraising. Even £100 would make a massive difference over there. I may also do some talks. I have been asked to do so and I would be happy to. I’m keen to raise awareness of just what conditions are like in Guatemala.

“Having been there and having seen first hand how terrible conditions are, there is no way I could do nothing. I still think about it constantly and I don’t think it is something I will ever forget.”