Many more people in Estanzuelas are seeing well this week because of last week’s the Lions Club eye mission. Lions from three different clubs – Bellingham, WA; Seattle, WA; and Armstrong, B.C. – were joined by Dr. Kelly Cochrane and his family from Kahlotus, WA to offer three days of vision testing and eyeglass fitting. The group was led by Dr. Ken Henderson, a long-time friend and energizer for PazSalud.
They were joined by other good friends of PazSalud – Marvin
Hernandez, our local organizer; interpreters Delmy, Lea, Yesenia and José; and
six community volunteers from a local youth development organization, la Voz
del Pueblo. And of course Kathy Garcia
and Darren Streff were there – as well as our beloved bus driver Hernan – to make
sure that all went smoothly.
They saw a little over 300 patients – all of those we had
not been able to see in the eye clinics last February plus a few more – and
offered a bit of fun with one of the Lions teaching the children to make
self-portraits. Photos of all this great
activity will come later!
La Casa Mia, a
hotel/restaurant in Berlin, provided the housing and meals for our team, and
they were wonderful. This hotel, filled
with historic photos and antiques, was a great find, and their meals and rooms
got rave notices.
After the three days of clinics, the Lions went to San
Salvador, where they gave donations of hearing aids and aids for the visually
impaired to the San Salvador Club de Leones.
They visited the School for the Blind and the School for the Deaf, visited
Panchimalco, shopped for Salvadoran crafts, and went to historic sites
including the Hospital Divina Providencia where Monseñor Romero lived and was
assassinated. At the Centro de
Intercambio y Solidaridad they ate pizza and ice cream and quizzed Director
Leslie Schuld about Salvadoran life.
It was a busy and splendid week of work and learning. This was Darren’s first time to make all the
arrangements on his own, and he did a great job. Thanks go to all involved in this successful
mission.
No comments:
Post a Comment