Children of San Jose Villanueva

Once again working with close friend and constant partner of PazSalud, Rosy Melara, we collaborated with her church group to bring a morning of fun, food and presents to a group of poor children in San Jose Villanueva.  The location of our general mission in 2012, PazSalud regularly returns to celebrate special moments with them and of course, to work with Sandra and her grandmother.

Rosy talking to the group.

Children of San Jose Villanueva

Sandra and her grandmother

Children's Day

PazSalud held a medical mission in San José Villanueva in 2012 and we returned on Saturday to celebrate Children’s Day with some of the less fortunate children in town.  Long-time PazSalud friend, Rosy Melara, and her church group put together a mini fiesta for a group of kids and their parents complete with toys, games, pizza and a clown and invited us to participate.

PazSalud is committed to working with our mission sites long after our teams have returned to the U.S. and this was a fun way to continue that commitment.  It was truly a memorable afternoon.

Rosy Melara (left) and Sandra (pink shirt)

   

Learning and flourishing

Kathy Garcia writes:

On a recent trip to El Salvador I had the opportunity to visit with 12 year old Sandra, one of PazSalud’s special patients. PazSalud first encountered Sandra about two years ago during our general medical mission trip to San Jose Villanueva. When we first met, she was a very shy 10 year old who had been born with arthrogryposis, a condition of weak muscles and inflexible joints. Due to her disabilities, Sandra had never been able to attend school until just over a year ago.

Rosy Melara (on the left in the photo above), a Salvadoran nurse we have worked with for many years, also has a degree in special education, and volunteered to tutor Sandra for several months to get her ready for the Salvadoran school system.  Then she was able to start in a local public school with the aid of a tutor.

Rosy, Darren and I dropped in to visit Sandra at school early one afternoon. It was perfect timing as the kids were on recess. We talked with Sandra’s teacher and her new in-class tutor. Sandra introduced us to the new friends she has made and showed us her workbooks - which were very impressive!  Also, we were able to see the custom built desk that Darren made for her, which adjusts perfectly to her needs.

Although Darren and Rosy visit Sandra on occasion, it had been over a year since I last saw her and the first time for me to see her school. And what a difference a year makes! She’s grown quite a bit, appears to be more confident, smiles often, and is very outgoing. The biggest physical change I noticed was now she can walk flat footed, no longer on her toes as she once did. The twice weekly visits to physical therapy are making a big difference in her abilities.

It was a delight to see Sandra flourishing in school and with her friends.  This is all possible due to a wonderful donor from PeaceHealth who supports the cost of Sandra’s tutor and transportation expenses for her to attend physical therapy. Donors such as this allow PazSalud the opportunity to help foster patients with long term needs.

New glasses for Fatima

We heard recently from the mother of a young girl we'd seen in our 2012 mission to San José Villanueva.  Fátima has very limited vision, but her mother Luz learned that new glasses would make it possible for her to go to a regular school instead of School for the Blind.  Darren writes:

I drove out to San José Villanueva this morning to meet Luz de Los Angeles (Fatima's mother) and Fatima to give them the donation.  Wow, what a cutie Fatima is!  As it turns out, Luz was able to get donations from two other groups towards her total of $100 and needed only $60 from us so that is what I provided to her.  I like the initiative on her part and felt great about giving her the money.  And check out the glasses, those things are serious.  

After, I offered to take them home since I knew they traveled a long distance to meet me in SJV this morning and although they told me it was 20 min. one way, because of the road condition it took us 45 min. to get there.  But I got a few good pics of their house so it was worth it.  Plus we had fun in the car.

That wasn't Darren's only glasses-related errand that day, as he notes -

Finished with that I went to Santa Tecla to drop Kelly's glasses off with Sonia.  She lost the nose pads so I took them in and spent $5 to get them fixed.  Now I'm going to walk over to Galerias to meet Cristobal and give him the remaining $26 he needs for his glasses.

For anyone who wonders what we do when mission teams aren't in El Salvador, this letter is a good example of the on-going work of follow-up, assistance, and connection with the places where we've ministered.  The photo shows Fátima with her grandmother and her new glasses in the family home.