The Road to Jicalapa

We had an early, early wake up call this morning so that we could take our team to Jicalapa for our last day of medical work. We loaded our micro-bus, now equipped with roof rack with all of our medical supplies, crafts and donated clothing and also our supplies for our overnight stay.

Christ for the City here in El Salvador has just begun work in this part of the department of La Libertad and have only visited a few times so far.

We weren’t quite sure what to expect but knew that the needs were very great.

After traveling out of the city for about 45 minutes, we made our way to the coast and our first view of the Pacific Ocean. Traveling north from there we made our way along the coastline, passing restaurants, beach resorts, and a variety of small shops.

After a few twisty turns and some tunnels, we approached the turn off to the community of Jicalapa. Waiting at this spot, was the Pastor of the community,  who had made the trip down the hill that morning to meet us and to lead us to his people. At this point, our microbus driver, Alexis, was really put to the test as he maneuvered the vehicle, loaded with at this point 13 people and all the supplies, up the rocky, rutted, narrow, steep and very windy road. We learned that if we were to get out and walk it would take us about 2 hours to make the trip to the school and at the speed we were moving it took us 40 minutes by vehicle. This gives you an idea of the extreme conditions under which these people live and the isolation that results in their lack of material resources.

We learned that this community of approximately 3,000 people has NO water.

They are dependent on the arrival of the water truck (which we later saw making that same difficult journey up the hill) to deposit water in their collection barrels that they keep waiting along the side of the road in front of their houses. The little homesteads are made of mud and stick homes with areas set apart for cooking and hammocks for sleeping. We saw a variety of wandering chickens, roosters, pigs and horses. As we looked, we saw lots of found materials being used creatively as construction supplies. We noticed the soccer field which was lined with old tires cut in half forming a beautiful, scalloped border.

A big lesson from today, and  every day of this trip, involved trusting God with our fears.
With all the uncertainties awaiting us, and the challenging road to even reach Jicalapa (which we decided for you Disneyland fans was a combination of the Indiana Jones Adventure and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride) we needed to put everything in God's hands. Of course, those divine hands are more than capable of meeting our every need and allaying our every fear. What a blessing it has been to watch Him work despite of us and our weaknesses.

Iglesia Bautista Siloe

The sight of our medical clinic work on Monday and Tuesday, and the location of the Por Gracia School where we are sponsoring students, is also the venue for the church we attended on Wednesday night. This church, pastored by Javier Osorio, Christ for the City’s base director here in El Salvador, is a beacon of hope and light in an otherwise desperate place.

We were warmly welcomed as we entered and then when the time came to

“Meet and greet” those around you, we were delighted to discover that many of the hugs and handshakes coming our way were from people who we recognized and had spent time with on the previous few days.

One delightful part of the worship service was the chance to sing songs that we were familiar with. “Abre Mis Ojos, O Cristo” (Open the eyes of my Heart, Lord)  and “No, no, no me Soltaras” (No, no, you never let go) Out of their hearts of hospitality and humility they even posted the Scripture verses in English so that we could follow along.

At the end of the service, they called Susan forward as leader of the Mariner’s Team and presented us with a painting that had been done by our preacher’s wife, Flori.

Proving once again that you can find just about ANYTHING here in El Salvador, we left church and went out to a local MEXICAN restaurant. It was great to continue spending time with our friends from Christ for the City’s base here including Jonathan Maltez.

Jonathan, a talented young soccer star whose transformed life is testimony to the power of Christ over the power of gangs, works with the soccer school boys leading devotions, offering mentorship and of course, teaching soccer skills. Yvonne was especially excited to discover that Jonathan’s father was Puerto Rican and they spent a lot of time talking about their common heritage despite the fact that neither of them have ever lived in Puerto Rico.

Wednesday's News

This morning the team headed to the clinic in Altavista as planned.

The number of patients who arrived to see the doctor was a lot smaller than expected and we were challenged to find the appropriate way to help without being in the way.

Susan MacLeod reminded us of our team motto, “Backing In” and that we needed to just take time to listen, learn and discover what was needed rather than follow our more North American instincts to plan, organize and direct the operations. Of course, when we stepped back and backed in, we discovered things moving more smoothly and we could really experience what it meant to be invited into participation with our new Salvadorean friends.

After a yummy mid-day meal, the pace of activity picked up in the afternoon as more and more people from the surrounding areas heard about the services being offered.

As patients arrived they were given a number and then formed a line. When their number was called, they moved to the ‘intake’ table where name, age, blood pressure and pulse were recorded. We took down weights and in some cases listened to the complaints.

Some more needy patients were triaged to the front of the line, including any serious wounds or the 5 year old boy with a fever. While they waited in line, we were able to present each of the children with a  beaded cross necklace and when space allowed we could give them a single coloring page and a crayon or two. These simple and seemingly unimportant touches made many beautiful smiles emerge and we saw many instances of proud children displaying their new treasures to their equally proud parents.

Every patient received a new toothbrush and some dental floss – generously donated by Dr. Maahs, Dr. Sheppard and the Mariner’s family and each patient also received a chewable vitamin tablet or vitamin C. After this station, the patients then moved to see the doctor who carefully listened, examined and made a diagnosis, writing a prescription and then sending the patient to the ‘pharmacy’ which was actually a room off the waiting area loaded with the medications that we brought from the US in our suitcases and additional medications that had been purchased here.

As we mentioned in an earlier blog entry, we’ve all been stretched into doing things that we didn’t expect and today Sandi  became the pharmacist. Working alongside Maria, the clinic’s regular pharmacist, and without a word of common language between them, they carefully read the doctor’s prescription notes, counted out pills and medications, dispensed them to patients, and explained the correct dosages and timings. Sandi would later report that this was the highlight of her day today. Despite the ridiculously tight quarters and sweltering heat, she kept at the task for the entire day and emerged at the end with a beaming smile for having been used in such an amazing way to meet some very real needs.

Our experiences at church tonight warrant their own post so we’ll sign off here.

News from Tuesday's work and Plans for Wednesday

Hello again from all of us here in WARM El Salvador. It is now Wednesday morning.
Though the Salvadorean winter officially begins this month, we've so far been treated to quite warm weather. We did have the first thundershower  last night and discovered why this country has such lush, green vegetation and beautiful sunsets.

We spent a full day at Siloe running the medical clinic. Since it was Mother's Day here in El Salvador - officially May 10th every year and always a work holiday, the focus for our clinic was the Siloe church members and families and then the surrounding community and their families.

Daniel "Ranger" Salvador

We only worked with one Doctor on Tuesday, Daniel. Daniel is an amazing and tireless worker. He's only 24 years old. Went to university beginning when he was only 16 years old and completed his entire 8 years of training and medical school and recently became a doctor. We have nicknamed him Daniel Ranger... This name is taken from Salvadorean slang that sort of indicates someone who never stops, a bit like the Energizer Bunny but strong and relentless. The amazing thing we've watched while working with Daniel is that despite the long lines and long hours as he sees patients each day - a total of 136 by himself for example, he continues to listen with compassion and care deeply about each individual he sees. Always smiling, eager to laugh, he takes time with each patient, never rushing them and making sure he hears every concern. Quite a gift to the work here as he has recently become the school doctor and visits the students each week.

The team continues to be amazingly Gumby-like. Gumby, as you may know, is the flexible green character who has inspired our behavior. We try in every situation to be flexible and adaptable to whatever arises and this team has gone above and beyond what they even imagined. We've been stretched and challenged to do things we didn't expect. Roberto spent a whole day as a dental assistant, making his father we're proud I'm sure. Dana has surprised us by at one moment carrying around a month old baby and in the next moment, a pet iguana. The most striking thing has been a total willingness to step in wherever needed.

Today's plan takes us to Altavista, a notorious suburb outside the city, riddled with gang trouble. This is the location of Christ for the City's soccer school and the medical clinic that is already established and run by Dr. Walter. We will be seeing patients from the surrounding area including the community Bendicion de Dios where Mariner's Teams have previously visited.

After that work, we'll head to church and then out to dinner.

Safe and busy in El Salvador!

It has been a busy couple of days here in El Salvador. We weren't able to update this blog until now since we had no internet access on the island.
We are now at the Mission House, our home for the rest of the week. We'll be trying to update you with news from our activities.

On the island, our first stop, we spent two days participating in the mobile medical clinic. Over the two days, 239 patients were seen by a team of two doctors, a dentist and assisted by our team.

Roberto and Yvonne with Magdalena Guillen

We were especially moved by the warm welcome of the people of La Calzada. What they lacked in material resources they made up for with their generosity and hospitality. While the patients were being seen, team members played games, crafts and did coloring activities with the children.
We also participated in a special Mother's Day celebration put on at the school. We were even treated to a surprising pizza snack at the end of the program.

We learned more about the daily way of life of the people of the island, including using the latrines, drawing water from the well, and walking LONG distances in dusty, rutted roads in intense sun and heat. We saw the variety of ways that transportation happens...dugout canoes, oxcarts, pick-up trucks loaded with at one time 20 people.

After the two days we spent on the island, we traveled into San Salvador and got settled at the Mission House. Our hosts, Antonio and Lety welcomed us with a delicious lasagne dinner.

This morning, we loaded our bus with supplies and headed to Soyapango to work at Por Gracia School. Today's medical clinic was focused on the neediest school students and  195 kids and a few parents and siblings were seen.  The dentist was there and we were able to show the DVD about toothbrushing in the classrooms which we noticed were colorful and inviting. One of the highlights of the day for many of us was when Dana was able to meet her sponsored child, Melany, for the first time. Many tears and hugs were exchanged and Melany even presented Dana with a special Mother's Day gift made out of hearts.

Back to the mission house for the evening and to get ready for another day tomorrow.

Backing In!

Here's our team at our commissioning this morning. In the back row -  Sandi Winter and Roberto Vetrone. Front row (left to right) is Dana Gonzales, Yvonne, Heath, Susan MacLeod and Susan Stanchfield. It feels so great to be a part of the Mariner's family.  A word 

about our t-shirts....if you look closely, you'll see the back-end of an elephant...hmmm...I didn't know that there were elephants in El Salvador....hmmm...what's going on ???

We have chosen the words "Backing In" as our theme and as an example of our commitment to be the right kind of travelers when we head to El Salvador this coming Saturday.

During our team meetings together we read a devotion written by Donald Larson, a professor of Linguistics and Anthropology. What he said about cross-cultural ministry really resonated with us so we "adopted" his expression as our team motto. Here's an excerpt:

"Some years ago at a language and culture learning workshop in East Africa, a missionary asked me if I knew what happens when a herd of elephants approaches a water hole that is surrounded by another herd. She then proceeded to explain that the lead elephant of the second group turns around and backs down toward the water hole. As soon as his backside is felt by two of the elephants gathered around the water hole, they step aside and make room for him. This is then the signal to the other elephants that the first herd is ready to make room for them around the hole..the continuing movement of missionaries in the world today may require missionaries to "Back In' to their host communities. What does it mean to "back in" as a missionary? ...Local residents must feel good about his presence in their community. Inevitably, the missionary realizes that to be acceptable, local community members must first find him teachable. Entering a new community as a sincere learner..the missionary approaches the local residents with humility offering dignity to the people from whom he learns. A learner is one who "backs in".

Thank you for your continuing support in prayer as we make this trip. We look forward to sharing many examples of God's faithfulness to us as we are faithful in our service to Him.

Getting Ready!

Hello all,

Happy Easter to all of you...
We are getting excited about our upcoming trip.
We leave  EARLY on May 7th for our one week stay as part of Mariner's 2020 Vision.
We'll be conducting mobile medical clinics at 4 separate locations in and around San Salvador including two days on the island (Isla La Calzada) and another day in Jicalapa in the area known as La Libertad.
Our team of six has been busy preparing and planning for the work ahead, learning as much as we can about the needs of the people and gathering supplies to take with us.
It isn't too late to donate over the counter medications. We are especially in need of anti-fungal creme, yeast infection treatments and children's vitamins.
The generous folks at Super Nutrition donated TONS of multi-vitamins and local dentists Dr. David  Maahs and Dr. C. Ray  Sheppard donated toothbrushes, and dental flossers along with instructional materials and DVDs. We are also extremely grateful for the donations we received from Stanford Hospital and  from our Mariner's family. Next Sunday, May 1st, we'll be "sent out" from Mariner's as we're commissioned at the 10:30 service.
We would appreciate your prayers for us as we travel and for the week we'll spend on the ground in El Salvador. We'll do our best to keep this blog updated with photos and news from the field so please follow along with us.