Reflections from Jane Kortz, CSJP-A, photojournalist for the February 13-22 mission.

Mission Photojournalist Jane Kortz, CSJP-A

Saturday, February 13

We landed at Comalapa Airport in El Salvador about 9:00 pm local time at the end of a day that started before 6:00 am in Seattle. We completed the customs procedure in record time, according to our Mission coordinators, Kathy Garcia and Sr. Susan Dewitt, CSJP, and soon more than 50 large plastic bins of medical supplies and our baggage were loaded into a truck.  All 29 volunteers from the Northwest climbed into our bus for the week, tightly packed with no room to spare - not unlike the many Salvadoran buses we saw carrying locals to work or shopping. 

The darkness of the highway is in stark contrast to the brightness of any main roadway in the United States.  We were able to see many, many locals walking or riding bikes on the side of the road, many simple houses, but also gated communities with guards standing outside the entrance.  The warmth of the evening presented us with the initial evidence that we are not in the Pacific Northwest.  Some called for an increase in the bus’ air conditioning, but, as the bus was using all its power to climb the long hill leading to the capital, San Salvador, that had to wait.  We opened windows instead and smelled wood smoke from burning the sugar cane fields.  This, we learned, allows for easier cutting of the central cane stalk – an extremely hard and dirty job.

Our destination was the Brisas del Carmelo Retreat House in Santa Tecla, just west of San Salvador, our residence for the next six days.  At the end of our long trip, each of us happily settled into their own bedroom with a shower.  With excitement and anticipation for the days ahead we headed to our rooms.

Sunday, February 14

Sunday morning began at 6:10 am with the sound of ringing bells, perhaps a call to prayer for the Carmelite Sisters who run Brisas del Carmelo.  I enjoyed a delightful walk around the beautiful grounds where I saw many varieties of blooming flowers, hibiscus, bougainvillea, and roses.

We began to get to know each other at breakfast.  What a lovely group of volunteers!  Most are from Oregon or Washington, most from PeaceHealth Hospitals.  Two sisters, Elba and Blanca, are a special part of the mission team; both now work at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene, but were born in San Juan Opico where we will be setting up the Mission’s Health Clinic.  The smile of excitement on their faces is almost beyond words as they wait to see their family in San Juan Opico.  On the bus ride to her hometown, Elba shared with us her amazing story of survival and perseverance as she escaped from El Salvador’s Civil War in the 1980s, making her way as a teenager to Texas and eventually California.

San Juan Opico is a poor community with approximately 74,000 residents in the municipality, which includes many nearby rural villages.  Farming is the primary occupation in the region and a market with everything from fruit and vegetables to underwear and jeans is set-up just outside the Catholic Church in the center of town.

Our Paz Salud Medical Mission Health Care Clinic is located just behind the market in the Parish Center, across the street from the church.  The meeting and prayer rooms will be our clinic rooms, pharmacy, and eyeglass for the week and we will have lunch in the Padre’s kitchen and dining room.  After a tour of the facilities we went to Mass where Valentine’s Day was celebrated with two young couples getting married.  Our group of volunteers was introduced at the end of Mass in front of the entire community.  An announcement was made about our Health Clinic and the time when the doors will open for patients to be seen beginning the next day.

At lunch in a water park and restaurant outside the city we gathered around a large table with the Salvadoran volunteers under a beautiful palm branch roof.  Our local volunteers greeted us with songs they had specially arranged and we enjoyed a lovely lunch of chicken, rice, a Russian salad (potatoes and beets), tortillas and Pepsi.  There was time for introductions and instructions on organizing the patients at the Clinic.  Interpreting Spanish to English and vice-versa was in full swing on this first day and continued throughout our time in El Salvador with our amazing volunteer interpreters working more than full time.

In the afternoon we set up the pharmacy, unloading the large plastic bins filled with medicine, vitamins, cotton swabs, cold medicine, aspirin, baby formula, toothbrushes, sunglasses, eyeglasses, etc. – all items donated by hospitals, health care companies and individuals in the US.  Everyone who wasn’t involved in sorting medications or eyeglasses counted vitamins into 30 day packages – each of our patients will get a vitamin pack.

The warm welcome we received on this first full day in El Salvador was amazing.  One can see immediately that the community of San Juan Opico is very poor and the needs are great.  The Paz Salud Health Mission is a gift to the community that is beyond words.  Sister Susan said it best, “El Salvador is a country in need of a lot of love.”  This week the wonderful doctors, nurses, eye specialists interpreters and others in our group are bringing love to El Salvador in their work of providing much needed health care to the people of San Juan Opico.

Monday through Friday at the Paz Salud Mission Health Care Clinic –  February 15-19

Almost everyone who had registered to see the doctors on Monday was waiting for us in the church across the street.  It took some of them two or three hours of travel to get from their home to the Clinic.  The patients were checked in at the church then went across the street to their place in line to see a doctor.  Everyone waited patiently, sometimes for a long time. 

On the first day, everyone needed to get used to the heat and the noise.  The activity in all the exam areas was on high speed to allow all those who have come to the clinic to be seen – on average, we saw more than 300 patients each day, with many coming for two or more clinics. 

Our doctors treated many diverse medical needs.  Many children came in with mom, dad or grandma and visited with one of the two pediatricians.  Some teen patients needed to tell their story of living in adolescence. One young teenage girl was very shy and the doctor recognized right away that she needed something more than a prescription.  He took her hand and looked into her eyes and said, “You are beautiful, healthy and a very lovely lady.  Stay in school and continue to make good friends.”  One woman came in with a badly infected abcess on her throat, and got emergency surgery and a follow-up appointment. Another went through minor surgery to remove a skin cancer from her nose.  Those with complicated conditions or problems that required tests were referred to the district hospital.  Each person visiting the clinic received free medicine as prescribed as well as vitamins and often a toothbrush

Many people here do not have any access to glasses, or sunglasses, so the eye clinic was always popular.  There were many heartwarming scenes where children and adults received eyeglasses for the first time and the biggest smiles appeared on their faces.  Many of the patients visiting the eye clinic also needed to be put on the list for the cataract surgery mission scheduled for May. 

Each patient’s story was special and sometimes hard to hear.  There was a 14-year-old girl, oldest of four children, who told us that her father was murdered and her mother died only a few months ago.  There are women who look to be about 90 years old,  but are really 70.  Such hard lives and yet they continue to love family, their country and their God.  Their faith in God is inspiring and with their faith and the hope brought by the Paz Salud volunteers this week, a lot of love will continue to be felt by everyone in San Juan Opico for a very long time.

Saturday and Sunday after the Clinics – February 20-21

We spent the last two days in San Salvador at the Hotel Novo.  On Saturday we toured the big city, visiting the Chapel at the Hospital Divina Providencia where Monsignor Oscar Romero was assassinated thirty years ago and the University of Central America where six Jesuits were murdered in 1989.  We also did some shopping and relaxed by the pool at the Hotel, then had a pizza and coconut ice cream dinner at the home of Leslie Schuld, a Cleveland native who has been living in El Salvador the past sixteen years.  Leslie is Executive Director of the Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad (CIS), an NGO working with the people of San Salvador.  Leslie shared her insights into the political process and talked about CIS’ work in community development.

Our last full day was primarily spent in Suchitoto, a town about an hour’s drive outside San Salvador where Sister Susan lives with Sister Margaret Jane Kling.  There we were honored to listen to the inspirational words of Sister Peggy O’Neill at the Centro Arte para la Paz.  Sister Peggy talked of the healing that comes, not only from the exams and medications given this week in San Juan Opico, but from our presence with the people of El Salvador and the caring touch given to each patient by health care professionals from the United States.  This is healing of the most extraordinary kind.

The Paz Salud Mission this year was an experience I’m sure no one in the group will soon forget.  During our debriefing time at the hotel Sunday evening, volunteers said how much they had been touched by the kindness of the Salvadorans and how much they had learned during our time together as volunteers.

We experienced first-hand a country of riches, not in the form of dollars, but in the caring ways and smiles of the children and adults we met.  We now know the generosity of the Salvadorans and saw how they care deeply for their family and friends, only wanting the best they can give their families.

Thank you to Peace Health for their support of this Health Mission and to Sister Susan and Kathy Garcia who did an incredible job of coordination and made it look all easy, though we knew it had to be logistically a very complex set of plans that made our time in El Salvador run smoothly.  Finally, may there be many blessings in the work of all the volunteers back home and peace always.