Day 2 (March 5, 2006)
Set-up day
After a delicious breakfast (really!) of refried beans, fresh bread, dry-salty cheese and plantains, we went to mass at the local church. The priest is from Belgium originally but has lived in El Salvador for something like 35 years. He was incredibly warm and open and gave an inspiring homily about solidarity, justice and community (“…el reino de Dios no está en la opresión y la esclavitud, está en la justicia y en la libertad…”) Translation: “The reign of God is not in oppression and slavery, it is in justice and freedom.” We were the local celebrities at the mass and were welcomed and applauded several times. The music was great—folksy guitars, an electric bass, and a 14 year-old girl on the recorder. All of the songs were about community, creating a just society and celebration. Just the was mass should be!
We actually had some free time today to explore the town of Tierra Blanca. It’s a tiny community: 2 churches (1 Catholic, 1 Evangelical), several little corner stores, 2 pay phones and a little “comedor” (eatery). I bought a cold pear juice, a phone card and a pupusa. Pupusas are the typical food of El Salvador: a thick, flat corn tortilla filled with refried beans and cheese and fried on a grill. They are yummy and ubiquitous here.
| Most of the day was spent setting up for the clinic. We transformed the community center, where we are staying, into several clinical exam rooms, an eye clinic, a gynecological clinic and a pharmacy. There are hundreds of pounds of supplies and medicines that all had to be organized. I helped move concrete slabs of what looked like an old table to make room for the eye clinic; helped unpack medicines from the plastic tubs we brought; helped set up the OBGYN room; and cleaned dozens of tables & chairs. |  |
I still don’t know which area I’ll be working in as an interpreter. I asked to be assigned to the OBGYN room since I am the only female interpreter and I have the most experience in that area. I got to know the two OBGYN docs today: Deb & Vern. They are a couple from Eugene and they seem funny and sweet and super smart. I’d love to work with them but there are not enough interpreters so I may have to move around depending on who needs me the most. There are other local volunteers who are supposed to help interpret this week but they did not show up today for our meeting, so there are still lots of unknowns…
We had an orientation today from some members of the Fondo de Emergencia (Emergency Fund) and from a Maryknoll missionary who works in the area. The Fondo is the local group that PazSalud worked with to set up this brigade and it sounds like an amazing organization. They are very much like health promoters but tend to do more community organizing and financial development than health education. They provide several kinds of help: (1) helping local people pay for health costs when they go for surgery or medications or other hospital services, (2) help with transportation to other sites for health services, (3) advocacy for local rural folks when they don’t get the services they deserve or when there are cases of malpractice, (4) mental health services including groups for survivors of war-time massacres, and (5) promotion of natural medicines and traditional remedies. We also learned today about the region where we are staying and working. It was an area very much affected by the war and most of the villages in the area are considered “re-population” villages. This means that most people left the area during the war, for refugee camps in Honduras or to other areas of the country, and that the people living in the villages now are a mixture of former residents and new residents who came from other areas since the end of the war.