Doug Gamet and Nancy McLean — The Mission Was the Best Medicine

Would we voluntarily return to spend another week working long hours in a hot, dusty clinic with no running water and an outhouse? Did we enjoy bucket showers, simple food, occasional lapses in electrical service and roosters so loud and insistent they might as well have been in bed with us? You bet we would and you bet we did! And we would return in a heartbeat.

Why? The People! The people of El Salvador, a country struggling to heal from a bitter civil war just twelve years ago, won our hearts.

Sign announcing the arrival of the PazSalud Brigade.

The morning alarm clocks.

Patients traveling to the PazSalud Clinic.

Many walked or rode crowded pickup trucks for long distances to wait in line half a day to see us. To a person they said, "gracias" and many rewarded us with hugs for treatment, which was often as simple as Tylenol and vitamins.

We found so many causes for hope in the people of Suchitoto and La Mora, from their emphasis on education of the younger generation, to their willingness to accept help from people whose government supported the opposition forces in the civil war. Many are recently returned from exile in Honduras.

The young people who acted as our interpreters made our work possible and were a source of good humor and perspective. Our fellow volunteers became our supportive network and family for a week. It was obvious that a lot of planning had gone into making the week go smoothly. Sister Eleanor and Jonathan made arrangements for food, lodging and transportation, which allowed us to be productive in the clinic. Kathy Garcia worked tirelessly on the home front to assemble the Team and arrange the supplies we needed to function.

Nancy McLean pictured with Sister Bernadita during a visit to the site of Romero's assassination.

Doug Gamet tending to a pediatric patient.

When we signed up for the medical mission to El Salvador, we were looking for an adventure and an opportunity to help people in a developing country. What we received in return was a soul-restoring look into the nature of love and human resilience. We found a culture where the human spirit flourishes despite hard work and a relative lack of material goods.

Their smiles enrich us and we like to think that our smiles and care built a small bridge.

The smiles Nancy & Doug experienced in El Salvador.