February – March 2014
Dear Friend,
We’ve always tried to be “kid friendly” here at Clinica San Jose. At home we expect it. Here it is an anomaly: A warm fireplace in the
reception area, a kid’s corner with piñatas hanging, small chairs and children’s books, coffee and animal cookies makes the clinic a friendly
place for kids. The only experience children have of a clinic is the Health Center in town where they get their vaccines: The reason we do
not wear white coats, only bright colors. Few kids cry even the four years olds in the dental chair.
But there are those times when crying is inevitable. Like little three year old Gabriel who during the cold weather got too close to the
wood-burning stove. The pot of hot water spilled over his left arm and leg. Grandpa put some black fungus from the bark of a tree on the
leg to “cure” it. Mom thought it was better to bring him to the health center in town. There, they wrapped up the arm and leg with a thin
layer of WWII gauze and sent him on his way with mom. Mother Julia figured there was something missing. She brought him to us.
Immediately we gave him something for pain, waited a while and then removed his dressings. There was first and second degree burns
on his arm and leg. The fungus was an added challenge. We cleaned the wounds as gently and quickly as possible and then applied Silver
Sulfadiazine cream 1%. Gave mom an antibiotic and pain medication for him and told her to keep the dressings clean and dry and to return
the next day. Of course a toy truck was his reward for going through the ordeal. Dressing changes continued daily for a week. The black
fungus came off without too much difficulty. Then the dressing changes were every third day. Each day there was improvement. Medicine
for parasites and amebas were given along with chewable vitamins.
One day Julia and Gabriel did not show up at the usual time. At 7 pm we heard a knock at the gate and there in the dark were Julia,
Gabriel and his older sister. “Julia, it is so late and cold.” They had walked over the mountain without a flash light to have the dressings
changed. “Si Madre, his father arrived home drunk. We had to wait until he passed out.” Seemingly a reasonable (however pathetic)
explanation, we dressed the wounds and told her that Gabriel looked good and that they no longer needed to come for dressing changes.
She could do it at home and we supplied her with the materials. We did not charge her for any of the treatments. She left a donation.
On October 31, 2013 Honora Nagle fondly known as “Nano,” the Founder of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
was proclaimed Venerable by Pope Francis for her “Heroic Virtues,” a great honor for all Presentation Sisters around the world and the
people of Ireland where Nano was born. We’ve thought about this awesome event and felt that it was time to think about how we can
make this health ministry live and flourish beyond us. It is time for Guatemalans to take over this ministry. We are into our fifth year and it
is time for new energy and ideas.
But how do you “sell” a place that is an outpost in the forest, remote from any developed town, where yearly wash outs and landslides
pretty much freezes one in place and when the road is passable it is spine jogging. Where the temperatures drop to 48 degrees in the
house “when the ice falls,” where few Guatemalan priests and sisters want to minister and those that do don’t stay long; where visitors are
few and those that come don’t return: Where the daily sight of poverty is wrenching and the stories of injustice grinding on the mind and
spirit leaving one on the edge of the anger abyss. In spite of the great need at the outer limits of society we know it will be a hard sell. We
wish we could say we planned our strategy based on Scripture or a great saint, philosopher or theologian. But alas, we took it from The
Godfather, “Make them a deal they can’t refuse.”
So, we are starting to look for a group of Guatemalan/Central American sisters who are first of all real missionaries, and professional
health care providers who are willing and able to come and take over the work in this beautiful ministry. You have helped us make this
clinic a light upon a hill top for those who have been abandoned. Just the beauty of the clinic, the equipment, the organization, the staff-intraining, the surrounding forest, the hardworking people and the enormous need are the elements that would attract other missionaries to
minister among their own people. This is the only way to make this ministry sustainable for at least the next fifty or seventy-five years.
So pray with us as Jesus was “moved with pity at the sight of the crowds…the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few. Pray the Lord
of the Harvest that he send laborers into the fields” (Mathew 9:36-37). God bless you for getting us this far and for helping us plant the
seeds for the future.
Easter Blessings
From your Presentation Sisters working in Guatemala
Sister Elizabeth (Liz) Remily and Sister Joanna (Annie) Bruno
Little boys learning to love books from the children’s area.
Gabriel and his mother after he was treated in the
clinic for the burns on his arm.
Mom and daughter getting comfortable with
the books in the children’s area.
Babysitting and reading books.
Coffee, cookies
and a good read!
Books are fun!