Following the eye care event on Feb 11 we stayed at the Padre's house on Tuesday night. The following morning it was off to Aqua Caliente bright and early. The trip takes about 2 hours and so we arrived just in time for the weekly Mass. All children and teachers gathered in the large open conference building and the Padre conducted the Mass.
The rest of the day was spent reviewing the continued progress of the new Pilgrim House and I had time to spend in a few of the English classes. The rest of time was spent working with Jicela on many projects we are discussing. One of them was determining if we should put internet into the computer room. Currently there is Wi-Fi wireless at and near the principal's office but not in the computer room. Both Jicela and I feel we need to take this step and are in the process of convincing the Padre that he needs to spend the $30.00 month especially now that we have the 9 computers from Bishop Hartley. We will continue to work on justifying it. Once we do this or even before it will be so important to determine the best way to use these new computers. What should the curriculum be? Any help would be appreciated in this area. Give me a call.
There are also 2 young men about 22 and a boy about 12 that the Padre has allowed to live at the colegio. This is because they live very far away and come from very poor circumstances. The goal of the older two is to go to college or a technical college. In the meantime he has them do a little work around the school for room and board. The young boy is in the 8th grade and he is allowed to go to the school free.
This situation is so common for the Padre. If he sees a need and a willingness to try he is right there helping fulfill there dreams. He is always looking for sponsors for young men like these. Actually the public university in San Salvador is almost free. That is the good thing. The cost come in for books, lodging, food and transportation it they are going back to the rural areas on the weekends.
It is good that this country provides this type of training. I do not know the quality but it is some additional education for these young but poor men and women. Let me know if you would like to help and we can assign a person to you and watch that person grow and hopefully lead the new generation into a more productive time for this country.
On Friday it was time to take the director and another person to Chaletenango to review the site for the possibility of having their Eye Care International come to that city in 2015. We picked them up in La Libertad and spent most of the day with them. We looked at facilities of the Catholic Diocese to examine most of the patients and the retreat area that could house up to 45 people during the two week stay. After that we visited the Clinic started by the Padre and finally the local area hospital. This is a government run hospital and is for the local people of the area. The city of Chaletenango has a population of about 40,000. The hospital has 100 beds. The idea here is that this could be the place to have the eye surgeries. The director was very accommodating and was happy to see that this group might come because of need. The hospital is fairly clean but dark. There appeared to be no air conditioning in the patient rooms. The director was really trying to help in any way he could. He said the hospital has many needs that are slow in coming.
The eye people seemed please with the accommodations in all aspects of this trip and so they will decide in the next few months whether Chalatenango is the place for next year. Keep your fingers crossed. The need exists in this area. So we can at least try and help 5000 of them during that two week period of time.
We got back to El Salvador late but happy with our accomplishment for the day. The weekend is next. That is the time for the padre to say Masses in many of the small towns that dot the countryside of Chaltenango Department.
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