This will be the final comments on this trip. The weekend of Feb 15-16 is the time when the Padre says several Masses in the Chalatenango Department. He helps a priest in a town called La Reina. The responsibility of the parish priests is to not only say Mass at the large church in these town but to also say Mass at many very small churches that are dotted all around the mountains near the town.
There are so many people that are spread out around the mountainsides. There are not necessarily little towns but just areas were you just see a church and you may see a public school. Both the churches and the schools are small. The schools usually only go to the 6th grade if they are lucky, which is another problem. The roads to these areas are always dirt and winding and usually going up the side of the mountains. They are usually one lane so that if a car comes in the other direction you have to find a way to pull off to the side. The trips are not so bad in the now dry season but clearly this becomes more of a problem as the rainy season approaches and the roads get muddy and some areas are washed out by the streams crossing the roads.
Into this environment the Padre usually says 2 Masses on Saturdays and 3 on Sundays. Even though it is sometimes difficult to get to these churches I really think that the Padre is at his best when he is among the very poor. He greets them all and usually engages them in the homilies. I just wish my Spanish was better.
Many times after Mass he is invited to dinner at one of the parishioners homes. They are always so happy to have him. That is one thing, the Padre will never go hungry. Everyone wants to feed him. Of course there are the usual people that need a ride back to their homes and so the back of the Padre's pickup truck is usually dotted with 4 or 5 people. You then realize that the majority of the people at the Masses have walked there. Some close by but others maybe a mile or two away. That is the importance of the Mass to many of these people.
This particular weekend the Padre had a baptism back at La Reina. This very poor lady had a child and was accompanied by her grandmother and brother. The Padre and Marta, the principal at the colegio, were to be godparents as well. So this was done before we left to return to Aqua Caliente on Sunday night.
We stayed at the colegio on Monday and I worked on the installation of the computers I mentioned above as well as work with Jicela on making sure we were set for the trip to La Libertad for Tuesday. That trip is to take 50 people to have their eyes checked and fitted for glasses and to take the three people that needed eye surgery. All was set up and the mayor of the town was nice enough to pay for the bus to take these people to La Libertad, a trip that takes about 3 hours. So we saved $225. Thank you Mr. Mayor! Actually the Padre says he is a fairly good guy. The plan was to leave bright and early on Tuesday morning at 4:00 AM. It was decided that Jicela would be the chaperone and it was decided that I would return to San Salvador with the Padre that evening.
Tuesday we spent most of the day with EyeCare International in La Libertad. All went well. Our group arrived at about 8 AM and about 40 of the people were fitted with glasses. The 3 that needed surgeries was performed and they needed to stay overnight. We arranged to have them picked up on Wednesday and brought back to Aqua Caliente. I returned to San Salvador with the Padre and later found out that our bus was in a minor accident after it broke down on the way back to Aqua Caliente. Jicela handled it well but the trip took about 7 hours in total as they had to get another bus to go back home.
On Thursday we were back at the colegio. This was my final day on this trip. The new plugs were being installed for the new computers and Jicela had each of them changed to Spanish by a guy that owns an Internet Cafe in town. He really liked these computers. Finally Jicela and I had wanted to start a PTA in the school if possible. She had had a meeting of a group of interested parents a few weeks before, so this was the second meeting. There were about 10 parents that attended. This is a somewhat new idea for the colegio. My thought is that we should try to involve the parents in the activities of the school and ask them to help to make the school the best possible. What are their ideas to make it better? So there was a spirited debate and it was decided that they would help the school get the money necessary to start up a band. I guess this is something the kids really wanted and so far they had raised $800 towards this goal. They will need at least $500 more to get it started. So the idea of a raffle was brought up. Ok, what to raffle off? It was decided to try and get a farmer to donate a cow to raffle off. They also wanted to sell some food at an upcoming festival in town. So that is where it stands as of this date. Did they get the cow? I do now know. They seem to think they would.
I found the meeting rewarding because of the engagement of the parents. I loved hearing about their ideas and it just fits into my believe that where possible we are giving them a hand up instead of a hand out. I hope the PTA is just the beginning of many things they want to do to improve the quality of the school. I will let you know how this all pans out in future blogs.
Finally I had a nice meeting with the teachers and said goodbye for now. So it was time to drive back to San Salvador that evening. On the way we had to stop at a small little house to pick up Alicia. She is the 35 year old lady that lives in the Padre's house and takes care of the children and cooks all meals. This evening she was visiting the house were she grew up and where her 14 year old daughter Katherine was born. We were offered good food and picked her up. What struck me was what poor circumstances Alicia had grown up in and where Katherine was born. It was as poor of a house as I had seen way up the mountains on my first trip. Just three rooms made out of adobe, dirt floor and an open fire room where all meals were cooked. The padre says they have lived there for 30 years and just last year had electricity put in. Some deal with the Mayor again. So once again I saw a place there the Padre had taken a young lady out of dire circumstances and helped her get an education. And of course a much better life and opportunity for her daughter Katherine. I thought that if the Padre could do this about 5 million more times in this country he would be one happy man. It was very emotional to me to better understand the life of Alicia.
So Friday came and off I went back to the cold North. It was about 95 degrees in Aqua Caliente on Thursday. What a change!
So I hope you have enjoyed the information about my most recent trip. Lots of opportunities to work on once I am back home. We will see what develops. Any people that would like to help, please give me a call. Everyone has talents that could mean so much to the great people of El Salvador.
Peace,
Jim Nugent
Interesting blog, Jim! Looking forward to hearing about new adventures.
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