Face to Face - November, 2008
On November eleventh I joined others around the cenotaph to observe the 90th
Anniversary of the end of World War 1, that war to end all wars. Of course we
know that was not to be and recognize that countless numbers of our young men
and women have served their country in the pursuit of freedom and peace since
that time. The service is a moment of remembrance, of thanksgiving for their
lives and a prayer for peace. As I looked around the multi-generational crowd
it occurred to me that few of those present had any personal experience of living
in a country without the freedoms we take for granted.
I had just returned from our Eyeglass Clinic in the tiny country of El Salvador.
This beautiful little slice of land on the Pacific coast of Central America
has experienced years of civil wars. One wonders why they can’t make peace
and get along. The greed of some who dominate others and keep them poor seems
to be a major cause but their troubles run deep and one week in the country
provides only a brief view of life there. That many live in cruel poverty was
evident.
Without having experienced the lack of freedom can any of us relate to living
without freedom? When asked what they hoped for their country I was surprised
when a gentleman said “I hope the United States will take us over?”
Did the United States represent freedom to him?
We were not surprised to see police and armed guards very visible at all public
places, including grocery stores and other places of business. This is common
in many countries we visit. The guards are fully armed carrying not just revolvers
but very big guns. We were told that they were there to discourage trouble not
that there was any particular trouble at hand. Everything looked quite peaceful.
Our clinic was part of a Health-Fair organized by the Department of Education
and held in government buildings in Usulutan. Patients registered and were streamed
off into sections. There was no charge and they were even given a ticket for
lunch. School children attended various health centres. Some had their teeth
checked, cleaned and even had painless fillings if needed. Other children went
to another area for a vision test from an organization called Fudem. If they
needed eyeglasses they were measured for frames and lenses. The following week
175 children received eyeglasses which were free- of -charge funded by USAID.
Our invitation came from AED (The Academy for Educational Development) an American
NGO which has been in El Salvador for 4 years. We provided vision tests, eye
examinations and eyeglasses to adults. During our 5-day clinic over 800 patients
were registered with us. They started lining up at 8 a.m. and stayed until 4
p.m. when we knew we couldn’t possibly get them all through by 5 p.m.
They were given numbers to get them to the front of the line the next day. Rarely
did anyone complain but just took their tickets and most came back the next
day. The word that I felt described them best is ‘resigned’. They
seemed to be resigned to their fate. But they were very appreciative and we
received hugs and smiles and a few tears for our efforts.
It was hard work but the most difficult job I had to perform came at about 3:30
p.m. on Friday. It was then that we knew we could not process the last 34 people
who had started through the clinic. It would take us past 4 p.m. to complete
fitting the patients in the doctor’s line and we still had to pack up
for the trip home.
And so I stood with a translator and gave them the news. I asked them to leave
their partially completed forms with a representative of AED and if possible
he would try to find someone to finish the examination and get them eyeglasses.
None of the patients made an objection they just stood up and gave their forms
to the representative.
An elderly diabetic patient in the front row stood with difficulty. She didn’t
go to the representative but instead shuffled over to me, wrapped her arms around
me and thanked me. We stood there just 2 grandmothers locked in a moment in
time. I wish we could have done more.
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