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Hello from Can Tao Viet Nam!
After 40 plus hours of travel we made
it to our destination , Can Tho , Vietnam . Its very hot and muggy here
. Its no different than the last time I was here , except no one is shooting
at me . Its very strange to me to be here after 40 years . Its the last
place on earth that I ever thought I would be in . When you work for Rotaplast
you go where the missions are and that is usually where the children need
the most help. I would like to thank every one who donated money or bought
chance or theater tickets so we can fulfill these missions. You can be
sure your donations have been well spent.
Have a great day
--Jack Holefelder
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Update 2010 -- Rosalie Pasquel Wells <rosalie.wells@verizon.net>
| After being delayed
for almost a whole week, I finally got home late, late, Wednesday night.
This additional “week of leisure” will cost Rotaplast dearly. That means
less funds available to provide treatment to children. I am asking for
your help. |
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Our Rotaplast Mission
in Retalhuleu "Reu", 4.5 hours from Guatemala City, was extraordinary.
Thanks to the incredible support of the Club Rotario La Asunción
in Guatemala City, their president, Tommy Rybar and their appointed logistics
coordinator, Joanne Wessels, Carlos Ramirez Portilla of Fundación
Rotaplast Guatemala, Elisa Sinibaldi de Ramirez Portilla, Clemen Mérida
of the Retalhuleu Rotary Club, Hospital Hilario Galindo and many, many
others, our Mission Team successfully performed 120 surgeries on 108 children
and youth with cleft lip and/or cleft palate anomalies. Among them was
a very bright, but
already burdened 15 month-old, a 22
year old male who desperately wanted to have his cleft lip repaired
with the hope of being able to "fit
in". Parents brought in days-old babies and, although disappointed,
understood that waiting several months
is the safe thing to do. Children who were treated by last year's
mission, were brought in for their
second surgery. |
Many of
the patients came from the Department of Petén, 14 hours away. Mothers,
fathers, sometime
siblings, stayed for over a week in
very, very humble facilities awaiting their turn for surgery. They were
so
grateful and patient—surely they had
a direct line to angels. |
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We were also able to
treat delightful 8 year old Alex, who’s mother and sister brought him into
the emergency room of the country hospital where we were working with a
badly cut eyelid. He had fallen just minutes ago while chasing the neighbor's
dog away. As it happened, one of the scheduled children was sick, so our
prominent plastic surgeons were able to treat Alex. A good thing for him,
as his tear duct had been severed. Yet, under the expertise of these untiring
volunteer expert surgeons, he will not lose this important component of
eye health. |
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Ingrid and Iris, 10 and 6 year old
sisters, were treated for cleft lip and cleft palate and lip, respectively.
Ingrid was so bored, waiting and waiting for days, she ended up as my "office
helper" for a few hours. She wrote
a little story about her life for me. Parents would go out beyond the hospital
compound to find perfectly tree-ripe mangoes to bring as gifts. They
hugged us and called the grace of
God upon us in thanks for changing their child’s life.
Mr. Middle Class, humbled by his fellow-parents-in-need,
learned that ‘All things come to he who waits’ when finally understanding
that raising his voice and being demanding would give him no advantage
at the Rotaplast Pre-Clinic, where all patients are evaluated as potential
candidates. He had tears in his eyes
when, on Post-Clinic day, he stopped
his bright-pink baby stroller—something never seen by most of the indigenous
parents—to hug me goodbye and ask that I thank the team for repairing his
precious little baby’s lip. |
| The frantic calls came
on Thursday, May 27, as we were having our "goodbye dinner". Pacaya, the
volcano outside of Guatemala City had just erupted. We canceled our planned
4 a.m. departure on Friday morning to the Guatemala City airport, as we
were unable to get official information about the safety on the roads and
in the city. However, the next afternoon, as word reached us that Hurricane
Agatha was on its way, with incredible downpours, the decision was made
to move the team to Guatemala City, rather than possibly being stranded
in Reu. It turned out to be a good move, as Agatha took many lives and
homes and the two bridges connecting Reu with Guatemala City.
Everything in Guatemala City was covered
in "ash", which was really a fine, black sand that got stuck in your hair,
like when you lay on a beach. Schools were closed, streets were empty,
people were asked not to leave their homes, churches forewent services.
President Colom declared a state of emergency. Then on Sunday, as if all
of that was not enough, a giant "sink hole" swallowed up a 3-story building
in the city.
The airport was, of course, closed.
American Airlines eventually allowed a change of travel plans for the team
to leave from San Salvador on Wed. June 2. The earliest bus we could get
to our unplanned journey to another country was June 1, so on that day,
we took the 5-hour bus ride to San Salvador. On route, we witnessed a great
deal of destruction caused by the storm. On June 2, team members heading
for LAX and central parts of the country left at 6 am. The four of us returning
to the East Coast left later in the afternoon via Miami. Sadly, our head
nurse and quartermaster had to stay behind in Guatemala City with our boxes
of medical equipment, which we could not import temporarily into El Salvador.
They will not be returning home until today, Sunday.
This additional “week of leisure” will
cost Rotaplast dearly. That means less funds available to provide treatment
to children.
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