Monday, August 25, 2008

Oscar in Guatemala and El Salvador




In late August 2008, Isa Mundo sent a new member of the team, Oscar Aguilar to Central America in order to initiate awareness in areas where we can make an impact. His two week trip consisted of two parts, the first in Guatemala and the latter in El Salvador. In Guatemala, Oscar visited Casa de Sion in Panajachel, where he dropped off donations from family, friends, and the foundation for the orphanage. Casa de Sion is in the process of moving to the a new location, and thanks to Pedro (Director of CS), our volunteer came back with great news regarding the locale. At the new place, the children will have closer access to their schools, land to play "futbol", and will also have farming lands where they can learn to cultivate and fend for themselves, amongst other things.

The second leg of the journey was in a clinic in El Salvador founded by the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC) in a poor community called Las Delicias in San Juan Opico, near San Salvador. Here,
Oscar got the opportunity to work directly with the community of Las Delicias, with FIMRC manager, Meredith, and clinic physician, Dr. Hector. The work being done is here is wonderful because the clinic serves as a means to healthcare and education, many of these children would not have this priviledge. The staff works hard to encourage social activities within the community and are leaders for the families of la colonia. It would be an honour to work with the clinic and we are doing just that. Currently, we are in the process of synthesizing a project from a holistic approach where it will be self-sustainable and reproducible, environmentally friendly, but still aimed at tackling a key health issue, malnutrition.