It’s the last day of clinic. Has the clinic week truly finished? As I try to look back on the week I find it hard to disseminate day to day. All I see is an endless recollection of faces, mostly women and children with a few older men. Faces as well as their stories blend together to become what I know of as the people of El Salvador. Though the civil war is still ripe with pain in most peoples minds, the natural disasters a stamp on their current livelihood, and the painful gang violence a consistent jagged knife, above ALL this, there is so much hope in their eyes, so much faith in God, and so much solidarity! How can one not burst into a smile with joy in their hearts? Though some stories leave me in frustrated, I remind myself of the older woman who said after hearing of a healthy breast exam, “Oh Thank God!” There is always a reason to celebrate.
And so, Friday AM Heather and I wake up to our last brilliant sunrise at Ayagualo retreat house. Running on our final bit of adrenaline and groggy, we pack up our bags (still watching for stinging stowaways). It seems like it is going to be a warm day already. After a breakfast of pancakes with black bean sauce, honey, and fresh papaya, I throw some gatorade powder into my water and hop on the bus.
Today we are only going to see 200 patients. The plan is to finish by 2 PM so we can cleanup before the despedida (closing ceremony) by the church around 4 with yummy cake (!). Deb and I jumped in with our last day of pap smears, breast exams, and who knows what else. Like every day, we had some interesting cases come up. For example, there were some referrals to the hospital for ovarian cysts, birth control, a couple pregnancy tests, and a few more pregnant women with concerns.
One young woman came in complaining of her stomach feeling hard and very tender. She was due the following week with her first child! When she showed Deb and I her prenatal control packet with monthly visits, we were really impressed with the prenatal care she was receiving. Deb told me it was very similar to the US. It was so fun to take our time talking to and advising this future mom. We listened to the baby’s heart, measured her womb, and explained how it was normal for a woman’s womb to feel hard due to stretched muscles. She was quite relieved and left with such a cute, big smile.
As we were not as busy, just steady, we were able to serve some of the women volunteers who had been helping us all week including the cooks (such fun ladies). On a more serious note, one patient seemed a very guarded, married woman. When we asked her if she was sterilized, she said she used the 3 month injection. The way she said it made us probe a little more. Her husband is a hospital security guard and wants more children but she doesn’t. Thus, she gets the injections secretly because she can’t get sterilized without her husband’s consent. Deb and I looked at each other with Deb being so much better at hiding her dislike of a woman not able to choose what to do with her own body. We were relieved that she said she felt safe at home. Still, I wonder if this was just situational or if there is a law that women must get a husband’s consent to get sterilized?
One last patient I’d like to leave you with exemplifies the happiness one finds within the trials of the Salvadorian people. She was a seamstress with a round, cherry face. As we went thru her medical history, she told us she had 3 pregnancies with the last being a miscarriage very late in the term. The doctors had found the baby had Down’s Syndrome (and maybe there were other compications?) so they aborted the pregnancy. We talked about this as Deb did the exam and though she was sad about the miscarriage, it seemed like she had overcome the loss. When we asked her about her other 2 childrem, we found out the 11 yr old boy had a severe cleft palate and clubbed feet. He had not wanted to come to clinic today so he was visiting grandma. It was so special to see her face light up talking about this little boy who was such a happy, considerate kid. Doctors had told her the palate was too extensive to fix so he stays home and loves visiting grandma in the country. I only wish we had gotten to meet him! We parted with big hugs and kisses. It was such a nice note to end our week.
Around 3 PM we finished seeing our last patient and rearranged Mujeres into a classroom with the help of our local volunteers. I cannot say enough of our local volunteers! They were always good for a hug or a willing hand.
The Despedida, ending ceremony, began after we finished cleaning up (except pharmacy where Melissa, Moises, Sylvia, and Kathy rushed to organize the leftover meds they’d save or donate to local clinics and the church). The Father, after a short greeting invited a Mexicano Salvadorian folk dance troupe to the stage (Mexicano is a suburb of San Salvador). The bright shirts of the men and silky dresses of the women gave me an extra boost of energy. What a celebration each dance was! I had never experienced a more touching despedida. The first dance the men care-freely carried sacks on their back. With their skirts flying, the women joined them for a machete dance and a “paper flowers on a tall stick dance” (as seen in photo). Before the giving of gifts, they did a thrilling bull dance where a man carrying a wooden papermache bull over his head chased the other dancers.
Then, the priest handed each of us a lovely hand drawn pendant of Monsenor Romero and a hand painted picture with a feather. Kathy and Sister Susan handed out gifts to our local volunteers saying that we saw 1600 patients in those 5 days in San Jose Villanueva. We also sent 5 people to the hospital. To finish, the troupe danced around a maypole held up by a teenager from the audience. He almost lost his grip several times and everyone had a good chuckle over his nervous face,
especially his mom. We ate a deliciously moist cake with custard filling and fresh fruit on top! How hard it was to say goodbye to our new found friends from El Salvador! I will dearly miss Anna, Dona Carmen, and her aunt Claudia who helped us so much in Mujeres!
We left San Jose Villanueva for the final time and headed to San Salvador, the capital. I have never had a greater respect for a bus driver. There were several seat-gripping moments where it seemed like there was no space between our bus and a nearby truck or car. The horn-honking traffic was a sharp wake-up call from the quite, slow-moving life in San Jose and Ayagualo. Before we crashed at Hotel Novo in the capital, we stopped at a Pupusa restaurant where each pupusa was less than a dollar. Pupusas are the thick Salvadorian corn tortillas filled inside with either beans, cheese, and/or meat. Man, do they stick to your stomach! Fidel, the music aficionado, called over a mustached guitar singer hovering nearby to play a variety of Latino favorites. So, we sipped our beers, listened to the music, and savored the tasty pupusas. The clinic week was over.
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