El Salvador 2004, March 11 - 21

Select a Day to read our journal and see pictures of that day's highlights

March 10^th (Wed)

8 pm                Cornwall- General Vanier Intermediate School
                        Sort & pack all luggage with donations

·         Picture 1 (Wed. night Amanda and Joelle packing the donations in the suitcases)

March 11^th (Thurs) 

Here are some photos of the activities from today:

·        Picture 1 (loading the truck at the airport in El Salvador, the Temp. was 39 C)

·        Picture 2 (A former exchange student Natalie serving us pupusas for supper that night)

2.00am             Pick up at GVIS and depart for Montreal
4.00am             Arrival at airport
6.07am             Flight AA527 departs for El Salvador via Miami
12.35am           Arrive in El Salvador Rotarians from Club Rotario San Salvador Cuscatlan

                        meet flight

3.00 pm           Arrive at Hotel Happy House, Settle into hotel and orientation
                        Evening Short reception - pupusas at hotel

March 12^th (Fri)

Here are some photos of the activities from today:

·        Picture 1 (Students sorting donations at Hotel happy House)

·        Picture 2 (Fabric from fabricland ready for donation)

·        Picture 3 (Visit to Panamerica School, where Katie may be an exchange student)

Agenda:          

Breakfast at Hotel
Cultural orientation - visit 2 museums
Remember we are youth ambassadors too.

Visit craft market - Interactors and 2 advisors while other advisors shop for supplies for work projects.
Welcome pupusa party at San Salvador family residence.

March 13^th (Sat)

Here are some photos of the activities from today:

·        Picture 1 (Jennifer and Dawn in hammocks having coconuts on Beach day)

·        Picture 2 (Pictures 2 and 3 are the Pacific Ocean. Notice the lifeguards - Ovidio and Mary Alice. (plus Tom Joelle and Sandy)

·        Picture 3

·        Picture 4 is the entire group plus some Rotarians and Interactors at the Beach house we were invited to last Saturday.

Agenda:

Breakfast at Hotel                                                    

Beach Day (picnic lunch - Pollo Campero)                                                   

Enjoy it while you can - work starts tomorrow.                                                   

Dinner at Hotel (order in)
** Potential date for Visit to Sonsonate with World Vision for Sandy, Joelle & Melissa to meet their club's foster child ***
 

March 14^th (Sun)  

These pictures are from one of our Rotary here.

Ovidio took  these at the clinic. The first one is

the one of  our doctors and Ligia our site supervisor.

The doctors sat at a table outside to see patients
while 5 of us ran the pharmacy, picture 2 is Sandy

doing face and hand painting with the children while

they wait for their parents to see the doctor. Like his hat?
picture 3 is Christina, Ovidio’s  daughter who is
Roteract and Dawn working at the pharmacy part,
we were outside, but under a metal roof.

Picture 4 una fila, una fila (one line, one line, we
finally left off  “por favor”, since everyone wanted
to see the doctors. We saw about 300 + people.

Picture 5 this was our pharmacy, picture 6  is us leaving by bus.

Agenda:                     

Breakfast at Hotel                                                   

Medical Journey Clinic I, San Pedro Mazahuat (Pharmacy with Doc. plus clothes, toys soccer balls)
Lunch
Complete clinic
Dinner at hotel (order in)

March 15^th (Mon)      

Here are some photos of the activities from today:

• Picture 1 (We visited the ward and handed out the toys to get to know the children before we started to paint)
• Picture 2 (Ron the Painting Supervisor)

7.30am             Breakfast at Hotel
Benjamin Bloom National Children's Hospital - begin work
1.15pm            Lunch with the ABC School Students - cafeteria
 2 - 4 pm          Interact Meeting (ABC school and our Clubs)
                        Program for meeting will be set then
Dinner at Hotel (order in)  

March 16^th (Tues)    

Here are some photos of the activities from today:

·        Picture 1 (Robert painting a ward room )

·        Picture 2 (Making new friends. While their rooms were being painted, the children had to stay in the centre of the ward in a play area. So everyone spent some time visiting and playing with them)

Agenda:

6.30am             Breakfast meeting with Club Rotario San Salvador Cuscatlan
9.00am             Back to Benjamin Bloom Hospital to continue with work projects
1.00 pm           Lunch at "BIGGEST" restaurant
2 - 5 pm           continue with work at hospital - meet some of the kids the wards - take toys

around to the kids           

6 - 8 pm           Rotaract (University Level students) meeting with our Interact students and                         dinner at Club Arabic

March 17^th (Wed)    

·        Picture 1 (Marlene working on a small mural in a ward room)

·        Picture 2 (Sandra, and I went back to the hospital after the painting was done to leave a donation of supplies and funds for the hospital school. The hospital has 12 floors and only two elevators. So the elevators are for doctors, nurses, support staff and sick kids, everyone else must walk up the stairs. the teachers must carry all their supplies to every ward they work in. Sounds like my high school, except we have no elevators)

·        Picture 3 (Sandy, Joelle and Melissa from Tagwi S.S. had a chance to spend a morning with the foster child that their club support. This is Alejandro with them)

·        Picture 4 (Cuscatclan Roteracts and our Interactors at an Evening meeting)  

8.00 am            Back to Children's hospital - to finish painting wards
12.30 pm         Lunch
1.30 pm           Back to work
5.00 pm           Depart hospital
7.00 pm           Dinner at hotel (order in)
Is it laundry time yet?

March 18^th (Thurs)    

• Picture 1 Some of the students decided to teach the children Duck, duck goose.
• Picture 2 Pollo Camperro for 160 people. It was a huge picnic lunch from our group to the orphanage
• Picture 3 What is a visit from Canadians (+ 1 American) without a little hockey. We brought soccer balls, basketballs and floor hockey equipment for the orphange as well as a set of soccer uniforms for their soccer team
• Picture 4 Dawn and a new friend. Children are often left at the orphanage as babys
  
  

8.00 am            Depart for Orphanage (50 boys 8 - 18 yrs old)  Program will be to establish a relationship with the boys and help them with their English, mainly thorough games such as floor hockey, soccer etc. We will be bringing the sport equipment and leaving it with the orphanage. Groups will also do some work in the kitchen, hang basketball nets, paint sport court line etc.

Lunch with the Boys - we will supply all meals Pollo Campero
pm                   Continue interacting with the boys.
Dinner              BBQ at orphanage
Evening            Back to hotel

March 19^th (Fri)

Picture 1  drying the coffee beans

Picture 2  cleaning plantain orchard

Picture 3  Due to circumstances beyond our control the visit to the second orphanage was not possible so we were lucky enough to have a chance to see Tazumal. A pre-columbian ruin of pyramids, considered a natioanl historic site. We had a local guide and found it amazing.

7.00am             Depart for Coffee Cooperative (7040 Rotary Project)

** Potential second date for Visit to Sonsonate with World Vision for Sandy, Joelle & Melissa to meet their club's foster child ***
am                    Tour of plantation then work as needed (Bring snacks & water)
Lunch               Rural food court
pm                   Second orphanage - special needs children
Evening            Hotel for dinner, maybe restaurant

March 20^th (Sat)

• Picture 1  Donations of 17 sewing machines, fabric and sewing supples from Fabricland, soccer balls, seeds and gardening tools for the Herbert Molina Alternative School administered by the Sisters of Providence.
• Picture 2  We left a donation of funds for the food bank with Sister Fran.
• Picture 3  At Cideco we had a room and shelves for our pharmacy
• Picture 4  We left any extra medicine with the clinic. Patients in this area can return for follow up treatments as there is one full time Doctor at this clinic

7.00 am            Depart for the Herbert Molina School
am                    Sisters of Providence (St. Francis)
                        Orientation and delivery of sewing machines and fabric
                        Work as needed by the Sisters.
Lunch
pm                   Second Medial Journey Clinic II Health Partners International
5.00pm            Happy House Hotel - farewell night
 

March 21^st (Sun)  

Last night we had a farewell fiesta and left our final donations.

·        Picture 1 We left two sets of soccer uniforms and equipment with the Cuscatlan Rotario. They will use them to help sponsor inner city soccer teams

·        Picture 2  We left funds for the 25 Kilometers of Toys project that the Cuscatlan Rotario do every Christmas

·        Picture 3  Donation of funds to support 4 orphans through the Rotarct Club, via Cuscatlan Rotario and Luis

·        Picture 4  The solar lights from Glenergy were passed on to the Cuscatlan Rotario to be distributed to villages currently without electricity.

9.00am             Leave Hotel Happy House
                        Travel to airport via rental bus
                        Return flight to Canada via Miami then Montreal
                        Should arrive in Montreal about 11.00 pm.

March 22^nd (Mon)    

1.00 am            Family pick up in Cornwall