The SEED has been planted!

This medical mission was a vision that our director and founder Diane McGehee has had for many years. It is the first of its kind been done with this community, in fact Together in Hope is the first organizations to be invited in to help this community. In the area where we work, there is one doctor for 30,000 people, he has very little resources and the need is too great for one person. As one of our team members Joanna said’ We cannot change the world, but we can help change a life’ and I believe we did!

Some of the children showing us their clean hands after a preventative medicine class

Our team went from seeing 61 patients the first day, 87 the second day to over 100 for the last three days. Every single member of the team gave it their absolute all and gave 110%. The majority of our team had no medical training, but wow did we get the job done. On Friday night we counted all our patient forms and between medical and dental we saw and treated approximately 500 people. I cannot express the joy and gratitude that the Together in Hope team felt when this number was revealed, all I can say is THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, to everyone who made it possible!

 

    

Not only did we see patients, but we also interviewed 12 families discovering the needs of the community and how we can improve our program. Each family had an amazing story and was most welcoming to our team. After speaking to them, many came to the clinic, and gave hugs and kisses to all our team and were so grateful to us for giving them time and giving them much needed assistance.

One of the families we met, both children have special needs and attend Rosa Blanca. There are no services or support systems for children with special needs in El Salvador

Our goal is to build a community centre, medical/dental clinic and a bigger school in this community.  We are hoping to buy a piece of property to fulfil this goal. During this mission we were able to see the property and it is amazing! There is already a building on it that will be perfect for the medical clinic, and the space is big enough to build a community centre and a school that will enable the children to continue their education past 6^th grade and finally get the opportunities they deserve. We will have more information on this and how you can help in our next newsletter.

The piece of property we are hoping to buy- What an amazing piece of land

The goal of this trip was to plant a seed in the community, to begin the vision of this community to become empowered and to create a better future for all. As I have said this was the first trip of its kind in this community and we learned a lot about what to do and what not to do. We will be forever grateful to our team for helping us see our dream become a reality! It would not have been possible without each and every one of you. Thank you to you all. You were all amazing and we are so grateful.

Our team with local volunteers and the Together in Hope team