The Best of El Salvador

The El Salvador Medical-Dental project was my first with FTC Canada, and my first experience visiting a developing country in this way. At first concerned about what services I, a person with no medical or dental training could offer (I later learned that there a many things that a person who wants to help can do, no matter what their skills), I was pleased to be asked to document the trip with photographs, videos and blog entries.

Leading up to the trip, I tried to prepare myself for what I imagined I might experience. I thought that I would probably see a lot of things that would make me very sad, things that would disturb and upset me, and things that would make me feel very guilty about the privileges and opportunities I have as a Canadian.

I was wrong.

I did see things that made me very sad. I did hear stories that disturbed me, like that of the young woman who suffered extensive keloid scarring after her husband drunkenly took a knife to her many years ago. I did feel guilty, after being invited into a woman’s hut in Somalia, and saw how very, very little she had. Her experience is so far removed from my own that it took several minutes for the level of poverty she lives in to actually register for me. When it did, I was overcome.

So yes, in these very poor communities, there is sadness, and there is suffering, and there is loss, but I was wrong in the fact that more than all of these things, there is love.

I saw a tremendous amount of love in the way Marcos, an 87 year-old woman, walked for hours in order to seek medical care for her adopted son who was unable to walk the distance himself due to his cerebral palsy. I saw love in the community centre in Amayito, run by a woman named Virginia who dedicated herself to providing an oasis of safety and education in a violent, gang-ridden area. I saw love in the orphanage in Remar, where children removed from abusive environments were given a safe, happy home in which to grow and flourish, and to know and share love.

I saw love in mothers and fathers holding their children. I saw love in the smiles and laughter of the people we met who have nothing but each other, and still are thankful.

And I saw love, compassion and care from every single member of the Medical-Dental team.

The morning before our first clinic, Ken Dick spoke briefly to the team about how it was our job, above all, to be a beacon of light and hope for the people we met, through the care and compassion we gave them. What I have learned on this project is that they were also a beacon of light and hope for us, in their tremendous capacity to love.

I saw a little bit of the worst of El Salvador, but I believe that more importantly I saw much of the best. I feel honored to have been invited to witness and document these great moments of love.

About Julie Puckrin
Julie Puckrin is a Canadian film and television writer, living in Vancouver BC. A frequent guest lecturer at the Vancouver Film School, her credits include work in reality television, animation, and short film.