Health & Fitness
Into my parents' homeland on medical mission
A Lighthouse student translates for the Lighthouse Medical Mission in El Salvador
By Keziah Mendez –
Two forlorn Salvadoran parents were just about to spend their entire paycheck on a cardiologist because they worried that their 8-year-old boy had a heart murmur. Then our medical clinic showed up with a portable ultrasound.
Cardiologist Lawrence Czer probed and found no such murmur. It was tremendous relief for the parents – as was saving a fortnight’s pay just for a test.
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This is the sort of work Lighthouse Medical Missions does all around the world. For 25 years, LMM has dispensed meds and expertise for free in Africa, Asia and Central and South America.
I got to go on this trip to El Salvador. I was a translator – on triage, at a doctor’s station and for a pastor. I also dispensed reading glasses one day.
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I’m a student at the Lighthouse Christian Academy, part of the Lighthouse family of organizations to which the medical mission also belongs. Dr. Robert Hamilton of Pacific Ocean Pediatrics leads the medical missions.
From Feb 13 to 22, we held clinics at El Barrio and La Puerta in San Salvador, the women’s prison in Santa Ana and Soyapango. There were 34 team members in total and they visited other sites, some of which were coordinated by Christ for the City International, a charitable organization based in Omaha, NE.
There were lots of cases of diabetes, congestion, back pain, headaches, parasites, high blood pressure. I liked the pupusas, of course, but if you eat too many of them, you’ll wind up in one of our clinics.
My parents are from Morazan, El Salvador, so it was a thrill for me to participate in the medical mission in my parents’ native country. Last year, I went on a medical mission to Jamaica. I want to be a veterinarian.
Team members have one day off on these trips to do some minimal touring. We visited el Parque Recreativo Apulo and boarded a boat out on the lake to an island. We swam cold, crystalline waters.
It touched my heart to help one many get an elderly man a new pair of shoes. He reminded me of my Great Grandpa. He walked with worn and battered. We had a pair that fit him perfectly.
This was my third trip to El Salvador. I visited twice earlier with my parents.
About this writer: Keziah Mendez studies at the Lighthouse Christian Academy of Santa Monica.
