I married into a family that is always giving to others. Seriously, I have rarely been to a dinner at their home when there hasn't been several other people invited over whether they be neighbors, those without family, or coworkers with no place to go for the holidays. Even as I write this, they have been selling fireworks for days in Duarte, CA to raise money for an education foundation that gives scholarships to high school students in their city. In that spirit, the Finlays have done several "ambulance trips" over the years. Let me explain what an ambulance trip is. In California, once an ambulance hits 100,000 miles, it can no longer be used. However, since the ambulances still have a lot of mileage left on them, they can be given to other countries. Margaret (my mother-in-law) is able to get these ambulances because of her connections with city government, and then takes them down to poorer countries that can use them. The ambulances are also filled with everything from mattresses to walkers to strollers to give away to the people down there. After hearing about many of these trips, I decided to join the group for this year's ambulance trip. Sadly, Ian wasn't able to go, but I enjoyed getting to know the Finlays a little bit better.
This year, two ambulances were donated to El Salvador. A charity group in the Los Angeles area named El Piche donated much of the money to bring the ambulances down to El Salvador.
To present the ambulances to the two cities, each city put on a big event. For both, people from miles around walked or biked, or hitched a ride to come see the the ambulances and participate in the event. The first event had three marching bands that performed as well as dancers. This is Margaret handing over the keys to the ambulance to the Mayor. You can probably notice that her face has a big scar on the left side of her jaw. We got to hear the story of how she was sent to fight in their country's civil war at age 14 and was wounded. She still bears the scars from the war. Many countries have never known safety and peace as we have known it in the United States.
We brought along some small toys and candy to give to the kids there. This little boy saw the bag of pencils I had as we were walking into the city. He followed me around all morning until the presentation was over and could have his pencil. After he had his pencil, he kept coming back with a sibling, cousin, or friend so they could get one as well.
The kids there were so polite. They never grabbed or asked for more. They just gratefully took whatever we gave them. You probably think these kids were unhappy from the looks on their faces, but they were thrilled to get any little thing. Seeing as they have so little, I don't think they are accustomed to smiling for a camera.
After the ambulances were presented, the mayor walked us through their town. Seriously, we are so blessed here in the United States. In this particular town which is one of the poorest in El Tamarindo, they showed us big bags where they store plastic to be recycled. When someone in their city is sick and needs medical attention, they use the recycled bottles to raise money to help them get medical attention. Just think of what this one ambulance will be able to do for these people now. The mayor said this one ambulance would be serving 9,000 people in the area.
I guess pigs are a regular affair in the kitchen.
This little girl was so cute. She was only three, but came up to our group to talk as we walked around her town.
Our group met with the Minister of Exterior Relations as well as had a meeting scheduled with the President of El Salvador. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to come at the last minute. Here is our group in the equivalent of their white house where their President resides.
On this trip, we were treated like diplomats. We had two armed guards that accompanied us everywhere.
In one of the towns we visited, we were greeted by a mariachi band and a nice spread of El Salvadorian food.
Another day, we traveled out to a very remote town and visited a family that lives there. This is a picture of their current home.
The group leader would like to build more brick buildings for the people to live in such as this one.
They served us some sort of drink in a coconut. Not sure what it was, but at least it didn't make me sick:)
This is their school building. It was getting dark so sorry about the poor picture quality. The only books I saw looked like very used workbooks. It broke my heart to see a school like this when we have so many resources in our country.
We enjoyed pupusas on many occasions. It was fun to watch them being made.
My brother-in-law Evan especially likes them.
We stayed with a really nice couple in their huge, gorgeous home in San Salvador. They were so giving and threw a dinner for us with some of their El Salvadorian friends where we got to make our own pupusas. So delicious!
Behind their home is a huge crater from an inactive volcano. We hiked up there to take a look.
This is our whole group (including our driver who is in the middle).
Pat, who is my sister-in-law Alana's husband's mom (isn't that confusing?), made these wonderful kits with some neighborhood ladies with baby blankets, hats, and other baby supplies. I can't believe the hours they spent making these. We went to a local hospital and handed them out to the mothers there.
This particular hospital has four rooms for newborn babies. Two for critical care babies, and two that look like this for healthier babies. The room was so small and the babies line the walls while the moms sit on plastic chairs back to back and feed their babies.
We are so blessed to live in the United States with running water, electricity, healthcare, freedom, and I could go on and on. However, I loved seeing how happy these people were despite their poverty.
If you made it this far in the post, stay tuned for part two where we headed to Panama for the second part of our trip.