A sad but common occurence in the comarca

A sad but common occurrence in the comarca. We were bringing 5 yr olds from a predominately Ngobe school to the dental clinic. There was typical child talk, “look a big yellow taxi, look a pretty brown horse, look a big truck full of potatoes, look a bus full of children.” Then my heart ached when one child said”…

"My father got drunk last night."  I asked why? He said, "he drank beer at the bars in town. He and another man got into a fight over a woman. He beat my father up real bad and my uncle found him in a ditch asleep. When he got home my mother was crying." Many Ngobe men frequently get drunk and spend precious little money on booze. It is common to fight and carry on with women. The families suffer both emotionally and financially. Children are often abused both sexually and physically and heath suffers. It breaks my heart. No 5 year old child should have to live that way here or anywhere.

Comarca Cadwell

We named this little man Comarca Cadwell. He wore a grungy old leather hat similar to Ed Cadwell’s. Elias (Comarca Cadwell) is in his 80’s. He too was blinded by cataracts and walked 5 hours to get to the screening center where Alan and I screened patients. He then came back the next week to ride the bus to have surgery. He was quite a character….just like Ed.  Must be the hat!!

To see pictures click on the following link:

https://picasaweb.google.com/mariommendoza48/ComarcaCadwell?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIDenNT9oau3GA&feat=directlink

Blessings,

Mario and Linda

Gregoria's Story

This is the story of Gregoria Sandoya.  Her daughter walked with her over 2 hours to the town where Alan and I did screening eye exams.  Gregoria is 83 and blind in both eyes. She lives in a little village near where our gardener’s family is from. Gregoria could see nothing but a faint light if shined directly into her eye. Her cataracts were so severe; Alan was hesitant to choose her as a candidate for surgery. I prayed as he thought about it and he decided to let her come. She and many others came to the mission on one of our buses. The ophthalmologists saw over a hundred cases. I was allowed to watch her surgery and her postop care. It was a great success. She can know see out of the eye they did surgery. After they left I told Christina, my gardener’s wife that Gregoria had come from near her village in the comarca. Then I was blown away. Turns out Gregoria is Christina’s grandmother. God blesses us with such wonderful surprises!

Click on the link below to see pictures.

https://picasaweb.google.com/mariommendoza48/GregoriaSStory?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIORoP3T5rnlAw&feat=directlink

Blessings,

Mario and Linda

The eye team

What a blessing to have the privilege to serve our Lord by ministering to over a hundred people blinded by cataracts. Alan met a government health team that was in charge of Ngobe eye needs. He was able to get a list of Ngobe people in need of eye surgery. Alan and I screened 260 Ngobe Bugle at 3 places in the Comarca. The mission provided buses, food, and lodging for those chosen for surgery. An outstanding Eye team including 3 surgeons and their staff came from the USA. They used the dental clinic as a surgery suite. It was wonderful to see so many involved in this spectacular ministry that week. There were nurse volunteers, kitchen helpers, administrative assistants, photographer and others all working together to make this week happen. Linda, Lynn and Eric, and Vickie Castillo ran the preop and postop recovery room. It was awesome to see them using their skills to serve these people. When the week was over we saw so many happy faces with eyes that can see again. It was so wonderful to see older people able to spend the rest of their lives able to see again. Many Ngobes have waited for years for a chance to have eye surgery. Panama Christian Evangelism Mission feels blessed to have been privileged to help provide that care. We look forward to seeing more.

Please pray we can arrange another team to come soon. Pray we can complete an eye surgery surgery suite. Pray also that we might obtain a mobile dental unit to take to the Comarca for much needed dental care. Pray that Dr. Jim Lofgren can soon join the dental team to help.

You may click on the link below for pictures.

https://picasaweb.google.com/mariommendoza48/EyeTeam?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCP7ihoqY2OHPDA&feat=directlink

Blessing,

Mario and Linda

VBS Shoe Project 2012

The saga of the container and shoe project:

Last year, Linda and I had the privilege of sharing our ministry to the Ngobe Bugle Indians here in Boquete Panama. West Covina Christian School and Church of the Open Door collected over 500 pairs of shoes for the Ngobe Bugle. The children in the Comarca (like a reservation) are very poor and malnourished. They often have no shoes or badly run down ones and often walk hours to go to school. Their project provided shoes for many Ngobe Bugle Indian children from the Comarca who visited our Mission for VBS Jan 15-19^th.

I’ll share the short version of the “saga of the wayward container.”  We suggested that the shoes be sent to Indiana because Panama Christian Evangelism Mission sends a 40ft container each year in November and the cost of shipping would be taken care of. The container was delayed until December due to late arriving medical equipment and supplies. Then the container went to the wrong port! It was then delayed another 3 weeks. Finally in Jan, the container was on its way by truck from Panama City. We waited and waited and it didn’t come. We feared it was stolen and all was lost. Nobody knew where it was and the driver did not answer. Finally we found out it had been in an accident and was dumped on its side. When it finally arrived much was damaged but PTL all the equipment, clothes, shoes, and supplies were not damaged!!!

This actually worked out well since we could reach a lot of children at once and VBS. We received shoes from other donations also so we will have shoes for future brush-ins and visits to the Comarca as well as for Ngobe children here in the Boquete area. I’ll send pictures as we do so.

Thank you all who helped Holly Ameduri at West Covina Christian and Eric Folbrecht and the mission team at COD.

Link to facebook Picasa photo album.

https://picasaweb.google.com/mariommendoza48/VBSShoeProject2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCMT2gob-3sLJ5AE&feat=directlink

Blessings,

Mario and Linda Mendoza

Teeth and bears and shoes OH MY

Hi everyone,
We took a group from Alto Quiel School to the dental clinic for treatment. Lots of black teeth but they are so wonderful and cooperative. They try to be brave and so we give them a prize. 2 Girls chose bears and hugged them and laughed all the way home! Some got new shoes too. Linda said as we dropped off one of the little girls, "I hope she doesn't live in the chicken coop house (looks like a run down chicken coop). Yep she did but skipped and waved and smile all the way to her house! We love what we do and are blessed to have the priviledge of ministering the these precious souls God has given us to help.
Bad news....we got home and found the house ransacked...we were robbed. We have a well secure house with bars but they ripped off the tiles on the roof and jumped through the ceiling in a spare bedroom! Who would have thought that ! So we must invest in a 7 foot iron fence to keep thieves out. Ticks me off. Praise the Lord they didn't get much since they had to go out through the roof too. 2 old tvs and 2 laptops (OUCH) and a watch and my wedding ring. I'm installing cameras in the house too. Too bad one must spend money on such things.

Here is the picture link for the teeth and shoes and bears:

https://picasaweb.google.com/mariommendoza48/TeethAndBearsAndShoesOHMY?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIvF69PWuP34Tg&feat=directlink

 

Hair day at Alto Quiel School

Hi everyone,
We went to Alto Quiel school one morning to do lice shampoo treatments for the girls and haircuts for the boys. The teachers asked if we could do lice shampoos because lice were falling onto their desks and papers! Linda by now is very good at doing the girl's hair and she had lots of help from a team from Indiana. Alan and I and one of the Indiana girls cut the boys hair. Mine all got a buzz! I'm getting better though!
Then in the afternoon we took a group for dental work.

See pics on the picassa link:

https://picasaweb.google.com/mariommendoza48/HairDayAndAltoQuielSchool?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJuUuafbn_-L2wE&feat=directlink

I'm still waiting for Lori Bock to come down. We'll keep you busy the whole time!!