Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving Day 1985


Friday, November 16, 2007 Thanksgiving Day 1985



(This is something that I wrote many years ago as an essay for a college admissions officer, when I applied and was accepted into a private university on an academic scholarship.)

Thanksgiving Day is a special time for love, togetherness and above all, it is a time to give thanks for the blessing bestowed upon our lives. Traditionally, that "fourth Thursday" in November places us around the dining room table at our favorite grandmother's house.
Do you remember where you were on Thanksgiving Day 1985 ??? I worked a sixteen hour shift on November 28, 1985. Separated by a thousand miles from my closest family member, my Thanksgiving dinner consisted of a sandwich and a semi-warm bottle of Coca-Cola. As a volunteer with the medical group PROYECTO HUASTECO "SONRISA ALEGRE", I had agreed to spend Thanksgiving week in Panuco, Veracruz, Mexico. Proyecto Huasteco provides plastic surgery to patients in Mexico to repair cleft lip and palate deformities.
The idea of showing love to your fellow man highlights the volunteer program. The Mexican people demonstrated an unlimited supply of love. Everyone in Panuco seemed to do their part to make the volunteer team welcome. Each morning the medical team volunteers were picked up in front of the hotel by volunteer taxi drivers. Arriving at the hospital, we were always met by the friendly "senoras" that cooked our meals. By 7:00 am the operating rooms were stocked and ready to begin surgery. My particular role in the project was translator, secretary and trouble-shooter.
Spending almost twenty-four hours a day with a group of strangers makes for quick friendships. Very few of the volunteers possessed bilingual language skills. It was not uncommon to observe volunteers "talking" to each other through a series of gestures along with pointing to a word in the dictionary. We worked together, ate our meals together and spent all of our free time together. We laughed and sang songs together. We exchanged gifts and mailing addresses.
Although Thanksgiving is not a Mexican holiday, the small town of Panuco, Veracruz had good reason to celebrate. At the end of the week, seventy-two patients were especially thankful for their gift of a new smile. The "graduation" ceremony marked a new beginning for these patients and a celebration of life and it's many blessings. Although there was no actual pay for the work done, we received much more than we gave. Money can not be compared with the warm smiles of the patients, the generous hugs and well wishes from the family members.
As I finished my Thanksgiving dinner, my thoughts turned to my hometown and my own family. I thought of how lucky we are to have our health, our family and a comfortable lifestyle. How very often we overlook the basics. At 10pm my visit to the children's ward found most of the patients asleep, holding in their arms new rag dolls and toy trucks. As I walked through the corridor, seeing the nurses making their rounds, I came to the conclusion that we should ALL be thankful to live in a world where people still care about strangers and the efforts of one person can touch the heart of another.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Wonderful.

When we lived in Wales, the local brass band played the hospitals on Christesmas morning & I tagged along, though, by that stage my playing days were over thanks to an RTA. Our Christesmas never started until after the hospital visits & I loved those visits, singing carols with the staff & patients.

Anonymous said...

I must respond to your blog. I was on the Proyecto Huesteco trip with you in 1985. You can e mail me @sneben@sbcglobal.net. I was looking on google to see what I could find as I am giving a talk at the Spring Texas Association of Nurse Anesthetist on Medical Missions. Would you believe I have been on every one of Dr. Gracia's trips since 1982 but one as I was under going chemo.
Nice to se some one who remembers those time this late.
Sharon Neben