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Delia Lopez is our nurse. She is a graduate of the Friendship Mission School of Nursing which is a two-year program and the equivalent to a licensed practical nurse. She grew up in central eastern Paraguay, the oldest of a family of four. Her father is a farmer. He cultivates eight hectares (20 acres) on the family farm. He is not the owner of the land. It belongs to his older sister who took over ownership when their mother died. He had to move away from the farm when his sister took over, and lives on a one acre plot about a kilometer from the family farm. He grows mandioca, peanuts, corn, and black beans for not only his family but also his older brother’s family of eight and his older sister. He also grows cotton and sesame to sell and use as spending money to buy other necessities. The family also shares the products of two milk cows and a few other cattle are raised either as meat to be eaten or to sell at market.
When Delia went to the local school, all of the teachers spoke the native language, Guaranie; but all of the text books were in Spanish and everything that they wrote had to be done in Spanish. After 9th grade Delia’s father told her that she needed to go to work to help support the family by paying her own way. The first thing she bought with the money that she made as a waitress was a real bed with a mattress. She had been sleeping on a bed of leather straps that her father had made when she was a child. When the local plywood factory closed Delia lost her job due to the slow down of the economy. So she headed to Asuncion to find work as an “empleada,” a live-in servant to cook, clean house, and wash clothes. As soon as she found stable employment she started going to night school to get her high school diploma. After earning her diploma she continued to work her way through nursing school. She is as good a nurse as any that I have ever worked with, anticipating patients’ needs and bringing me equipment or supplies often before I ask for them. She also serves as my interpreter in the rare event that a patient speaks only Guaranie. Her work with MAESTRA is just part time. When she announced that she would need to quit her position in order to find a more lucrative position, Marianne and I sat down with her and asked if she would work for us to clean our apartment and clothes two mornings a week in order to make more money and at the same time stay with MAESTRA. We were all happy when she agreed to do so!
Prepared by: Office of Resource Development
Global Ministries
P.O. Box 1986
Indianapolis, IN 46206
Tel: (317) 713-2555
Fax: (317) 635-4323
Email:
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