Autumn 2008

by Global Ministries | published on Oct 10, 2014

“Semana Santa” or Holy Week is upon us and is a very special time in the Paraguayan culture. On Wednesday most businesses close and people start making chipas to eat during the holidays. While about 95% of the population is Catholic, most of them only go to church on Christmas and Easter. The Christmas celebration is just one day. However the Easter celebration begins on Thursday to commemorate the last supper, extends to Friday, the day of the death of Jesus, and then culminates with the celebration of his resurrection on Easter Sunday. The streets of Asuncion are very quiet on the day before Easter as everyone rests, munches on chipas, and awaits the following day of celebration.

Introductory Note: MAESTRA is a health clinic project from Friendship Mission, one of the Global Mission partners in Paraguay.

I would like to divert from previous up-dates and tell about the 2 Paraguayan girls that we are fortunate to have working with us on Project MAESTRA.

Delia Lopez is our nurse. She is a graduate of the Friendship Mission School of Nursing which is a 2 year program and the equivalent to a licensed practical nurse. She grew up in central eastern Paraguay, the oldest of a family of 4. Her father is a farmer. He cultivates 8 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 8 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 2 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 2 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!

Nelida Lopez is the secretary/receptionist for Project MAESTRA. She started working with us last September when we lost our social worker. She is Delia’s sister and the third member of the family of four. “Neli” is very different from her older sister with light brown hair and a very petite body. Neli also was told by her father that she needed to drop out of school after the 9th grade. However at that time he traveled to Argentina to work. Neli then moved to Luque to live with her aunt, and instead of working, as her father intended her to do, she attended school. After one year her father found out. But instead of being angry he saw that she really wanted to attain this goal and allowed her to move back home and finish school locally. After high school Neli moved to Asuncion to find work, but here is where her life took a turn totally different from her older sister. Neli is a natural athlete who enjoys playing all kinds of sports. In Asuncion she played on a local women’s soccer team and they won the local league championship. Officials from a local sports club took notice of her lightning speed and asked her if she would like to run track for them. She agreed to give it a try. For her first race they put her in the 800 meters event and she came in second. This apparently was impressive enough that her coaches gave her some light weight track shoes to replace her own tennis shoes. The next race she won. The club traveled to meets in Argentina and she continued to win. She won not only the 800, but also the 400, 200, and 100 meter races. She won trophies for best all-around athlete at 2 of the meets she went to. She set new Paraguay records for the 100 and 200 meter dashes. When the season ended she was named best female athlete of the year for Paraguay. However, when she went home to rest for 3 weeks at the end of the season, people complained that she did not deserve the award because she had not been training and competing for years and years like many of the other participants. As a result when she returned from her home she learned that the trophy had been taken away from her. She left with tears of disappointment. However, a coach from a different team spoke out on her behalf, and even though he was not able to re-instate her award, he was able to convince her to continue to compete under his tutelage. Last August she represented Paraguay in the South American games in Sao Paulo and came in 4th. After this she walked away, saying she was tired and needed to start working to pursue a career. This is when she started with MAESTRA. However, the track officials continued to contact her and ask her to come back. Last month she finally agreed to return to competition when they met her demands for a monthly stipend and also a 100% college scholarship as soon as she proves that she can win again. She is going to the track every morning at 6:00 AM to train and get back into shape under the tutelage of her previous coach with plans to return to competition in May. She continues to work for MAESTRA in the afternoons.

In October I announced to the MAESTRA team that Marianne and I would be going back to the states for a month in December. We talked about how they would be able to continue to do the clinics in my absence since I drive my minivan to all of the sites. Neli decided she wanted to do the driving. She studied the book and got her license. She found a friend who let her practice driving. Every Sunday afternoon when the streets are not crowded with traffic we went for a drive. At first she was terrible, almost hitting a parked car. But she learned rapidly, and by the time I left she was able to drive to all of the clinic sites.

A majority of the young people who grow up in the country migrate to the city because there is no money in the rural areas. But most of them find work as maids or street venders and are satisfied with this. Delia and Nelida are honest, reliable, intelligent individuals who are improving their status through education and hard work. We are not only proud to have them on the MAESTRA team; they are the future of MAESTRA and Paraguay.

Paul Jacquay

Paul Jacquay serves as a long term volunteer at Mision de Amistad (Friendship Mission) in Paraguay. Paul works as health consultant for the medical department and is a nurse trainer at the Mision de Amistad School of Nursing.