First Parish Church Features

2004 First Parish Church Mission Trip to El Salvador

Sue Chadima's Remarks

ASAPROSAR is located in Santa Ana, El Salvador's second largest city.

ASAPROSAR was established by Dr. Vicky Guzman, an El Salvadoran doctor who in the 1970s decided to commit her life's work to helping serve the "poorest of the poor"

The program started in one village, but ASAPROSAR now provides rural health care to poor El Salvadorans in more than 150 villages, helping improve the lives of as many as 70,000 people each year.

One of the major programs at ASAPROSAR involves providing eye care to the rural poor.

The facilities at ASAPROSAR include some of the best eye care equipment in the country. Through a screening program in the country-side and on-site work, ASAPROSAR helps provide cataract surgery, treatment for glaucoma, eye glasses, and other eye care to more than 20,000 El Salvadorans each year.

For some of the poor who are treated, it may take a significant amount of their savings to pay for the bus trip to Santa Ana to receive the surgery.

In 1973, Dr. Guzman was jailed in a military prison because the government was suspicious of her work with the poor. She was jailed again and abused in 1987, during the height of the civil war. There remains opposition to some of her work from the government and El Salvador's medical establishment.

Shortly before our arrival, Dr. Guzman had performed surgery on a 10 year old child who had been blind her entire life.

As the child opened her eyes to see her mother for the first time, Dr. Guzman was reminded of the rewards of her work - despite the many challenges.

One of my goals on the trip was to help establish a partnership between the Brunswick Rotary Club and the Rotary Club of Santa Ana.

In the Bible, Matthew 11:4-5 reads:

Jesus answered, 'Go back and tell John what you hear and see; the blind see again, and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear… and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor.'"

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