Mission to Mexico
May 31 - June 3, 2019
It is always exciting to return to Quintana Roo capital city of Chetumal, Cancun Mexico. The parish of The Immaculate Conception allowed me to return and serve the people of its communities.
People are very friendly. This time I was able to work at the parish with air conditioning. It was very hot, sunny and humid during the visit. It rained every day, as can be typical at the end of the Summer or wet season there.
On this visit I purchased and installed a new dental chair, which was urgently needed to seat patients more comfortably and to enable me to see their mouth and clean their teeth more efficiently. What an essential addition to the portable dental unit! I also brought sufficient supplies to service more than 100 children and parishioners during the mission.
Doctor Carlos Zuñiga who lives in Chetumal helped out this time. He is very wise and has lots of dental experience. With him there is no pain during extractions, so the patients were very pleased with him. Many have missing teeth and need dentures. During the mission Dr Zuñiga was able to take some dental impressions to make some partial dentures, which was a great deal for these folks. Some of them had their partials completed on the last day of the mission.
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Some more serious cases needed further work, such as full dentures, and they were taken care of by Dr Zuñiga at his clinic. We saw a boy 10 years old who lost his mother a month ago. He has three siblings and lives with his grandmother, and has lots of cavities. We were able to save 2 molars, but he will need to have more dental care sand ongoing treatment. Dr Zuñiga will restore his mouth at no cost
People received flip flops, beanie babies, toothbrushes, toothpaste and Holy Rosaries from us. I brought my Ipad and music tool, and played music during the mission. People loved it. Some said it helped relax them, some felt like dancing, and others felt great peace and joy.
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Reading glasses and sunglasses are always needed, because many people have problems with their vision. The sun is very bright and they complain of headaches difficulty walking or driving on hot, sunny days.
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A friend Alicia who lives near the church fed us lunch every day. I enjoyed delicious Mexican meals like: milanesas con rebusca; quibis; tortilla con mantequilla; tostadas con rebusca; and delicious “tumbada”, a special dish from Veracruz.
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On this mission I had excellent helpers with the “ministras” – the three ladies Kathy, Norma and Elie helped keep people in order, clean the dental instruments, distribute the reading glasses and deliver “la despensa”. They worked very hard. We were all exhausted at the end of the day, but very happy!
On our last day we distributed the grocery bags – called “la despensa” in Mexico – to families who are having financial problems. Each bag contained lots of food items that they could cook over a few meals.
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I always have mixed feelings when the mission is over. I am sad to leave my friends, but happy to know that I will be back again in the near future.
Thank you to all the donors who made this mission possible – also to the Colgate Company for the toothpaste.
Thank you to all friends and supporters for your prayers, love, and friendship. We made it again, together; and will repeat it again and again!
Many blessings to you all.
Susana Scarlet Sandoval
June 2019