Nestor Jaramillo (center) talks with Congresswoman Betty McCollum (left) and the NPH chaperone (right) that
traveled with the children from El Salvador. |
Congresswoman McCollum presents Vanessa and the other
children with an American flag along with a certificate
stating that each flag had been flown over the US capitol
in their honor. The Congresswoman was instrumental in
expediting the children's visas. |
Minnesota businessman Nestor Jaramillo was inspired to
help these children after seeing one of them in a traveling
dance troop at his church. He contacted Friends of the
Orphans and discovered that not one, but five children
at the NPH home in El Salvador had misaligned eyes.
Jaramillo enlisted the services of doctors, nurses and a
hospital in order to make the surgeries possible. With
the medical arrangements in place, he purchased airline
tickets for the five children and their chaperone from
NPH El Salvador to Minneapolis. Friends of the Orphans
then organized the host families that cared for the
children while in Minnesota. |
Estela and Vanessa help the host families prepare Sunday dinner. |
Hector and the other children play on their last day in Minnesota. |
Brian (left), Hector (center) and Jonas (right) are full of life after their eye surgeries. After the boys returned to El
Salvador, Father Hicks said, "the three boys loved the snow. They couldn't stop talking about their own experiences ... but
mostly, they were telling me what the others did. For example, 'He cried on the plane.' 'He ate a lot of ice cream.' 'I ate cereal
in the morning, but he wanted to eat pizza in the morning!'" |
Brian beams as he holds hands with his host parents. |
Friends of the Orphans
Minnesota Region
2052 Marshall Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55104
USA
651.482.1703
jhawkinson@friendsus.org
www.friendsoftheorphans.org
|
“They are no longer orphaned and abandoned.
They are our children.”
—judy hawkinson, executive director
friends of the orphans, minnesota region |
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