Laramie, 6, is shown how to brush his teeth. Elfren holds his bag of gifts. Diego, 4, gets his temperature checked. Connie had a successful dental visit. Some of the barracks at the Pungoteague Migrant Camp. Wildon holds onto his prescription after getting a tooth pulled.

Efren wiped the sweat from his brow. It was an early Saturday evening and the middle-aged Mexican man had put in a long day picking tomatoes in the fields of Pungoteague, Virginia. As his bus drove back to the camp, he noticed a white tent pitched on the grounds. He soon learned that Operation Blessing, the Peninsula Christian Free Clinic and Eastern Shore Rural Health System were holding a free medical and dental clinic. “Good,” he thought. "Several teeth have been hurting me."

A Father’s Sacrifice
It's been four years since Efren has seen his wife and two daughters. Not able to find a steady job in Mexico, Efren decided to join the migrant circuit. He gets misty-eyed when talking about how he misses his family. Speaking with them by phone isn’t the same. Efren is on a migrant crew that begins each harvest year in Florida and works its way up through to Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania. He is one of over 4,000 migrant people that come each year to work on Virginia’s Eastern Shore during harvest season.

Showered and dressed in black jeans, red shirt and worn tan cowboy boots, Efren waited to see a team dentist. A smile crept onto his worn face when steadying his great-nephew’s wobbly walk. His niece Leonides, her husband and son recently joined the migrant circuit too. Soon his name was called and his cavities were filled.

Efren is one of 143 patients that received free medical or dental care and had prescriptions filled during our weekend medical mission. A team of 50 dentists, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, translators and support people volunteered their time to serve men, women and children originally from Mexico, Guatemala, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua. Five medical centers already exist in the area, but dental services aren’t offered yet. “Good things are being said about you,” commented Nancy Stern, CEO of Eastern Shore Rural Health System. “You are bridging the gap especially by providing dental services. Building trust with the migrant population is a must.”

A Mother’s Dedication For Education
Quiet in nature, Connie also came to see the dentist. For the last twelve years she has spent her summers in the United States. After making a meager salary teaching Spanish, math and science to elementary and high school students during the school year in Nicaragua, she joins her husband in Virginia. Beginning in June and ending in October, she sorts tomatoes at a packing plant for 12-16 hour shifts while her husband is out in the field. They work this hard so they can put their sons through school. Their three sons are studying hard in Nicaragua. The eldest will graduate from medical school in November. The youngest is 12. After her appointment, Connie received a bag containing vitamins, Gatorade, a toothbrush, toothpaste and a box of cereal bars. She says it is times likes these that make all of the hard work worth it. She knows someone cares.

A Young Man’s Dreams
This is the first summer that Wildon, 24, has endured the summer heat in a packing plant with hundreds of strangers. The Haitian-born man doesn’t mind working long hours if it means he can study biology and business in New Mexico. “I have my dreams and they will come true,” he shared while waiting to get a tooth pulled at our clinic. Looking like a basketball player, the 6’5” man came to the USA five years ago and speaks French, Creole, English as well as a little Spanish. His father came to the USA twenty-five years ago and worked in construction until recently when his health began failing. His family’s financial situation could bother him, but he chooses to press forward excited about what’s coming. After the dentist packed his mouth with gauze, Wildon still managed to give a smile and hug of thanks.

Efren, Connie and Wildon are just three of the people partners helped through Operation Blessing during our second USA medical mission ever! They come from three different countries and walks of life but all work hard for a better future even though enduring pain. Thank you for helping us treat their pain with free dental and medical services.

This is just the beginning of Operation Blessing’s USA-based medical mission program. Please help us reach out to others suffering in the USA, like those in Appalachia or the elderly who have no insurance. A gift of $50 can provide medications for 15 patients or supply power for dentists relieving the pain of 130 children with toothaches! We are beginning to plan our next mission now, but we need your help!

HOW YOU CAN HELP
Be a part of OBI's ongoing medical relief efforts by making an online contribution to help those suffering from extreme poverty and sickness.

 

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