Karla's story
We first met Karla about 3 years ago, when we were doing a medical clinic in Rio Dulce with another organization, Vine International. Vine has shipped medical supplies, albendazole and our water drills to Guatemala for us and needed a couple of medical providers on their medical mission trip, so Joe Bell and I agreed to go with them. It was an incredible trip.
We were sitting in the fire station with each provider having their own 'station' where we were seeing patients. I saw Karla walk in the front door and prayed that she would see another provider, not me. At the time, we had not been successful in getting the first child, Saul, to the United States for his corrective surgery. But of course, she ended up at my station. She looked up at me with her brown eyes and said, "I just want my feet to be like my sister's feet so I can walk." Karla has an identical twin sister who was NOT born with club feet. Of course, I sat and cried and promised that if we were successful with Saul, we would come looking for her. And we did.
When it came time to get Karla " on the list," I had lost the name of the lady who knew about Karla and her family. All I knew was that she owned a ranch on Lago Izabal, just outside of Rio Dulce. So one day, when traveling along the lake, in the area where I knew this woman lived we found her. We stopped and asked a man on a pier on the lake if he knew of a woman (whose name I did not know) who owned a ranch nearby. He sent us back up the lake about 100 yards to another pier, and sure enough, that was where she lived. She remembered me and of course, knew where to find Karla and her mother. She is a wonderful woman named Carol who does all she can to help the indigenous people living in that area. We met Karla and her mother the next day and were reassured that they did want to proceed with plans to bring her to the United States to have her feet 'fixed.'
So we proceeded. Michelle and Miguel Solis were instrumental in getting the application through Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas. Once we received confirmation that Scottish Rite would indeeed to her surgery at no cost, it became a matter of getting Karla's passport and Visa from the US Embassy in Guatemala. Once again a long and complicated process requiring two trips to the capital. This was done with Ana's help, a new found friend from Ireland who providentially was available to help with this. Karla's sister, Bernardina or Dina, was to travel with her and care for her throughout her surgeries.
Timing was crucial in getting the girls here. We did not want them to travel by themselves to Dallas by themselves if possible. When they were ready to travel, Pat Napier and a group of friends from a church in Dallas were in Guatemala working on a school for missionary, Joy Gring. Several people were very generous in their donation of frequent flyer miles to help the girls travel, and they traveled to Dallas with Pat's group. Like so many other things in her story, it was about perfect timing.
Once here, Karla and Dina spent the first few months with Miguel and Michelle SOlis who helped them adjust to life in the United States. She had her first surgery in October and is two above the knee casts and will have her second and last surgery on December 28, 2007. She is now staying with Lynette in Longview Texas.
We were sitting in the fire station with each provider having their own 'station' where we were seeing patients. I saw Karla walk in the front door and prayed that she would see another provider, not me. At the time, we had not been successful in getting the first child, Saul, to the United States for his corrective surgery. But of course, she ended up at my station. She looked up at me with her brown eyes and said, "I just want my feet to be like my sister's feet so I can walk." Karla has an identical twin sister who was NOT born with club feet. Of course, I sat and cried and promised that if we were successful with Saul, we would come looking for her. And we did.
When it came time to get Karla " on the list," I had lost the name of the lady who knew about Karla and her family. All I knew was that she owned a ranch on Lago Izabal, just outside of Rio Dulce. So one day, when traveling along the lake, in the area where I knew this woman lived we found her. We stopped and asked a man on a pier on the lake if he knew of a woman (whose name I did not know) who owned a ranch nearby. He sent us back up the lake about 100 yards to another pier, and sure enough, that was where she lived. She remembered me and of course, knew where to find Karla and her mother. She is a wonderful woman named Carol who does all she can to help the indigenous people living in that area. We met Karla and her mother the next day and were reassured that they did want to proceed with plans to bring her to the United States to have her feet 'fixed.'
So we proceeded. Michelle and Miguel Solis were instrumental in getting the application through Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas. Once we received confirmation that Scottish Rite would indeeed to her surgery at no cost, it became a matter of getting Karla's passport and Visa from the US Embassy in Guatemala. Once again a long and complicated process requiring two trips to the capital. This was done with Ana's help, a new found friend from Ireland who providentially was available to help with this. Karla's sister, Bernardina or Dina, was to travel with her and care for her throughout her surgeries.
Timing was crucial in getting the girls here. We did not want them to travel by themselves to Dallas by themselves if possible. When they were ready to travel, Pat Napier and a group of friends from a church in Dallas were in Guatemala working on a school for missionary, Joy Gring. Several people were very generous in their donation of frequent flyer miles to help the girls travel, and they traveled to Dallas with Pat's group. Like so many other things in her story, it was about perfect timing.
Once here, Karla and Dina spent the first few months with Miguel and Michelle SOlis who helped them adjust to life in the United States. She had her first surgery in October and is two above the knee casts and will have her second and last surgery on December 28, 2007. She is now staying with Lynette in Longview Texas.
posted by Refuge International at
1:05 PM
