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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1987)
NEED AN APARTMENT? ATLANTA'S The RENTAL m CONNECTION Inc ho Total Relocation Company 2250 Cetfb Parkway Walk In Peace PAGE 11 — The Georgia Bulletin, April 16, 1987 (Continued from page 1) artificial limbs. Gerald and Betty Ferland, owners of Ferland Prosthetics of Atlanta, and Aubrey Smith, ar tificial limb manufacturers, donated their time and materials to make legs needed for the three victims, a donation worth more than $10,000. Carmen, however, because her condition required more extensive therapy, remained at Jubilee Partners. Her treatment is supervised by Dr. Ashok Bhoomkar, head of the amputee ward at the Emory University Center for Rehabilitation Medicine. Dr. J. Robin deAndrade, or thopedic surgeon with Emory Clinic, removed scar tissue and bone spur which would have aggravated the prosthesis. This past Tuesday the process of fitting Carmen with ar tificial limbs was begun by making a mold, similar to the kind made for dental work. The custom-made prothesis will be patterned from this mold. If all goes as planned. Carmen will return to Nicaragua May 5 or 6. The miracle of healing for Carmen goes beyond being able, someday, to walk again. Her losses are deep. She was engaged to be married at the time of the explosion. The powerful medication she needed caused her to lose her hair. She had lost any desire even to care for herself, according to 36-year-old Pauline Aguilar, bilingual Spanish speaking resident of Jubilee who served as interpreter. “She went through a lot of depression, a lot of doubts." added Ms. Anguilar who shares a small bedroom with Carmen and uses her nursing skills as Carmen’s aide, con fidante and physical therapist. “She'd ask, ‘Why did God let this happen? Will I ever get married? What's going to happen to me?' She did nothing for herself. I’d have to push her: ‘You can bathe yourself — you can move yourself from the bed to the chair.’” One of the first signs of new life, internal as well as exter nal. Ms. Aguilar added, was the ecstatic discovery of new hair growth. Gradually Carmen has struggled toward a new self-reliance, a renewed self-concept. Carmen is physically lovely, with laughing brown eyes fringed by sweeping lashes, a shy smile and an upper body uncrippled by the mine blast. She has learned to knit, has developed her cooking skills, has taken child-care classes. She blushes deeply when she hears the name of her male English teacher mentioned in the English conversation. With an impish grin she refuses to give stock answers to translated interview questions, but teases her nurse interpreter with unexpected replies. On The Cover The photo on the front page of The Georgia Bulletin, taken by Don Mosley of Jubilee Partners, shows seven-year-old Elda San chez, her shy smile illuminating her face as she stands up for the first time on her new ar- tificial limb. Also pictured are Pauline Aguilar from Jubilee Partners, seated, and Betty and Gerald Ferland, owners of an Atlanta prosthetics firm, who donated their skills and materials. The photo was taken in late February and Elda has since returned home to Nicaragua. Carmen’s daily hour-long physical therapy aims at strengthening the upper torso muscles she will need to lift herself onto her pros thesis. The therapy also in volves exercising the re maining thigh and leg muscles needed for manipulating the artificial limbs. Carmen’s care is part of Jubilee’s newly launched “Walk in Peace’’ cam paign. The campaign solicits tax-deductible donations to provide ar tificial limbs for an estimated 2,000 amputee victims of the war in Nicaragua waged by Con tras who oppose the Sandinista Government. Its far- reaching goal is to give rehabilitation help to every am putee in that country, without regard to their political views. They plan to use donations to set up clinics through the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health in cooperation with the Red Cross. On-the-spot clinics will be necessary because young am putees such as Elda will need yearly replacements of their prosthesis as they grow. Even adult amputees should have their artificial limbs replaced every five years. The idea for “Walk in Peace” came to Don Mosley, a founder of the Jubilee community, last October while he was visiting Nicaragua. Shortly after he arrived with an American religious delegation, the landmine blew up the truck. Mosley saw the opportunity to make a further con crete application of the Jubilee commitment to living lives of Christian compassion. “Walk in Peace” parallels the larger Jubilee program whose theme comes from the Old Testament practice of proclaiming every 50 years a Year of Jubilee. During that year slaves were freed and the poor and needy ministered to in special ways. For Mosley, “Walk in Peace” provides the chance to bring about two “miracles" — giving sight to the blind and limbs to the crippled. The blind, in this case, according to Mosley, are those in this country who do not FRIENDS — Carmen, right, with her companion and confidante, Pauline Aguilar, of Jubilee Partners. see the devastating effects of American support of the Con tras in Nicaragua. Mosley quoted a letter he had just received from Edgar Chamorro, former Contra leader: “The Contras were also using mines of a distinctive character to cripple soldiers and harvest workers and indirectly to cripple the govern ment with the take-care (caretaking) of so many handicap ped persons.” Mosley also said that the Contras control the area where the landmine blew up the bus carrying the San chez family. A long-time proponent of a political settlement of the Nicaragua dispute, Mosley insists. “We must stop intensi fying the violence by sending more military hardware because the greatest victims are the civilians who are caught between the two sides. We believe that there are clear diplomatic alternatives to military violence which are not getting a fair chance.” Mosley’s group, a daughter community of the Koinonia community based in Americus. Georgia, settled on 260 acres in Comer in 1979. From the beginning the community focused on welcoming refugees — first those from Southeast Asia, and, more recently, screening political refugees from Central America for asylum in Canada. As a legal halfway house between Central America and Canada, the center offers its refugee guests not only food and shelter, but also classes in English and a general orien tation to the northern culture. Of the more than 800 involved in this program, the center has successfully helped 98 per cent reach Canadian asylum. At the present time, the community consists of 35 members: full-fledged Jubilee Partners, novices who are in the process of becoming Partners and guests who are sharing the communal lifestyle on a temporary basis. This lifestyle is frugal. Meals are simple; household duties, cooking and outdoor chores are shared in common. A simple devotion precedes the noon meal in the communi ty’s large living-dining room. Besides working with the refugees, members continue to update their own skills. Presently they are taking a CPR course. Their life is not all work, however. Plans are being made for a white-water float in the near future. As Mosley commented in Jubilee’s April newsletter: “Jubilee is a great place to celebrate Easter. Resurrection surrounds us.” THERAPY —In ad dition to physical ex ercises, Carmen has been knitting, cooking and learning English. Doctors hope she will be able to return home in early May. MORRISON FARMS, inc. 3086 Osborne Rd., N.E. NOW OPEN TO THE PUBLIC We grow our plant products. HANGING BASKETS: • Ivy Leaf Geraniums • Angel Wing Begonias GERANIUMS: All Colors/Sizes TOMATO PLANTS BEDDING PLANTS The Price Is CALADIUMS & Other Plants 261-3502 Close By OLA Right WINDSOR PKWY. OGLETHORPE UNIVERSITY GEORGIA BULLETIN Ads Bring Results!
