San Lorenzo lies in the far north west corner of Ecuador, on the Pacific coast, in the Esmeraldas province. Described by the guidebooks as “wild and remote”, Esmeraldas is a mix of jungle, river and sea. But, while it may be a paradise for intrepid explorers looking for a challenge, it is a very different story for the people who live there.
San Lorenzo is about five miles from the Colombian border and is one of the most needy and neglected areas of the country. The mainly black population subsists by farming and fishing. Most of them live in abject poverty, which means they survive on less than 60 pence per day.
There is a high incidence of preventable blindness in the area, due mainly to glaucoma and cataract, so in 1989 HCJB opened a small eye clinic. Each month an ophthalmologist and nurse would fly down from Quito with Missionary Aviation Fellowship as at that time there was no road to San Lorenzo and the only way in was by air or by motor launch. Over the years many thousands of people had their sight restored and saved through surgery at the clinic.
Once the road from Quito was opened the population of San Lorenzo grew very quickly from 5000 to 27,000 and with it grew the social problems. Sitting on the main drug trafficking route from Colombia, San Lorenzo is no stranger to violence - in the first three months of 2004 there were 27 murders. Indeed almost every week there are horrifying stories of robberies and murder, usually drug- related. But the people of San Lorenzo are kind, generous and warm-hearted, and incredibly needy.
Seeing the wider health needs, in 1999 HCJB Community Development built a new health centre, housing a full-time doctor and a dentist as well as the eye clinic staff. Since 2003 missionary Dr. Jane Weaver has directed the clinic. She is a surgeon and for one week each month offers general surgery to the people of San Lorenzo.
The needs of the people of San Lorenzo are not just physical, there is great spiritual need too and so a children’s club has been started at the clinic as well as a work amongst local women. These ministries have grown to such an extent that a new extension to the clinic is in the process of being built to house them. It has been encouraging to see the enthusiasm of both the women and children and we trust that by teaching Christian values and telling them about a God who loves them, there will be a change in the hearts of the people of San Lorenzo.
Sheila Leech, Director of Healthcare, HCJB
