Monday morning on March 8th in the clinic of Proyecto Vida (Project Life) everyone was busy comparing sunburn marks! Why you might ask? Well, the previous Saturday under the boiling hot sun of Pajapita, San Marcos (40 minutes away from the Pacific Ocean and 10 minutes away from the Mexican border) over 250 people celebrated the Inauguration of the site where Hospice Santa Maria will be built.

Sister Marlene Condo and myself moved one step nearer to realizing our dream of offering hospice care to terminally ill people suffering with AIDS. About 6 months ago, we had received a donation of land situated 200 meters off the Pan-American Highway, which runs through Central America. Cesar and Rodolfo Peña, sons of a wealthy landowner, began to sell off the land about 4 years ago in order to build a planned community; anticipating increased trade fro north to south. Within their plans they also insisted on social projects, which would benefit the community.

The work Proyecto Vida is doing in caring for over 500 people living with HIV/AIDS came to Cesar’s attention and they approached me, as the project coordinator, with the offer of 20,000 square feet of land. We met as a team along with members of Gente Unida (People United), a registered NGO group of HIV positive people formed through Proyecto Vida and decided that the land would be ideal to build a hospice.

However, due to lack of funding, the hospice will have to be built solely by donations. From its inception our intention has always been to include the local people and invite hem to donate either money or building materials. Eco-Residenciales, Las Palmeras, Cesar’s development project, offered to get the ball rolling with a well publicized handing over of the title deeds for the land.

And so, that’s why on the 6th of March we found ourselves along with Maryknoll Sisters Jane Buellesbach, Mary Lou Daoust, Rae Ann O’Neill, Silvia Pacheco and Mi Young Sung, vying for the tiny speck of shade offered by the food tents and well occupied by the other 240 guests. The place was filled with music, activity, and the live broadcast of the event by 2 cable TV stations and 6 radio stations. The hospice plans designed by Mark Otto Condon, Sister Marlene’s nephew, were on show in the display tent. Otto works as an architect for a firm in Washington, DC. He came down on a two-week unpaid leave to design the hospice without cost! Inspired by his generosity, Edy Samayoa, a local architect and builder, has offered to oversee the construction free of charge and following Otto’s design.

Through promotion on the radio stations (not a day goes by without one of us being interviewed) people have begun responding positively to our hospice appeal. Father Mario blessed the water donated by the municipality, the land, Otto’s plans, as well as the bridge joining the main road to the site! We had clowns for the children, disco music for the teenagers and plenty of good food for all of us. Speeches, speeches, and more speeches accompanied the unveiling of a commemorative plaque with bouquets of flowers and decorative plates of thanksgiving presented to César Peña. At 3 p.m., tired, burnt, but happy, we all headed for home.