When I first came to Peru, I worked in the Health and Nutrition Education Project that Food for the Hungry was carrying out in Lima. One of the main activities of the project was training and mentoring volunteer community health promoters; that is how I met Suzy. She had started as a health promoter around the same time I started working with the project.
I remember working alongside Suzy doing home visits to families in her neighborhood. At first she was really shy about knocking on the doors of her neighboors and sharing with them about different health messages or are asking to check their water containers for mosquito larva. But little by little she began to gain confidence in her abilities to serve her community as a health promoter.
One day in particular I got to see the fruit of this work. Early in the afternoon I had accompanied Suzy on about 15 home visits to teach families about the prevention of Dengue, check for mosquito larva and take samples if any to the community health center. Suzy was still a bit nervous about going door to door by herself, but as I had to go to another meeting she agreed to visit the last few homes on her list alone. Later, as I was leaving my meeting, going down the community stairs to meet up with the FH truck and go home for the day, I ran into Suzy also headed down the stairs. I asked her how things had gone, and she replied back with a huge smile "Im going down to the health center to turn in my work." When I saw Suzy´s smile, and the joy she had in sharing with me that she had completed this important service for her community, I realized that the real fruit of the work of FH. It is not just about the teaching of a public health topic, or providing leadership training, or starting a community savings group, or carrying out violence prevention activities, but the real fruit of the work of FH is the transformation of people´s lives.
So I have to say that it was a huge joy to see Suzy´s story of transformation on the FH website today. Here is a link to the story published there:
http://www.fh.org/learn/newsletter/april-2012#story2
Praise God for his transformative work in Suzy´s life.
From grumpy to grateful
A woman with an attitude finds grace and purpose
Susy, left, teaches women in her community about health.
Kindness. Goodness. Gentleness. What can happen when people are shown the fruit of the Spirit?
Ask Susy Marlene Cabello, a young mother and wife from Peru, and she might say “a change of character.”
Interestingly, Susy and her family live in a community called Nueva Imagen, which means “new image.” The area is overpopulated and deep in poverty. Families don’t feel safe. Job opportunities are few.
Susy wasn’t a happy camper either. She studied to be a technical nurse, but had to stop because money was tight. This frustrated her. She coped by directing her anger toward her daughter. Neighbors say she was a difficult person.
But her heart was about to change.
One day, Susy’s mother learned about the work of Food for the Hungry in the community. Through givers like you, FH had started a child sponsorship outreach. A key component of the program was educating families and volunteers about health and disease prevention.
FH staff met with families to teach them about being healthy, loving parents, how to keep their children healthy, and how to grow closer to God.
Now, Susy enjoys a healthy relationship with her daughter and husband.
Susy decided to attend these meetings and was touched by the staff’s warm, loving welcome. They treated her with respect and patiently guided her into discovering her potential.
Soon, Susy became actively involved in promoting good health in her community.And as she continued to participate in various trainings, her self-confidence, knowledge about health, and awareness of God increased. Her relationship with her husband, daughter and neighbors improved.
Today, Susy is passionate about community development. Point to any successful project – library, soccer field, community center – and people will say she had a hand in it.
