Day 6-7:
Puebla 2014 – Mission Complete!
One of our RN team members said it best, “Puebla. Fantastic people, long hot OR days, mole galore, really old pyramids, ornate churches, steaming volcanoes, artistic talavera, and some fun nights to name a few highlights. Most importantly 28 smiles improved and so many more lives touched. Gracias Puebla!” – Joey Rogers 2014.
We left off with our 75-year old friend, Samuel. He looks great and can’t wait to grow his mustache back! His family, who’s finding out one-by-one after his surgery, is in for a BIG surprise because they had no idea it even took place. The Austin Smiles team was in tears of joy as we presented Samuel to his wife, granddaughter, and daughter for the first time after surgery. Samuel is a funny guy and finally has a completed smile that he’ll be showing off for the rest of his days.
On the Austin Smiles missions you receive a “Free Day”! It is the last day of the trip and it’s a reward for ALL of your hard work. Free days are awesome! Friday morning the crew headed out on an “official” city guided tour. There was The Great Pyramid of Cholula dating back to 200 B.C., Bibliotecca Palafoxiana which was founded in 1646 and considered the first public library in the Americas, famous Catholic churches, such as The Santa Maria Tonantzintla and San Francisco Acatepec. It was all amazing! Puebla is a beautiful historic place and we squeezed in about as much sightseeing as we could into one day.
Our final event and evening of this 2014 inaugural Austin Smiles Puebla trip included a invitation to the Governor’s Mansion by his wife, Martha Erika Alonso de Moreno Valle. She is the acting President of DIF Estala Puebla, an organization who’s mission statement is: “To contribute to the integral development of the population subject to social assistance and full reintegration into society through actions of health, education and income generation options. All this in order to contribute to social policy in poverty reduction and attention to vulnerable groups.” The Puebla Government supported Austin Smiles during our trip and made us feel extremely welcome. The night included an elegant four course meal while enjoying conversations with all our new friends who played a big part in making the trip a success.
This concludes our final blog of the Austin Smiles Puebla Trip 2014. Thank you Puebla, we’ll see you again soon!
