From CAPT Tom Negus, Mission Commander of Continuing Promise 2009:
Lives forever changed...
Over the last ten or so days, something of incalculable significance was happening in the tiny town of Tumaco on the very southern-most peninsula on the Pacific side of the beautiful country of Colombia. Something so amazing that it could someday transform the world as surely as any other global event. What was this incredible event that had people crying in the streets and yet laughing in each others' arms all at the same time?
It was the visit to this tiny town of the international, interagency, and inter-service team of compassionate humanitarians onboard the USNS COMFORT that came to provide a host of medical, dental, veterinary, and engineering services to the oft-forgotten town of Tumaco, home to almost 200,000 of Colombia's neediest people.
It is my humbling privilege to lead this amazing team as Mission Commander for CONTINUING PROMISE 09. I am CAPT Tom Negus, and I just relieved CAPT Robert "Linus" Lineberry as Mission Commander while this magnificent ship was moored in the harbor of Tumaco, Colombia.
Throughout the 6-17 June visit of the COMFORT over 16,000 Colombian citizens were treated by an inexhaustible team of doctors, nurses, and corpsman of every service from 10 different nations, including Colombian providers. Over 1,100 livestock were treated by dedicated veterinarians, who saved animals lives and farmers' livelihoods in this region of Colombia--an area whose citizenry often make brave decisions in choosing not grow the cocoa leaves as demanded by narco-traffikers. Dentists treated thousands of people who had never been to a dentist in their lives, alleviating pain and discomfort that many had come to accept simply as their lot in life. And the mighty Seabees built an incredible school complex consisting of three classrooms, a kitchen, and --most important judging by the kid's reactions--a brand new playground on a field where previously only a single structure stood before. This new complex is a first for the students of the Exporcal neighborhood; truly the poorest of the poor, where the tidal estuary that snakes beneath their previous school--two stilted schoolroom shacks-- served as both bathing and recreation area and sewer.
There were a host of magical moments, as there are at every stop along this incredible journey called "CONTINUING PROMISE 09", too innumerable to count, as the spark of compassion generated by genuine human to human interaction amongst people who otherwise might never have know of the other brightens the spirit of all who participate. And it is truly that spark, generated one encounter at a time, one patient at a time, that makes CONTINUING PROMISE truly a magical journey. The magic that changes conditions, and changes attitudes, and changes lives--a magic that can someday change even countries and continents--all done one smile at a time.
The Mayor of Tumaco--my friend Neftali Correa Diaz--told me as I was leaving, that history will now record the story of 365 year-old Tumaco in two parts: …time before COMFORT, and time after COMFORT...". Well my friend, I thought to myself, it is I who has been changed; for I believe I will in the future measure my life in terms of before and after this wonderful town of Tumaco.
Over the last ten or so days, something of incalculable significance was happening in the tiny town of Tumaco on the very southern-most peninsula on the Pacific side of the beautiful country of Colombia. Something so amazing that it could someday transform the world as surely as any other global event. What was this incredible event that had people crying in the streets and yet laughing in each others' arms all at the same time?
It was the visit to this tiny town of the international, interagency, and inter-service team of compassionate humanitarians onboard the USNS COMFORT that came to provide a host of medical, dental, veterinary, and engineering services to the oft-forgotten town of Tumaco, home to almost 200,000 of Colombia's neediest people.
It is my humbling privilege to lead this amazing team as Mission Commander for CONTINUING PROMISE 09. I am CAPT Tom Negus, and I just relieved CAPT Robert "Linus" Lineberry as Mission Commander while this magnificent ship was moored in the harbor of Tumaco, Colombia.
Throughout the 6-17 June visit of the COMFORT over 16,000 Colombian citizens were treated by an inexhaustible team of doctors, nurses, and corpsman of every service from 10 different nations, including Colombian providers. Over 1,100 livestock were treated by dedicated veterinarians, who saved animals lives and farmers' livelihoods in this region of Colombia--an area whose citizenry often make brave decisions in choosing not grow the cocoa leaves as demanded by narco-traffikers. Dentists treated thousands of people who had never been to a dentist in their lives, alleviating pain and discomfort that many had come to accept simply as their lot in life. And the mighty Seabees built an incredible school complex consisting of three classrooms, a kitchen, and --most important judging by the kid's reactions--a brand new playground on a field where previously only a single structure stood before. This new complex is a first for the students of the Exporcal neighborhood; truly the poorest of the poor, where the tidal estuary that snakes beneath their previous school--two stilted schoolroom shacks-- served as both bathing and recreation area and sewer.
There were a host of magical moments, as there are at every stop along this incredible journey called "CONTINUING PROMISE 09", too innumerable to count, as the spark of compassion generated by genuine human to human interaction amongst people who otherwise might never have know of the other brightens the spirit of all who participate. And it is truly that spark, generated one encounter at a time, one patient at a time, that makes CONTINUING PROMISE truly a magical journey. The magic that changes conditions, and changes attitudes, and changes lives--a magic that can someday change even countries and continents--all done one smile at a time.
The Mayor of Tumaco--my friend Neftali Correa Diaz--told me as I was leaving, that history will now record the story of 365 year-old Tumaco in two parts: …time before COMFORT, and time after COMFORT...". Well my friend, I thought to myself, it is I who has been changed; for I believe I will in the future measure my life in terms of before and after this wonderful town of Tumaco.
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