PLATTSBURGH — Mariel Juliano Ph.D. had signed up to help orphans in Ethiopia.
She quit her job as psychologist in a school for emotionally challenged children. She sold her Pennsylvania home.
But then the Ethiopia program fizzled out. Ready to go, Juliano was going nowhere.
Enter North Country Mission of Hope.
PERFECT TIMING
Juliano was in New York City, talking with the Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) about finding her another volunteer opportunity; that same day, representatives from Plattsburgh's Mission of Hope were there to discuss donation of medications for its programs in Nicaragua. And Senior Program Services Coordinator Kathy Tebbet had just learned the organization has programs for orphans.
"They walked in; I was looking for a placement," Juliano said.
It was nothing for Tebbet to connect the dots. Would the mission have use for a psychologist for a year— She asked Executive Director Sister Debbie Blow.
Oh, yes, Blow said.
She, Barbara Dobilas and mission veteran Sister Stephanie Frenette swept Juliano away from a meal in progress to a restaurant setting, where they fed her both lunch and a synopsis of all Mission of Hope does in Nicaragua.
"We had a very intense discussion," said Dobilas, who heads the mission's Orphan's Hope Project.
"It just felt like a great fit right away," Juliano said earlier this week, in Plattsburgh to meet with Mission of Hope Leadership's Executive Team and its medical committee.
Juliano, a Delaware native who earned her Ph.D. at Bryn Mawr, especially wanted to work in an orphanage abroad.
"I've always been interested with working with kids who have had disruption in care," she said.
Some issues an orphaned child in Nicaragua struggles with are likely similar to that of a child in the United States, she said.
"But the poverty down there is much more extreme," she said. "I'm definitely expecting more dire situations."
In the United States, Blow pointed out, there are systems of support for orphans, for the poor, whether through school, church or social welfare programs.
"Those types of options do not exist in Nicaragua," she said.
The plan, after in-service training by Blow, is for Juliano to fly to Nicaragua in early November accompanied by medical team leader Dr. Roger Patnode and leadership member James Carlin. She'll settle in to the mission's home near its Nicasa campus in Chiquilistagua and begin familiarizing herself with the people and their needs.
WOMEN'S ISSUES
Ideas formulating now as the psychologist learns more about Mission of Hope will coalesce once she's there.
She definitely wants to address female issues.
"Sexual boundaries, respecting themselves," she said. "The older girls can work to help the younger girls, so they really internalize the concepts."
Juliano can expect an enthusiastic response from those girls, Blow said.
"They really crave personal attention, and the older ones are very caring of the little girls.
"They're trying to be examples already to the little ones."
Past sex abuse very often is an issue with the orphans, Dobilas said. And all the children in those facilities likely have abandonment issues.
Mental health, Blow said, "is probably one of the single greatest areas of neglect right now in Nicaragua."
That statement is personified by a teen Mission of Hope tried to rescue named Alba, who had been raped and beaten on her way to school one day, who suffered ostracism from her peers and condemnation from her father. Rape, in Nicaragua, is often considered the fault of the woman.
"We could not guarantee she could get psychological counseling," said Blow, whose heart carries a continual ache over that tragic case.
"She's an example of lack of options and lack of support. Had we had Mariel four years ago," she said, "it could have been different for Alba."
Mission of Hope leaders here also welcome Juliano's presence in Nicaragua because she'll be able to give regular reports of what's happening there. It's difficult, at times, to get news.
"She will be key as our eyes and ears," Blow said.
Juliano, who speaks Italian, finds that romance language useful as she inhales lessons in Spanish. It's expected a translator will assist her in the beginning.
She knows the tremendous need she'll find could prove overwhelming.
"I think you have to set realistic goals and just know that any little bit you can do, even if it helps just one person, has to be fulfilling," she said.
But mission leadership will have her back; that's already clear, she said.
"It's been a tremendous support system already. It just makes it so easy for me to be prepared, to be excited and ready to go."
E-mail Suzanne Moore at: smoore@pressrepublican.com
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