PLATTSBURGH — George Moore traveled all the way to Nicaragua to put his seal of approval on the nearly complete North Country Mission of Hope medical/office facility.
Seeing is believing, that's his mantra.
"It's so well constructed, functional," said the Keeseville entrepreneur via cell phone from Nicaragua recently. "Very high-quality workmanship. I'm very, very much impressed."
He wasn't the only one. Crowds of villagers from the community of Chiquilistagua showed up at the facility after hearing the local priest was going to bless it during Moore's visit there.
"Magnifico," a little girl exclaimed, eyes wide as she studied the building, the Americans who had made it possible. "Magnifico."
The complex, about 90-percent complete, includes a clinic with two exam rooms, pharmacy, offices and storage space. The inside is tiled, painted, cooled by ceiling fans. Door handles and locks were being installed this week. And a priority of the Plattsburgh-based humanitarian aid organization's summer mission in early August will be to paint the outside of the clinic/offices. Then the group will move the medical equipment and supplies from the space now used for the purpose at nearby Nino Jesus de Praga School.
"Our hope is it will be open and functioning by the end of August," mission Executive Director Sister Debbie Blow said Thursday.
'UNBELIEVABLE'
A high wall surrounds the property, with a guardhouse and pavilion on the grounds as well as a 20-foot water tower.
Landscaping is yet to come, but the villagers that day in early July only saw proof that the American group had put down permanent roots that would expand the assistance it gives the poor there. An elderly man put his hands on Blow's arms, rattling off words so fast that all she understood was "esperanza," Spanish for "hope."
"Then he shook George's hand," she said. "He just took his hand and shook it very hard. The elder of one community to the elder of another community — that nonverbal interaction was so symbolic."
Moore had, through the George and Shirley Moore Foundation he'd established with his late wife, put up $100,000 for the project, which included purchase of the land that has become Nicasa, the Nicaraguan headquarters of the Plattsburgh-based humanitarian aid organization.
First, though, he had made a trip there in August 2008 to make sure all the good works of Mission of Hope were, in fact, reality. He was 81 then; getting around proved a challenge.
"So I was very apprehensive (this time)," he said, as he rode with Blow, his son Phil and other missioners along the mountain road to El Crucero Orphanage to deliver chicken, fruit and other food. "I was told I shouldn't come. But it's been wonderful.
"The clinic is going to mean so much to the people here," he continued, "for the little kids, the impoverished families ...
"What they did with a limited budget is unbelievable."
He shrugged off credit for the project.
"It's Sister Debbie's project and the mission," he said. "I was lucky enough to assist with it."
MIXED EMOTIONS
As he had on his first visit to the third-world country, Moore saw signs everywhere that Mission of Hope's efforts are much needed. One tragic reality check was the death of a 4-year-old girl from the village, who'd been given a toxic dose of an oil as parasite treatment.
"The family didn't have the $5 to buy the pine box to bury her in, $5 for truck rental, $5 for the (funeral) Mass," Blow said.
It was with mixed emotions that Moore discovered at the orphanage that the child he sponsored had been taken by her father, and there had been no word on how she was doing.
When Carlita captured his heart two years ago, as a 4-year-old, she couldn't yet walk, didn't speak.
Moore paid for orthopedic shoes and other medical intervention.
"She was starting to walk and she was starting to say some words," he said. "We were taking steps to get her up to the States on a medical visa to help her.
"I hope she's all right."
He felt reassured about others he had met that first trip, though. Then, he'd managed to climb a hill where an impoverished family lived in a shack, barely scraping by. Even so, they'd shared with neighbors the beans and rice Moore provided them.
He visited them again this time and discovered they had not forgotten their American benefactor.
"They have a little baby, 2 months old," Moore said. "And they named it George.
"That pleases me."
E-mail Suzanne Moore at:
smoore@pressrepublican.com
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