Cheer Up missionaries ease El Salvador's burden

"Two earthquakes and dozens of tremors have done little to disturb the spirit of the people of El Salvador," said resident Kenneth Landriault, who recently returned from a mission trip there.

"One family dismantled its damaged home brick by brick and is using the materials to rebuild," he said. In the meantime, the family shares a double bed sheltered in a tiny shanty.

"Those on farms are more fortunate", Landriault said," because they are able to produce their own food." "City dwellers are often left to depend on food distributions, much of it from abroad, and are living in tent cities ripe for epidemics as the rainy season begins," he said.

Landriault was among several members of Cheer Up Missions who traveled to the quake-stricken country to help distribute food, medicine and other supplies.

"Cheer Up sent containers of food, clothing and other items to El Salvador soon after learning of the disaster: now members are already at work loading more containers," Landriault said

After Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras in the fall of 1999, he, along with West Bank residents Anna Pinzon and Daisy Haskell and a few others, launched a Louisiana chapter of Cheer Up, which combines performing as clowns to raise the spirits of children, with distributing humanitarian aid.

Two Loyola University premedicine students, Rachel Delatte and Elizabeth "Betsy" Mathews, were among those who made the trip to El Salvador: "The performances", they said," helped make it more upbeat than previous mission trips in which they had participated."

"It's easy to get depressed because you can't help eveybody," Landriault said. "Everyone we were able to help was so grateful."

"Cheer Up is raising money in hopes of buying a $30,000 piece of equipment to perform eye examinations", Landriault sad." Mission members would be trained through the Louisiana State University Eye Center to perform the exams, and then would distribute eyeglasses donated by the Lions Clubs", he said.

The mission group continues to collect food, medicines and other goods to send to El Salvador.

Cheer Up Mission members share smiles with children in a village in El Salvador, where back-to-back earthquakes Jan.13 and Feb.13 left many homeless.

Villagers munch sandwiches and watch happily as Cheer Up Mission members, who helped distribute the food, perform.

Excerpt from "the Picayune" April 1, 2001.