25-Year-Old Nicaraguan Shares Pride In Hospital

By PRISCILLA GREEAR, Staff Writer

Published: September 25, 2003

CHINANDEGA, Nicaragua—Engineer Lester Salinas speaks with a touch of sadness of the opening of the dialysis clinic he designed, mindful of his father who inspired him to study engineering, but who died in 2000 lacking treatment for kidney failure.

A bulldozer operator, his father would let Salinas drive as a boy and visit plants with him. “I would like you to be my boss some day. You can be an engineer,” Salinas recalled his father saying.

The dialysis clinic, built by the Catholic Chinandega 2001 Foundation, is expected to open by the end of the year in the Betania complex, when a donated water purifier arrives. It will be only the second one to open in the country. While he wishes his father were alive to use it, he seems to find peace knowing it can prolong others’ lives.

Next door to the clinic is the St. Martin de Porres Hospital which Salinas oversaw construction of, and where free surgeries were performed for the first time last spring for those who otherwise couldn’t afford them. There is also a church, seminary and vocational school, and Salinas is overseeing construction of a music conservatory. But the hospital was the most critical project.

“Last spring a (medical) crew came here and did 120 surgeries in a week, which was amazing. Many people recovered their sight in one day. I feel very, very proud about that,” he said in an interview at dusk in a grassy gathering space near stone Stations of the Cross in Betania.

“I feel very good that the little kids came last March and had their faces changed when they did the plastic surgery on them. For me it’s important that the hospital be running for a long time. For many people it’s expensive to have surgery and we are giving them the ability to have it for free and our satisfaction is to have done that.”

One of the foundation’s go-to guys—especially for gringos who only speak English—Salinas, 25, as the hospital administrator, also provides information to Amigos for Christ of Buford, an international nonprofit relief organization which focuses on empowering the forgotten poor of Nicaragua through the Chinandega Foundation. He gets instructions from Amigos volunteer medical director Richard Nutt, M.D., on ordering medical supplies for visiting teams.

Growing up, Salinas attended the foundation’s Colegio Hogar Paulo VI and sang five years in the Getsemani Children’s Choir, which tours the United States to raise money for the poor of Nicaragua. Graduating fifth in his high school class, he got a scholarship to attend the National University of Engineering in Managua; after graduating he took a job for two years in private industry before getting a call from the Foundation director Father Marco Dessy. He was glad to give back to Father Dessy, who encouraged him in his work and inspired him through his example of Christian service. As Salinas found his own faith he has come to realize, “I would not be here without it. It’s like an engine that pushes me to keep on.”

While he eventually wants to earn his doctorate in structural engineering, for now “I would like to help Father Marco with some projects he has in mind.” With boyish pride, he added that he learned English and computers on his own and that “all I need is a book.”

“Life is hard. You can see we don’t have much,” said the slender, neatly dressed Nicaraguan. “I want to (stay) here and work as an engineer because that’s what I want to be and (what I) love.”

Nutt noted how Salinas, who recently turned down another job offer, could be making significantly more money working for an engineering company. Salinas acknowledged the blessing of receiving the college scholarship, as Nicaraguan students are very reluctant to take out loans because jobs are so hard to get. He’s also grateful in managing the hospital to have connections with companies and the government.

“We are doing pretty well and they can see we are really helping people, not using the money to get richer. As a matter of fact, people in Leon and Managua come here looking for help because there’s not an organization like us there,” said Salinas. “One of the ideas Father Marcos has is that other organizations can copy our idea. They can do Betania in every city of the country. It would be great if there are a lot of Betanias because we have a school, clinic, a lot of programs to help people.”