Faces of Tomorrow

Lunardy Penarando

From Lunardy Penarando to the Girl Scouts in Davis, CA, night before surgery January 13, 2009. Translated from Spanish

Hello, My name is Lunardy Penarando. I am Columbian, but I live in the city of Quito. These days I ask myself what would happen if these good hearted doctors wouldn’t have arrived in Ecuador to perform the surgeries of which I am my family have benefited.

One day, while we were celebrating my first communion my father told me “The day you were born, you mother called me and said Julio, my son has been born with a birth defect.” My father responded, “It doesn’t matter. The only thing that is important is that my son is healthy and strong-we will fix his lip later, but the important thing is that now he has been born.”

These words that my father told me were profound and were very meaningful to me. Since that day, I have learned one thing: Ugly people, beautiful people or people with birth defects are all the same people and while there are some with different qualities, at the end of the day they all feel the same.

These words I tell you now as my friend; even though I don’t know you, are so that you listen to your parents when they say things and don’t take them as a joke. That is what I thought when I heard my father, but he was crying and telling me the story sincerely.

Thanks to the doctors I can write you and send this letter so you can read it and when you come, or when the doctors come, you can send me a letter. It is clear in the picture you sent me that the five of you are very beautiful and like guardian angels in the sky. I hope you continue to be the way you are, beautiful and happy. One of these days I might pass by where you are and I will visit you or better yet, you can come here. I send you hugs and kisses. By the way, thanks for the picture, I will keep it and remember it until the day we meet.

- Lunardy Penarando