Clarita is the youngest of six children. Her mother and father cut down trees and prep the land for a local landowner near their Bolivian home. They are away from home for many hours every day to provide enough money to not only feed and house their children but to provide an education. Clarita’s mother has a hearing disability and has difficulty pronouncing words. When their parents are away, the children are left in the care of the eldest daughter who is 12 years old.
Clarita had just turned one. She was learning to walk and was tumbling from one place to another inside their humble home. Her older sister was distracted for just a moment, and Clarita fell onto the open fire grill where the family meals are cooked. She suffered major burns on most of her face and both arms.
Clarita was taken to the local hospital in Tarija and admitted to the burn unit. Local doctors selected her to be operated on by Esperança’s medical mission team that would be arriving in several weeks. It was a plastic surgery team skilled in burn repair. She was kept under close observation, awaiting the surgeon’s arrival.
Upon the arrival Dr. Retson and his team performed a successful surgery, and Clarita was kept under observation for three additional weeks to ensure her skin grafts developed adequately. Now Clarita is happy. She received great care and the priceless gift of a pain-free future. She was discharged and returned home on September 4th.
