Sister Diane Young
<p class="font_7">Sister Diane Young lives in the Sierra Madre Mountains in the town of Tlacoachistlahuaca, about a 45 minute drive from Ometepec, Mexico. In 1986 Sister Diane went on vacation to visit the priest there. Noticing a great need, Diane made the decision to move there. In 1994 Dr. Thomas Steinemann, a physician at the Hospital de la Amistad, asked Diane if she would translate for Dr. Jerre Freeman and his eye teams. She has been assisting our teams ever since.<br>
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Sister Diane and Fidel, an Amuzgo Indian Chief, keep an eye out for prospective patients through the year and bring them down for screening when our teams arrive in Ometepec. They bring Amuzgos and Mixtecos and sometimes others who have a dialect no one understands. It takes twice as long to screen the Amuzgos and Mixtecos because they need two translators. Amuzgo women are easily recognized by their hairstyle. They grow their hair really long, twist and twist it, then wrap it on top of their heads. The Mixteco women wear their hair braided. Amuzgo and Mixteco women wear beautiful hand woven cotton dresses with colorful thread intricately incorporated by talented weavers. Amuzgo men wear a white hat and white clothes while the Mixteco men wear more western clothes.<br>
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Up until the last two years Sister Diane worked in a boarding school for children. The children live in surrounding villages but live in the boarding school during the week so they can attend school, eat and study. She is semi retired now and spends some of the year in California with family. While in Mexico she spends her time ministering to the sick in Tlacoachistlahuaca and surrounding villages. Sister Diane believes, “Our lives are always the plan of God.”</p>
<p class="font_7">Sister Diane Young lives in the Sierra Madre Mountains in the town of Tlacoachistlahuaca, about a 45 minute drive from Ometepec, Mexico. In 1986 Sister Diane went on vacation to visit the priest there. Noticing a great need, Diane made the decision to move there. In 1994 Dr. Thomas Steinemann, a physician at the Hospital de la Amistad, asked Diane if she would translate for Dr. Jerre Freeman and his eye teams. She has been assisting our teams ever since.<br>
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Sister Diane and Fidel, an Amuzgo Indian Chief, keep an eye out for prospective patients through the year and bring them down for screening when our teams arrive in Ometepec. They bring Amuzgos and Mixtecos and sometimes others who have a dialect no one understands. It takes twice as long to screen the Amuzgos and Mixtecos because they need two translators. Amuzgo women are easily recognized by their hairstyle. They grow their hair really long, twist and twist it, then wrap it on top of their heads. The Mixteco women wear their hair braided. Amuzgo and Mixteco women wear beautiful hand woven cotton dresses with colorful thread intricately incorporated by talented weavers. Amuzgo men wear a white hat and white clothes while the Mixteco men wear more western clothes.<br>
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Up until the last two years Sister Diane worked in a boarding school for children. The children live in surrounding villages but live in the boarding school during the week so they can attend school, eat and study. She is semi retired now and spends some of the year in California with family. While in Mexico she spends her time ministering to the sick in Tlacoachistlahuaca and surrounding villages. Sister Diane believes, “Our lives are always the plan of God.”</p>