Vivian Pellas: Vivian Pellas: Turning tears into smiles

FIRST EDITION: MAY 2021

© Vivian Pellas, 2020

© Cangrejo Editores, 2021

Transversal 93 No. 63 - 76 Int. 16

Bogotá, D.C., Colombia

Telefax: (571) 276 6440 - 541 0592

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ISBN 978-958-5532-34-2

EDITORIAL DIRECTION

Leyla Bibiana Cangrejo Aljure

EDITORIAL PRODUCTION

Víctor Hugo Cangrejo Aljure

DIGITAL PRE-PRESS

Cangrejo Editores

PHOTOGRAPHY

Archivo Personal

Fotografía portada: Iván García

Fotografía de contraportada: Rodrigo Castillo

DESIGN

Sandra Liliana González B.

HISTORICAL RESEARCH

Salvador Espinoza Moncada

EXECUTIVE COORDINATION FROM NICARAGUA

Dennis Schwartz Arce

LOGISTICAL COORDINATION FROM NICARAGUA

Xiomara Argeñal Baltodano

TECHNICAL AND DOCUMENTARY SUPPORT

Grethel Guevara

TRANSLATION

Shehla Turner

Intercontinental Translations, Inc.

PHILOLOGICAL REVISION

Debra Nagao

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means such as electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.

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TO MY DEAR PARENTS,

Lydia García de Fernández and José Fernández In memoriam

TO MY ADORED CHILDREN,

Carlos Francisco, Vivian Vanessa, and Eduardo The angels of my life

TO MY GRANDCHILDREN,

Vivian Isabella, Juan Carlos, Sienna Nicole, Nicolás, and Pietro The joy of my days

TO CARLOS, MY BELOVED,

The inspiration of my life

CHILD

I will shelter you with my hairAnd in the air will I seek a balmthat mitigates the pain

And if the fire ragesI will quench it with my tears.

Vivian Pellas

**Poem by Vivian Pellas, which embodies her legacy of love for the burned children of Nicaragua and the world. The poem was engraved on the inaugural plaque of the first burn unit of the Fernando Vélez Paiz Hospital in Managua, 1992.

Dedication TO MY DEAR PARENTS, Lydia García de Fernández and José Fernández In memoriam TO MY ADORED CHILDREN, Carlos Francisco, Vivian Vanessa, and Eduardo The angels of my life TO MY GRANDCHILDREN, Vivian Isabella, Juan Carlos, Sienna Nicole, Nicolás, and Pietro The joy of my days TO CARLOS, MY BELOVED, The inspiration of my life

Poem CHILD I will shelter you with my hairAnd in the air will I seek a balmthat mitigates the pain And if the fire ragesI will quench it with my tears. Vivian Pellas **Poem by Vivian Pellas, which embodies her legacy of love for the burned children of Nicaragua and the world. The poem was engraved on the inaugural plaque of the first burn unit of the Fernando Vélez Paiz Hospital in Managua, 1992.

Introduction On October 21, 1989, airline TAN SAHSA’s Boeing 727-200, registered as N88705, was a passenger flight en route from San José, Costa Rica, to Miami, with stops in the cities of Managua, Nicaragua, and Tegucigalpa, Honduras. At 7:53 in the morning the plane crashed into Cerro de Hula as it approached the Toncontín International Airport in Tegucigalpa. 135 people died. Of the 146 passengers on Flight 414, only 11 people survived. Vivian Pellas is one of them. This is her testimony of how she returned from the brink of death and how it changed her life forever as she came to understand the mission she had to fulfill. They say that when you want to write your life story, the blank page calls for the movie of your life to start. Then . . . you dust off your fears and count your scars, including those of your body, as well as those of your soul, you tear them open and pick at them until they bleed again. I’ve asked myself many times, why did all of this happen?What was the purpose of experiencing what I went through?Why was I the protagonist of a story carved by pain?Today I know that happiness comes from following your heart, and I found it in my family and in the smile of a child.

Foreword by Carlos Pellas

PART I

Chapter 1The Cuba of My Childhood

Chapter 2My First Farewell

Chapter 3Nicaragua: A New Beginning

Chapter 4Carlos Pellas: My Destiny

Chapter 5Earthquake in Managua: 6.3 on the Richter Scale

Chapter 6Changing Horizons

Chapter 7Happiness Knocks at My Door

Chapter 8A New Life

Chapter 9Reliving the Past

Chapter 10The Exodus, a Ghost behind Us

Chapter 11Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Premonition or Coincidence?

PART II

Chapter 1An Inexplicable Fear

Chapter 2“What a Nice Day to Fly!”

Chapter 3Flight 414: An Encounter with Death

Chapter 4An Angel on the Mountain

Chapter 5Skinless

Chapter 6“My Child, What Happened to You?!”

Chapter 7“They’re Alive!”

Chapter 8“I’m Dying”

Chapter 9A Grand Master Called Pain

Chapter 10And I Stopped Crying

Chapter 11“I Want to See My Children”

Chapter 12For the Children of Nicaragua

Chapter 13A Suffocating Mask

Chapter 14The Tortuous Legal Path

Chapter 15Life through Fire

PART III

Chapter 1Back to Nicaragua

Chapter 2Finding the True Meaning of My Life

Chapter 3Every Path Has Its Puddle

Chapter 4An Unexpected Answer

Chapter 5APROQUEN: The Divine Mandate!

Chapter 6Expecting Nothing in Return

Chapter 7A Queen Arrives from Mexico

Chapter 8A Dream Come True

Chapter 9A World of Darkness and Isolation

Chapter 10And Love United Us . . .

PART IV

Chapter 1An Irreplaceable Human Being

Chapter 2The Burden of Loneliness

Chapter 3“Here I Am . . . My Ballerina”

Chapter 4A New Sign

Chapter 5And If the Fire Still Sears . . .

Epilogue

APPENDICES

Testimonials of Those Who Have Shared This Path

Recognition

Hall of Honor for Our Donors

Illusions, for our Children, Year after Year

My Life in Images . . .

My Immense Gratitude . . .

Prayer of Gratitude

Notes

On October 21, 1989, airline TAN SAHSA’s Boeing 727-200, registered as N88705, was a passenger flight en route from San José, Costa Rica, to Miami, with stops in the cities of Managua, Nicaragua, and Tegucigalpa, Honduras. At 7:53 in the morning the plane crashed into Cerro de Hula as it approached the Toncontín International Airport in Tegucigalpa.