There is no Ronald McDonald House at Hospital del Nino. As the vans pulled up to the hospital parking lot for our second visit we once again passed the families of patients camped out in the parking lot. The lucky ones had benches to sleep on, others were sleeping on straw mats on the concrete outside. It is the dream of the hospital to create a house similar to Ronald McDonald House for families in the future.

We ventured upstairs to third floor in the new wing. This wing was bright, white and pristine. Shortly after our arrival, the patients began to fill the waiting room. Mothers, aunts and other relatives sitting with the children waiting anxiously to be evaluated. One small girl, as if to become invisible, hid her mouth behind her hand whenever she felt someone looking her.

Half of the group went into the operating rooms to stock them with supplies for the following day. The other half stayed behind, evaluating and watching the evaluations in anticipation of which child would be helped and which ones would need to wait.

Surgeons Joseph Mazza and Manuel Pena as well as Anesthesiologist Joseph Nicotra entered the examining room armed with bags of small toys, dinosaurs, cars, Pocahontas, etc. The children were brought in one at a time and the room filled with observers. The doctors did their evaluation. Dr. Pena translated as he, Dr. Mazza and Nicotra made their evaluations. Most of the children were patiently cooperative as their mouths were manipulated. They are proud to answer "uno, dos, tres" and continued counting for the doctors as their speech is evaluated. Some of the younger ones whimpered for Mama. One by one the doctors make the difficult decision. Each child is either a yes for tomorrow’s surgery schedule or a no; they will have to wait. The older children show a quiet anxiousness about the unknown day they are to face. The parents show a sense of relief.

By the end of the evaluation period the first day’s surgery schedule is complete. We returned to the waiting room, which was now bustling with Operation Rainbow personnel, journalists preparing the days release for the web site, and children happily playing in the waiting room. Day one’s work is over and we all look anxiously towards tomorrow.