Article February 24, 2003 ISSUE

Venezuelan reconstruction

A friend of Venezuela prays for the country's return to peace and prosperity.

By Patricia Pombo de Leuschner

El Heraldo de la Christian Science

The pilot announced that we would be landing in a few minutes. Through the window of the plane, I saw the coast clearly defined against a turquoise-colored sea and the majestic mountains generously covered with vegetation. This was the first time I was traveling to Venezuela. When we got out of the airport, another sun welcomed me—the sun of the Tropics. And I felt as though it melted the cement and evaporated the air and filled everything with its splendor.

That warmth was the beginning of eight very beautiful years of my life, during which I basically learned and learned and learned.