Ica the End of the Campaign

 Photo: The plaque at the Casa Girasoles in Ica.

 Photo: Our home away from home in the desert.

 Photo: Pepe - the team mascot. Boy did Pepe and I bond . . . 

 Photo: Team breakfast before our departure.

Photo: Our bus ride back to Lima.

Once again, off we go. This time we are on our way back to Lima. Our two days in Ica at the Casa Girasoles have been very fruitful. Yesterday was spent seeing all of the boys at the house and helping to develop a record keeping system for the health and social care needs.

Our clinic started around 9 a.m. and ended just after 7 p.m. Needless-to-say, it was a long day. The challenge for our project is the fact that there is a strong needs to document a “holistic” history and evaluation on each boy – as mandated by a Government law established in 2010. The exact requirements of the new law (although the law was established in 2010, it was not operationalized and required until this year) are still being sorted out. We figure it will take a couple of years for the Peruvian Government to fully require compliance with the details of the mandate. For now, we are hoping to develop a model that can be rolled out to all of the Casa Girasoles.

At present, we have completed a trial of our record keeping and evaluation project at three houses; and, we have run into challenges at each location. We have also established some amazing relationships with the boys in the Girasoles houses and the staff working at each location.

One little boy I had the pleasure of serving yesterday was a short stature 8-year old by the name of Sanchez. He has a deep, raspy voice that seems more appropriately vocalized from the body of a person five decades his senior. He is absolutely adorable – constantly in motion and forever questioning everything. Sanchez has lived at the Girasoels house in Ica for 4-years. He comes from a very economically impoverished background. At one point when we were seeing him he mentioned that he had a hard time hearing. A quick otoscopic exam definitely diagnosed the etiology of his decreased hearing. He had more sand in his years than may be physically possible.

Karen helped to lavage his ears with a special large gauge syringe infused with warm water and hydrogen peroxide. He was not that happy with our procedure. In fact, it took more than a few folks to coax him through the procedure. Later last night at dinner Sanchez was sitting a few chairs away from me. I asked him if he left better. He looked at me with a puzzled appearance, not quite understand the intent of my inquiry. I rephrased my question and asked him if he could hear well. He responded with one word – “bastante” (lots)!

I love the work we are doing. I love the fact that the goal of our work is to connect the pieces together to create a bigger whole. Collaboration is built through relationships and trust. Each day we strive to create deeper relationships and establish more trust through the merits of our work and the compassion of our service.