Please don't make Peru look bad

"You have got to write a book," I said to a colleague of mine last night over dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in all of Peru (Don Tito's Pollo a la Brasa). "Your story is too important and people need to hear it."

My colleague thought about what I said for a few minutes; and before he could respond, another Peruvian colleague of ours said, "but please, please doctor - don't make Peru look bad."

I thought about his statement a lot last night and this morning. I thought about what he meant by it. I wondered if the truth is ever a bad idea.

This morning I decided to go for a long run (I am suppose to run a 50km trail race next weekend and I am woefully out of shape). Running along the beach I came across a old man lying on the shoulder of the road. He appeared to be at least 70-years old and was barefoot and very disheveled. His clothes were dirty and torn and his feet had a thick layer of callous that comes from walking barefoot for a long period of time.

I had planned to run along the beach and then up through the neighborhoods of Miraflores, San Isidro and Magdalena back to the Formation House where I am staying. In total, I anticipated my run to take a little over 2-hours. In preparation for the heat (it is summer in Peru and Lima is enveloped in a thick, steamy curtain of clouds) I had taken 10 soles with me. I fully anticipated that this would more than meet my needs for calories and liquid replenishment.

I ran upon my friend about 40-minutes into my 2-hour odyssey. I could not just run past him. I had to do something. So I gave him my only money. I asked him (in my very broken Spanish) if there was anything else I could do for him. He said "pray for me." I told him that I would and went to continue on my run. He stopped me, grabbed my hand and said, "you are the only person who has stopped to help me - thank you."

I do not write this story to make Peru "look bad." I know that homelessness and poverty are far from unique to Peru alone. Rather, I write this story to say something that I think really motivates all of HBI's work in Peru.

We believe that we have an obligation to be continuously open to service. We believe that no one organization can serve all of the needs of a people, a community or a country. We believe in partnerships and collaboration. Our intention is never to "make Peru look bad." Rather our focus is working with marginalized and disenfranchised people and communities to effect permanent changes in health.

My mind is racing right now. I can really see a great deal of potential for partnering with organizations in Lima to help the homeless that live along the Costa Verde and other isolated pockets in the city. I can really see a great deal of opportunities for us to work with Peruvian organizations to meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness and make "Peru look good."

More to come . . .

Colombia - An Awakening

September 22, 2007

Dear family, friends and supporters of HBI,

I just ended a whirlwind trip to Colombia – specifically my trip was to the Caribbean city of Barranquilla (for more information about this fascinating “hidden gem” of a city, please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barranquilla); and, I must admit – I am a bit disappointed.

Let me explain - Colombia is an absolutely fascinating country. There is so much prosperity and strategic economic development – it seems like it should be a model for socioeconomic development for Latin America. Colombian’s have a thriving middle class and a very rich history of intellectual, artistic and cultural pursuits. At this point you are probably bracing yourself for the “but” part of my statement – well . . . please don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy visiting Colombia. In fact, I count Bogotá as one of my absolute favorite cities in the whole world. I love the Colombian people – they are sophisticated, urbane and very generous.

My issue is not with any one person or group of people, or any country for that matter – it is with the societal structures that allow abject poverty and disenfranchisement to continue in our modern age. You see, my disappointment is rooted in the number of people that I witnessed living on the “fringes” of the Barranquilla “society.” My issue is with the number of homeless people I encountered, I witnessed in my brief stay in this tropical paradise.

I had a couple of hours before my flight back to the States to walk around Barranquilla – and what I saw caused me great distress. Let me state from the very start, Colombia is a safe country for international travelers. I feel very secure exploring the streets and cafes of most cities I have visited in Colombia; and it is never a good idea to walk around a “foreign” city by yourself. With that said, I like to walk around the cities I visit. I feel it gives me a great chance to jump into the cultural equivalent of the “deep end of the pool.” I think of these walkabouts as an anthropological experiment. I can see how life really unfolds for the people making their “lives” amidst the chaos.

Barranquilla is a port city of over 2 million people (in the entire metropolitan area). There is a thriving industrial base and a few well respected universities. Barranquilla can also lay claim to the music mastery that is the global pop phenomenon Shakira (see: http://www.shakira.com/)– yes, she hails from this Caribbean paradise. I was staying at a cultural landmark – the Hotel Prado (see: http://www.cotelco.org/hotelprado/), in the downtown section of the city. During the first ten minutes of my cab ride into the city from the airport, I was amazed at the number of people living on the streets. This “amazement” was later brought to a real angst when I ventured out on my walk.

My walk consisted of a leisurely (make that a sweaty) stroll lasting about 2 hours – through "good" and "not-so-good" sections of the city. Yet, wherever I went I witnessed people living on the streets. People lying on the sidewalks, people curled up in card board boxes, people standing with blank stares. People living on the margins of this society. People living amongst the mass of humanity, but invisible to the eyes of so many passersby.

As many of you know, I am very much attuned to the plight of homelessness and disenfranchised people. I have spent my entire professional career working with homeless young adults. Perhaps this is why I saw so many marginalized peoples? Perhaps the Caribbean climate of Barranquilla makes it “easier” to live outside? I am not above a biased thought or two, but this homeless “epidemic” seemed a bit above the average for what I have witnessed in other Latin American cities.

Now, as I write this journal entry from the seat of the plane that is carrying me back to Portland, I wonder what messages I can take back from my experiences. I wonder what steps HBI can take, can implement, to help build bridges for some of the most marginalized citizens of Barranquilla and other developing country cities. I know that my first response (emotion driven response) is to want to “jump in” and develop a homeless drop-in center, perhaps even partner with the Colombian government to develop a street outreach program that works to bring people from the streets to a center where they can receive social service advocacy. I don’t know that this is the best way to approach homelessness in Colombia. It may be more profound to invest in the development of a systematic model to delve into the numerous factors that lead to marginalization. A program that is sustainable, culturally appropriate and based on the needs, desires and wishes of the people who are most impacted by the program – the homeless.

What we are trying to do at Health Bridges International is bring creativity, pragmatism and collaboration to everything we are involved with. Our next steps in Colombia may be as simple as researching the current state of outreach and assistance to the homeless in Barranquilla and working to support these efforts. Whatever we do, it will be driven by our deep respect for God’s plan and the belief that partnerships are the basis for sustainability.

I am profoundly impacted by my experiences in Colombia – and I know that we at HBI will be lead to use that impact to bring hope to “invisible” members of our society.

Thank you for reading about the work of HBI; and thank you for your continued support.

Blessings,

Wayne Centrone
HBI Board President