Pictures from Ancash

Photo: Camp Kusi - Union Biblica's beautiful compound in Ancash

Photo: Dr. Daniel - HBI's Peruvian lawyer and project coordinator

Photo: Tati - the best little dog in Peru; she ran with us every morning.

Photo: Our team at work in the clinic

Photo: A long day

Photo: Dr. Bob and Student Dr. Craig with the "boys" from Casa Girasoles

Photo: Our Peruvian friends (Dr. Augusto and Dr. Erik) with our Karen

Photo: The HBI Team mascot

Photo: Huascaran - our first morning; what a splendid start to our trip

Photo: The view from Yungay; amazing!

Ventanilla: The Window

In the northern cone of the sprawling metropolis of Lima there sits a large peri-urban slum called Ventanilla. Today our team ventured to this urban wasteland of shanty homes and dirt roads to bring medical and dental care in collaboration with the Anglican Church of Peru.

I had been to Ventanilla once before, on my way to an area just to the east of Ventanilla called Carabayllo. HBI has worked in Carabayllo for a number of years and our plan for this trip was to take our team of healthcare professionals back to this very impoverished area once again. Well, the best laid plans are often the first to change. Rather, our team ended up on the sandy hillsides of Ventanilla.

The drive from our tourist hotel in Miraflores to Ventanilla on a Monday morning took just a little over 2-hours. The traffic and the distance conspired against us and put our team on the curb awaiting our bus at 6:50 a.m. With a couple of time delays - we were finally out to the clinic site around 9:20 a.m. This meant that we had to hurry to get ourselves set once we transformed the mission church into a healthcare clinic. We had an army of people from the community there to help.

Once all of the tables were moved and the tents set-up to protect our fair-skinned bodies from the blazing sun, we attended to our first patient around 10 a.m. It was a 100 mph race from that point on to see as many patients as we could before the team broke down the clinic at 3:30 p.m. Why did we stop clinic so early you may ask? Well, three of us had to get to the airport for our flights back to the US. In fact, as I type this message I am sitting in the Lima airport.

By the end of our clinic day we had provided dental and medical care to over 95 people. Not too bad for a team that just got down with a weeks campaign in Ancash less than 36-hours earlier.

One story that really stands out from the days clinic was a young mother that I had the privilege to help. She was 30-years old and pregnant for the sixth time. She told me that she was not prepared to be pregnant again and feared the "unknowns" of another person to take care of. She told me of her relationship struggles and of the "new man" who was a part of her life. She told me that she did not "particularly care for him," but that he had at least been kind enough to feed her children.

Her arms and torso were covered with flea and mosquito bites. She said that her home was near the sewer and that the bugs were constantly biting her skin and the skin of her children. She said she did not know what to do. I asked one the priests that was working at the clinic with us to speak with me and this woman. She told the priest a similar array of sorrowful and very painful stories to those she had shared with me. When she had spoken enough for her needs, she stopped and asked if she could give my priest friend her telephone number so that she could call. She wanted to talk to someone, a caring someone, who could help her to manifest a different life.

I am not entirely sure why we do this work; but I know one thing for certain - if we can help people like the woman I mentioned above to connect with people like Reverend Pat, then everything we are doing is worth it. I really feel like the whole reason we were in Ventanilla today was to help this woman to know that she is not alone . . . and that there are people out there who care and want to help her to move to the life she so desperately desires.

Our Week in Kusi

One word should be more than enough to convey the full sentiment of our time in Kusi . . . but, there is no "one" word that could contain all of the amazing experiences. As such, I will write a few paragraphs to give you a sense for our weeks work in the beautiful Province of Ancash.

Our trip started with a magnicifcent bus ride from our hotel in Miraflores (a tourist community in Lima) to the high Andes and the town of Yungay. Once we arrived in Yungay, after almost 11-hours on the bus, we had to unload all of our bags and supplies and drive the 5+ kilometers to Camp Kusi. Central to this first group experience was the fact that it was pouring down rain; and, the fact that we had to all cram into little passenger vans for the bumpy ride up to the camp.

What impressed me most in the first few hours of our team trip was the fact that not one person complained or expressed words of protest or discontent. Actually, quite the opposite - everyone chipped in and helped to move the bags, carry the supplies and organize themselves. This, in spite of the fact that we had been sitting on a bus for over 10 hours, we were all really tired and we were getting drenched in the rain. I knew at that moment that this was going to be a GREAT GROUP!

We awoke on Sunday to a magnificent view of Huascaran and the lower peaks of one of the most amazing mountains in the Western Hemisphere. The sky was clear and the temperature was a marvelous 15 degrees (centrigrade). This was to be our last morning of clear skys for the remainder of our time in Kusi we had cloudy skies and "on and off" rain. None the less, our first day started with a great blessing.

After orienting the team to our plans for the week, we took a sight-seeing (we can't always be about work) tour of the Lago de Llanganuco (the Lake of Llanganuco) and the Huascarán National Park (a UNESCO world Heritage Site). This is such an enchanting place to visit with the turquoise waters and the amazing array of Other-worldly" trees that circumnavigate the lake. We took a group hike that day that included about 5 kilometers of trail running along a beautiful river. Talk about a great way to start our trip.

The real work started later that day when we began in earnest to plan for the campaign. We had a more extended orientation session for the team that involved briefing the specifics for the the survey portion of the trip; and Dr. Bob Gehringer (HBI Project Director and Campaign Medical Director) worked with the medical and dental group to further orient them to the clinic portion of our week. Most of the rest of the first day was spent in preparation mode.

I should stop my chronological recap of the week right here to tell you something very important and critical to our week. We were staying at Union Biblica's Camp Kusi - and, Camp Kusi is a home for abandon and formerly homeless street boys. I make special mention to this fact because it was the "real gift" that the team experience all week. We spent a lot of time with the 40 boys - eating our meals together, playing games or singing and dancing together at night, and attending to them in the clinic. And one thing that was mentioned over and over again throughout the week by our trip participants was how much of an impact this close proximity to the boys had on each one of them. To the person, everyone on the campaign was touched by the lives of these amazing children.

Our first day in clinic started a bit slow. This was really short lived, and by the end of the week we had attended to over 550 medical and dental patients. In addition, we administered our joint HBI-University of North Carolina-Wilmington research survey to over 150 participants. In the end, our work touched the lives of over 700 people. We were able to provide direct medical, dental and mental health care to patients who have little to no access to care delivery. We were able to administer a survey study into a very poorly studied community to gain valuable data to develop more appropriate and effective care delivery services. And, most of all, we were all very genuinely touched by the lives of the boys living in the Casa Girasoles (Sunflower Home) at Camp Kusi.

We arrived back in Lima last night (after another long bus ride) and at this point our team is starting to part ways. Some of the team members will be headed back to the States tonight, and some of the team will be staying an extra day in Lima to help with our outreach clinic in Ventanilla (a sprawling peri-urban slum north of Lima). We will be collaborating with the Anglican Church of Peru in our clinic and will be supporting their on-going work to deliver medical, dental and social services to the people of this very impoverished community.

I will be posting more updates about our work in the days to come, including extensive pictures and stories about the wonderful people who volunteer their time and professional skills and talents to the on-going work of HBI. For now, a very special thank you must go out to our Team Peru Kusi group:

Dr. Michelle (a real gifted healer, thinker and kind soul), Dr. Azalea (a vivacious emergency medicine physician with a heart of solid gold), Dr. Augusto (an amazing Peruvian physician from Arequipa), Dr. Erik (our marvelous Peruvian dentist), Student Dr. Craig (a fantastic medical student who is going to be an AMAZING physician very soon), Cathy (from our partner organization MMI; Cathy is so special that her smile is infectious), Theresa (a Peruvian nurse who has volunteered for our work in Kusi on two separate occasions; she comes to us from the Alto Cayma Mission Clinic and is always a true delight to work with), Tracy (a person who I hope will continue to be involved in HBI; Tracy is an amazingly hard worker and a real genuine person), Sandy (a blessed healer who helped to bring a real grounding to our work with the street boys at Kusi), Christina (our volunteer Peruvian interpreter who came to the Kusi team at the very last minute and was a real blessing to the team), Billy (Union Biblica's project coordinator and one of the most amazing young men I have ever met), and Katherine (Union Biblica's amazing volunteer teacher in Kusi who dropped everything she was doing to help interpret for our team all week; Go Scots!).

Finally, the work of HBI is only possible because of our dedicated and passionate staff - thank you Karen, Bob, Ben and Daniel. I am humbled by you every day.

Team Peru - Kusi Outreach 2009

The Team Peru Kusi Outreach Trip was a great success. Our team just pulled into Lima and had our first hot showers in over a week. We had a marvelous week of clinics and a wonderful survey administration.

A full week without Internet and telephone connection means that we are all eager to check our e-mails and update our blogs; but for tonight sleep is calling my name. I will write a Blog Post on Sunday that gives more detail to our campaign and talks about the many great stories and lessons we all learned.

New Opportunities

Photo: The school kitchen

Photo: Site surrounding the school

Photo: "Restrooms" for 130 children and the school staff

Photo: Father Alex delivered boxes of nutrition bars for the children

Photo: Our new friends at the school

One of the "problems" with our work in Peru is that there is never enough time, money or resources to get everything done that we want to do. This is compounded by the fact that we are forever meeting new partners, being introduced to new potential projects, and getting stimulated by areas of great need.

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of visiting the Pueblo Jovenes of "Mariano Melgar." Mariano Melgar is a famous Peruvian poet and his namesake community is a sprawling peri-urban squatter community on the slopes of the Misti Mountain in Arequipa.

Nestled high in the sand hills above the Plaza de Armas of Arequipa is a small school. The school was started in part by the generous contributions of an Australian businessperson some ten years ago. The businessman was truly moved by the plight of the people living in the area and he decided to "sponsor" the program to the tune of some $1,000 (USD) per month. Well, with the collapse of the financial services industry in 2008-2009, he was forced to stop his donations. This was catastrophic to the school and the 130 students who rely on the instruction and two meals per day that the program provides.

Fast forward to early 2009 when another Australian, a lovely woman by the name of Susie, happens to find her way up to the squatter homes of Mariano Melgar. She too falls quickly in love with the community and feels compelled to do "something" to help. Unlike the original benefactor to the project, her pockets are not lined with gold. Rather, she decides that she will start with some independent fundraising back in Australia (she raised 18-months of operational expenses for the program) and begins the process of trying to identify a "partner" organization in Peru that can help her to keep the school open.

This is where HBI comes in. Ms. Susie happen to meet one of the Board of Directors for our Peruvian NGO partner Sirviendo Logrando Paz (SLP). The SLP Board member then went to Father Alex (Board Chair of SLP) and requested that he visit the school and speaks with Susie. After visiting the program, Father Alex too felt an overwhelming need to do something. Hence the reason that he, I, Evelyn (the SLP Board Member) and Ms. Susie all were visiting the school on Wednesday.

What we found in our short visit was very compelling. With little to no money, the 8 teachers on staff have developed a real model "private school" curriculum. They have instruction from pre-K all the way up to grade 6 (the end of primary education in Peru). The school provides two meals (breakfast and lunch) and a snack per day to the students - along with extra-curricular instruction in music, sports and language.

The facility where the school is housed is a wreck. There is a massive array of construction and the water source that provides for the needs of all the children and the on-site kitchen is anything but potable. The toilets have been temporarily moved to a street side location - without access to a grid waste disposal.

There are a number of really tangible ways that we can help with the on-going development and refinement of this school. We are currently working to create a strategy that is sustainable and involves our in-country partners. One “next step” that we have identified is to have our staff pediatrician (Dr. Bob Gehringer) and nurse (Karen Falkenstein) visit the program and develop a health record for all of the children.

Our goal with this partnership has not yet been fully defined or refined. That does not, however, mean that we are not anything but committed to help. Alas the real challenge is one that we continually face – how to utilize our resources to their greatest extent. This is an on-going level of learning for HBI – and one that I hope we never stop engaging.

Stay tuned to the BlogSpot for more updates on the work of HBI. Thank you.

Ancash: Working toward sustainability

Photo: My "home" office at the Lima airport awaiting a connection to Arequipa

Photo: 36-hours of sleep deprivation and counting; not good!

I have been in Peru for less than 18-hours and already I have had three meetings, worked remotely with the U.S. through the internet and gone to dinner with one of my favorite people in the whole world (Father Alex Busuttil). This is going to be a really busy trip.

Our team will be arriving in a couple of days. We are headed to the central highlands of Peru - an area known as the "Alps of Latin America." An area that is unmatched by the natural beauty that continually displays itself all around you. I am really excited to get back to Ancash - it has been a couple of years and I have been "longing" to reconnect with the people of the area and some of the early work we did in 2007.

For now though - there are three days between when the team arrives and tonight; and, there is an endless list of things to do. The HBI staff (Ben, Bob and Karen) will be arriving in Lima tonight and tomorrow. They will be joining me (I will be flying back to Lima tomorrow evening after a full day of meetings in Arequipa) and Daniel (our "go-to-guy" and barrister) for two days of slammed packed meetings, errands and frantic "get readies."

Once the team arrives we will be departing via a chartered bus for the 12-hour trip to the town of Yungay. Our first week of clinic and outreach will provide little to no access to the internet - so I hope to post a number of updates before we leave mid-day on Saturday.

The purpose of this trip is two-fold: To support Union Biblica in their on-going quest to develop a "brick and mortar" clinic at their Kusi Camp; we will be providing a small community clinic (pediatric, geriatric, general medicine, and dental) and survey those coming to the clinic about their experiences in gaining access to health and medical care in the area around the Union Biblica Kusi Camp.

In addition, we will be conducting a community assessment survey to 500 convenience sampled people from the various communities in the area to better understand their access to medical, dental and basic social assistance services. We will again be collaborating with the University of North Carolina-Wilmington and Dr. Kae Livsey on this very important research study.

For now - know that we will do our best to keep you informed about this Team Peru project; but our internet connectivity will be non-existent in Ancash. So I plan to load you with information in the next couple of days.

I better, however, get some sleep - as I have been up for almost 48-hours and I am really starting to feel the effects or cramped air travel and really bad airport food.

Thank you for all of your on-going support. Stay tuned to the Blog for updates on the Team Peru Ancash Adventure!

Alaska "Connect" Event

The HBI Alaska Connect Event - Mr. Steven Dougherty, Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Dougherty and Dr. and Mrs. Maurice Coyle hosted a fantastic event in Anchorage, Alaska for HBI and our partner organization Sirviendo Logrando Paz on Tuesday, September 29.

The event was a smashing hit - with over 40 participants in attendance and a spread of Peruvian delicacies that would make even Gaston take notice. The event included a "meet and greet" cocktail reception (complete with Pisco Sours) and a showing of the HBI documentary "working toward change."

A very special thank you goes out to our hosts and the many people who attended this inagural Alaska HBI Connect Event.

HBI is looking to promote many more Connect Events across the country. Anyone interested in hosting a Connect Event should contact - info@HBInt.org