Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Team Peru 2010

Photo: Team Peru - Week 2 (Alto Cayma)

I am home. There is a bitter sweet element to typing this message. The sweet part - well, I am home to my two favorite people in the whole world . . . my wife and our little girl. The bitter part, - it is really hard to leave Peru. There is so much work left to do; and coming home is really hard.

Our team this year was just fantastic. From every level of care delivery to ever special project, we had an amazing group of people. The trip spanned two weeks and included an outreach clinic (in total we provided care to over 900 children and adults), activities with the Mission of Alto Cayma, a special carpentry project to build a Sacristy at Father Alex's Church, and a couple of projects at the Elohim School in the Mariano Melgar community of Arequipa.

In the end, the greatest lesson for our team was learning to work together. It is always amazing to watch the team come together over the course of the trip. This year was no different.

We will be taking another team to Peru in October. If you are interested in joining HBI for an exciting adventure in the beautiful Department of Ancash, then please contact us at: info@HBInt.org

Thank you for all of your support.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Happy Birthday!

One of the great parts about the Team Peru trip is the chance to celebrate one another in Peru. This year was a big Birthday year. Got to love the "Sir Robert" plaque.

Mind the Gap


"You should run in the street."

At first I thought he was kidding. I mean a 12-year old boy could not possibly be telling me to run in the street. Heck, the street was very busy, and it was not like I was taking up more than my "fair share" of the sidewalk.

HBI is fortunate to have a great relationship with two hotels in Lima. The Hotel Diego Ferre and the DeVille Inn Hotel are both located in the upscale neighborhood of Miraflores. The DeVille Inn Hotel is actually located at the confluences of the neighborhoods of Miraflores and San Isidro. San Isidro is a very upperclass neighborhood - along the tony lines of a Bel Air, California.

This morning on my run I was weaving my way through the elegant homes and private golf club of San Isidro. Because of this - I guess I did not expect that I would be chided for running on the sidewalk. Least of all, chided by a 12-year old for running on the sidewalk. However, such is the huge shift in wealth in Peru.

Okay, I know what you are thinking . . . just because people have money does not mean that they will be rude. In fact, I will admit - it is hard for me to type these words because I do not wish to come across as preaching or pontificating; and, the reality of the economic and social situation in Peru is that the divide between the rich and the poor is getting greater and greater everyday.

Just the other day I was speaking with a Peruvian physician from Arequipa who has volunteered with us for a number of years. He is a great young man who comes from a very wealthy family. He has had the privilege to travel around the world, study in Germany, and attend one of the best medical schools in Peru. He is a big barometer for our work.

Augusto was telling me that he had been in the beach town of Asia (Asia is about 200 km south of Lima on the coast; you might remember Asia as an area where HBI has done SAVE Children outreach projects with Union Biblica) over the summer months. He said that he went to a club, a disco-tech, and had to pay 200 Soles (about $60) to get into the club. He said that once he was inside the club, he was asked to pay another $500 (yes, that is DOLLARS!) to "rent" a table for the night. He was floored. He told me that he had never imagined that there would be so much wealth in Lima.

I asked Augusto where all the wealth in Lima was coming from. I told him that I understood that Lima is a city of some 12-million people - and, I just could not understand where all the money was coming from. He told me he had no idea. He said, "you can't even imagine the money that a few, very select people have. It is incredible."

This conversation really got me thinking. The wealthy of Peru are getting wealthier and wealthier - and the poor . . . well, you know where I am going with this. How can this "divide" be narrowed?

If money were the only answer for fixing the social and economic problems in Peru's poorest communities and populations - then the problem(s) would have been fixed many years ago. Multi-national NGO after multi-national NGO have poured money into creative programs and projects throughout the country. And, the extreme poverty continues. In fact, it is worsening.

So then, how does the gap between the richest Peruvians and the poorest Peruvians get narrowed. We, HBI, think that a tool to bridge the two worlds of Peru is through a massive level of volunteerism of Peruvians for Peruvians. We think that Peruvians, volunteering in medical, social and community building outreach will be the intervention to narrow the gap.

HBI, in partnership with our Peruvian NGO colleagues, is working to build a massive volunteer program in Arequipa. The goals of the program are simple - engage more Peruvian's in volunteer programs and projects and increase the understanding that we are all asked to "Mind the Gap."

As always - stay tuned to the HBI Website and Blogpost for updates. Thank you for all your support.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

How do people live in this much dust?

Life in Alto Cayma is about controlling the dust. People live in homes with dirt floors, in the dust and sand of the high desert. They are forever "battling" the dust. Yet, in spite of the dust, dirt and blowing winds - they mange to keep white shirts white and clean clothes clean. It is not a miracle - but a lot of work.

One afternoon as our team was transitioning from a morning activity, a volunteer on the Team Peru trip turned and asked me, "how do people live in this much dust?"

My answer to him was a long winded response. Long winded because I don't think you can directly answer such a question without first recognizing the reasons that people are forced to move to the "dust" in the first place. Many of the people who make their way to the large peri-urban slums like Alto Cayma come from communities high in the mountains. Areas with little to no resources - i.e. schools, healthcare, jobs. They come seeking a better life.

Often times, not always mind you, they do not find the "pot of gold" at the end of the rainbow. Rather, they often find that their lives are much more complicated as they struggle to culturally adjust to life in a big city. Their lives in the mountains are very centered around raising their alpaca and llama herds. They have small crops of potatoes or other arid agriculture and they will get their basic needs met through battering.

When they arrive in the city they are thrust into a whole new economy and struggle to develop the skills to create an economic lever for themselves and their families. They live in the dust because they are continually hopeful that a better life is "just around the corner." They live in the dust because they want so much more for their children. They life in the dust because they have no where else to go.

For many of the people living in the Pueblos Jovenes (peri-urban slums) around Arequipa, life is about a hope that one day things will be better. A hope that they will not always live in the dust.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Let me introduce you to Alan Garcia

"Let me introduce you to Alan Garcia, but not the real one." Such were the words of introduction that Karen gave to our group while on a walking tour of a new Pueblo Jovenes on the outskirts of Alto Cayma. Alan we would learn, was from a very poor family. In fact, the afternoon we met him on the road up to the neighborhood of "the 11th of May" (neighborhoods are named in accordance to when they are settled) he was carrying food provided to him from the community kitchen Father Alex runs.

Alan was a severely developmentally delayed young man of twenty three. His parents, both developmentally delayed, were extremely poor and had very few skills to help their son break from the vicious cycle of poverty. That afternoon on the side of a dirt road high in the sand hills outside of a vey poor community, we exchanged a few words with Alan and laughed with him about his famous namesake. He smiled as best he could.

Later in the week Dr. Bob and Karen were with Maria (the social worker from Father Alex's mission) on home visits with some of our North American volunteers. They stopped at Alan's house to say hello and check on him. He was very sick. More than likely suffering from a severe case of pneumonia.

Dr. Bob examined Alan and told Maria that they needed to get him to a hospital as soon as possible. He was not just sick, he was VERY sick. In fact, in the cab ride to the hospital - Alan stopped breathing. Dr. Bob and Karen were able to resuscitate him and asked the cab driver to get them to the hospital "hasta pronto!"

When they arrived at the Hospital Goyeneche, the principle hospital in Arequipa for the poor and a place that HBI hosted a Continuing Medical and Nursing Education conference in April of this year, Alan was breathing at a rate of 35 respirations per minute and ashen in color. Fortunately, our HBI team is on a first name basis with the director of Emergency Medicine (thanks to our conference and countless meetings of introduction and relationship development). Dr. Talavera offered all of his help to assist in Alan's care.

Unfortunately, Alan was brought to the hospital gravely ill. He was septic and had to be intubated soon after admission. He died later that evening. Karen, a true Saint of a person and a real blessing to HBI, stayed at the hospital (missing the Team Peru farewell dinner) to assure that Alan's developmentally delayed parents had an advocate to help them through the trauma of losing a son.

The life of the people of Alto Cayma seems to be one of constant lose. They struggle to get their basic needs met - often falling far short. Alan more than likely developed a pneumonia as a result of a primary infection with H1N1 influenza. His case was extremely complicated by his intellectual delay and the poverty he lived in. He was a typical person living in desperate poverty in that he was always a bit undernourished and forever under the heavy load of severe stress.

Tonight, as I type this update, my heart and prayers go out to Alan's family. I hope that they will know that they are not alone. I hope that they will know that there are people working to one day end their suffering and provide them with the services and support they need and deserve.

Please join me in remembering Alan Garcia . . . a young man whose life was cut far too short; and a young man who should not be forgotten.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Alto Cayma - Awakenings

This week has been a whirlwind. It is Friday night and I am writing my first Blog post since Monday. Yikes!

A few really wonderful things have happened this week. I know what you are thinking - only a few. Well, I guess that is sort of a lie - there were a lot more; and, I am not going to pretend I have the time to scribe them all. Rather, I am going to tell you a couple of wonderful stories that are all generated from our fantastic volunteers. The stories will not be presented in chronological order - my apologies.

One day this week we went to the community of Mariano Melgar. You may remember Mariano Melgar from a previous Blog post (See: http://hbint.blogspot.com/2010/01/elohim-god-is-alive.html). This is a really interesting story all on its own. The work of a few very dedicated people, a Peruvian woman by the name of Rosa and a Australian woman by the name of Susi, have created an oasis of education in one of the poorest "barrios" in Latin American. This week we took a team to Mariano Melgar to complete well child examinations and evaluations (height, weight, BMI graphing with the WHO tables on every child) on all of the children in the school.

Well, this week during our outreach clinic, we had the luxury of having a psychiatric nurse practitioner on our team. Dr. Lisa Thompson and I know one another from our work in the United States with homeless populations. She is an amazing person. She is so compassionate and so intelligent that you can't help but feel a bit jealous when you are around her. Well, we decided to use Lisa to help determine the psychological need in the Elohim school.

We asked Lisa to meet with the director of the school to discuss her concerns and impressions of the needs of the children. We then had Lisa meet with a couple of the teachers and finally a couple of the students. Now you should know that Elohim is a primary school - this means that classes end at the 5th grade. My point is this - we were working with very young children.

Lisa met with Rosa the director first. The stories she heard were very impacting to her. She told me that during her visit with Rosa, there was a time when Rosa started to cry talking about the problems of her students. She told me that the compassion that Rosa has for her students is amazing.

Then . . . everything changed. As Lisa would later tell me, it was a life changing experience. She told me that meeting with the students was incomprehensible. She told me of student after student who was living with extreme abuse. Students whose lives were punctuated by absent parents and alcoholic relatives. She said that the stories were overwhelming. She said that at one point she realized that there was nothing she could do. She said that she realized at one point that all she could offer was a listening ear and a caring, concerned smile.

The director of the school told Lisa that she estimated that the prevalence of abuse within the student population is about 70%. She told Lisa story after story of abuse and traumatization in the school age children. She told Lisa that they desperately needed a psychologist or social worker to help with the school and meet with the teachers and children. She wondered if there was any way that the children would ever get the help they needed.

I spoke with Lisa last night. She was obviously shaken by the experience. We talked for a few minutes. There was nothing I could say that would lessen the blow of her experience. I did not try. I told her that I understood her pain and was there to be a listening ear should she need one. And, I told her that I had realized - in 16-years of work in Peru and Latin America - that all I really have to offer is my compassion.

Dr. Lisa is an amazing person. I am thoroughly convinced that she will come back to Peru . . . and I know she will make a huge difference in the lives of the children of Mariano Melgar - just by being her caring, compassionate self.