Kusi 2012

After an almost 10-hour bus ride and a 2-hour taxi ride, we made it to Kusi late last night. It is so great to be back here. The sheer splendor and beauty of the area (along with the 11,000 feet) take your breath away.

Today is a planning and sight-seeing day. We are headed to Lake Llanganuco and then on a small hike to the Campo Santo in the old city of Yungay. We also have a bit of planning and preparation before we start a clinic for the boys of the Casa Girasoles. The focus of this trip is to continue the work we have been doing for Union Biblica del Peru.

The work we are doing in Kusi over the next three days is a part of a program we are calling  Ayuda Girasoles Project. We will be working in collaboration with Union Biblica del Peru, helping to develop a monitoring and record keeping system for children living-in group homes around Peru. HBI will work Union Biblica to develop a system for collecting health and psychosocial data on children living in the Girasoles homes in accordance to the requirements (resolution number 080-2012-MIMP) of the Peruvian Ministry of Health (MINSA).

The project will be administered in three phases and include continuous collaboration with the Union Biblica administration and staff to assure the accuracy and relevance of data collection.  The goal of the project is to help with routine data collection as mandated by the Peruvian Government for children under the care and protection of Union Biblica and to identify youth who are at greater risk for health and social complications as they age out of services eligibility with Union Biblica and move toward emancipation.

We leave Kusi on Tuesday night and take an overnight bus back to Lima. Wednesday is a full day of meetings and preparations for the next phase of this project – which is departing for another Union Biblica Girasoles home on Thursday morning. We will be in the desert town of Ica from Thursday to Saturday collecting the same data on the boys living in this home.

In addition to the data collection and evaluation work we are doing for the Ayuda Girasoles Project, we also have two Peruvian dentists, a Peruvian nurse, and a Peruvian physician with our team. We will be providing medical and dental care to the boys during our visits to the homes.

All and all, this promises to be a very full week. We will be posting pictures and providing updates when the Internet will allow. A big thank you for all of your ongoing support.