Water Project - Part II

Here are links to a video journal that our fantastic water project team compiled while working with NDI in Nicaragua:

Nicaragua Agua Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlbgdfLCgwA

Nicaragua Agua Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwvhsoK1d20

Nicaragua Agua Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We7YjmgHVLs

Nicaragua Agua Part 3.1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R5WNfmPdWo

Nicaragua Agua Part 4.0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH_ah5VG9TA

Nicaragua Agua Part 4.1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u53kpfAdeDw

Nicaragua Agua Part 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBiuBbLmzmg

Nicaragua Agua Part 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG0hFAF7t-c

Nicaragua Agua Part 7, "Blessing” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX_QeYnnBr8

Nicaragua Agua Part 7.1, “Blessing Bob & Rich” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkaBkuWs6OU

Nicaragua Agua Part 7.2, “Operator Training” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmNgHwNpBNM

Nicaragua Agua Finale, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYvjRAtHLCU

A very special thank you to Mr. Ben Grass (HBI's Director of Operations), Mr. Bob Palandech, Bishop Rich Monnie, and Mr. Tony Trujillo (NDI Operations Manager) for their tireless efforts.

The project was not without a set of challenges, and the team pulled it off with stunning accuracy.

Great job TEAM!

Let Clean Water Flow

The HBI Team has completed the installation of a water filtration unit in collaboration with NDI on the Island of Ometepe in Nicaragua.

A video update of this fantastic project can be seen at on YouTube.

HBI and NDI worked collaboratively to bring the first large batch water filtration project to the Island of Ometepe. HBI will be working with NDI to finalize and evaluate this project.

Stay tuned to the HBI Blog for updates.

A Great New Training Institute

As many HBI stakeholders are aware, I spend my time split between my work with HBI and my work with the Center for Social Innovation (C4).

C4 is a "think tank" based out of Boston, MA that works to translate research, policy and best practice resources into concrete tools that providers and clinicians can use to end homelessness and address poverty.

C4 recently launched the "T3 Institute." T3 is a collaboration between C4 and the National Center on Family Homelessness (NCFH). T3 is an innovative training institute committed to improving the knowledge and skills of people working in homeless services. T3 believes that a skilled workforce is essential to mount a serious response to complex social problems.

T3 has a free module that people can watch to learn an amazing array of information about the “History of Homelessness.”

Take a few minutes to check out the T3 website. There is lot of great information and a really aesthetically appealing style to the way information is presented. I am really proud of the great work at C4 and the product we have developed through T3.

The Presidential Election

Photo: A campaign billboard in Lima. Presidential candidates will support congressional candidates under their party. This poster is for Alejandro Toledo and a congressional candidate Carlos Bruce.

The month of April is fast approaching.

The Presidential elections this year involve a number of very interesting candidates, including Dr. Alejandro Toledo - former President of Peru in the early part of this century. Dr. Toledo has stiff competition from a Nationalist candidate who was a big surprise in the 2006 elections (Ollanta Humala) and an autocrat who was the former Mayor of Lima (Dr. Luis Casteneda).

Another candidate with the potential for a late surge in the polls is the studious economist, physician, infectious disease expert and scientist - Dr. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. Dr. Kuczynski is not an unknown commodity in Peruvian political seen, having served under President Toledo as the Minister of Economy. He is a really sharp mind.

The dark horse of the race is none other than Keiko Fujimori. Yes, you got it - the daughter of both disgraced and beloved former president (and now convicted felon) Alberto Fujimori.

The election date is April 10th. If no one candidate receives at least 50% of the vote - then they go to an election run-off between the top two vote geters. This will undoubtedly prove to be a very interesting contest and may have a great deal of significance to the work of HBI.

Never to be outdone, 2-term President Dr. Alan Garcia is already beginning his re-election charge for the next electoral cycle (Peru's constitution puts no limits on the number of terms a President can serve, only that the he/she can not serve consecutive terms).

Stay tuned to the HBI Blogspot, I will definitely be writing about the race.

Changes . . .

Photo: The "Free" Integrated Medicine Campaign.

Photo: Note the table of medications being set-up outside of the main tent.

I am at the airport awaiting my flight back to the U.S. This is a routine that I am very well acquainted. There is, however, a bit of a difference in my attitude as I leave a weeks stay in Lima.

Changes in the economy and the new prosperity of Peru are evident everywhere. From the number of new cars on the road to the congestion that constantly plagues the airport. Peru is a country on the move.

This morning I went for a run. A short run before quickly scurrying back to the Formation House to back my bags and say my goodbyes. My run was nothing special. It was along a route that I have taken many times in the past. There was one thing that made my run much different.

As I was circling back to the plaza in the center of Magdalena, I noticed a large tent set up in the middle of the square. I have seen tents similar to this one in the past - much of the time in very poor areas where international organizations are delivering medical and dental care. This time, however, the tent was a group of Peruvian health care providers setting up a free campaign right in the middle of a middle-class neighborhood.

I stopped and asked two people setting up a table with medications (the table was outside of the tent in a very conspicuous spot) what was going on. They told me that they were conducting a "gran campana salud integral." I asked who the sponsor of the campaign was and they shrugged their shoulders and said - "no one, we are just here helping."

As I walked away from the tent I noticed a banner stretched across the square close to the campaign. Upon closer inspection I saw a very familiar face and a slogan that every Limeno would recognize - "Hospital de la Solidaridad." Solidaridad Nacional is the political party of Luis Casteneda Lossio, the former mayor of Lima and a front runner for the Peruvian presidency in April.

The Casteneda party has been putting on medical and health care campaigns all over Lima for years. Their model has been to build portable "hospitals" (multi-specialty health care centers) out of discarded buses or shipping containers. They are easily recognizable because of there branding in the official colors of the Casteneda party.

Don't get me wrong, I am not against campaigning. In fact, I believe that Casteneda has a genuine concern for the needs of the Peruvian poor. It just seems a bit strange that a "gran campana salud integral" would take place in such a unusual spot.

Yes, things in Peru are rapidly changing. And, there is a long way to go.

Little Ines

Photo: Special orthopedic shoes that allow Ines to walk without pain.

Photo: Father Aurelio and his pet monkey "Pepe Pedro"

Photo: Ines' smiling face and "Hello Kitty" shirt. Such the little girl.

Little Ines is not so little anymore. She is doing great.

I met with Ines, her mother Victoria, Father Aurelio, Gloria and Reverend Pat this afternoon in Pamplona. This is the team that helps to keep the "Ines Special Needs Children Program" running.

Gloria perform home visits, helps to coordinate appointments and transportation and helps to administer the funds for the program. Father Aurelio is always available to help counsel parents and provide a compassionate ear to the needs of people dealing with the very stressful demands of caring for medically fragile children. Reverend Pat is the mortar that keeps all of the bricks together. She helps to make certain that everything keeps running smoothly.

At this time the Special Needs Children Program is helping fund 6 kids in and around the impoverished community of Pamplona - one of the large periurban slums (or Pueblos Jovenes) in Lima. The money, donated from a Carmelite Prayer Group in Panama City, Florida has been a tremendous benefit to the lives of the children and their parents. The poverty that surrounds the people enrolled in the program is suffocating.

This afternoon as we sat in the church where Father Aurelio is the pastor, talking with Victoria and Ines, I noticed a different little girl than I had seen in July of 2009. The Ines I saw today was smiling and laughing. A bit shy, but not afraid to express her opinion. And very much a different physical presence than I had last examined. Certainly, she is thin and a bit frail; but her skin looks fantastic.

The blisters that had covered every square inch of her body the last time I saw her were minimal and isolated to areas where there was friction from her clothing or irritation from pressure. Victoria told us that Ines has not taken any antibiotics for over three months. This in contrast to one year ago - when she was on continuous oral antibiotics and very much a threat for drug resistance.

The Ines of today was not the same little girl. I have got to think that the small donation that goes into the "Special Needs Children Program" every month helped to make a difference.

Certainly she is not "cured." There is no current cure for her condition. She is however, happy. And this is a huge success!

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 . . .