L.A.M.A: Los Amigos Medical Aide

This week marked the third mission trip for the LAMA group.  The group consists of 46 people: doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacist and several other helping hands.  A week before the group arrived tickets were distributed throughout the neighborhoods in Chimbote.  4,000 people received tickets, the ticket gave them the opportunity to come get a check up and receive medical attention for any problem they may have at the time.  In the span of 5 days approximately 3500 people received care.  Needless to say it was a chaotic week. 

I spent the week translating for one of the doctors, Dr. Lisa Bean, a 28 year old gynecologist from Pensacola FL, to be specific…  Let me tell you that I was translating about feminine issues that I didn’t even know how to describe in English- which lead to a few fits of laughter between Doc Bean and I. 

(This is me and Bean- i am sporting the ever so stylish red 2009 uniform shirt for the 5th day in a row...)

The week ended and I don’t know if I have ever been so exhausted.  Between the constant switching from Spanish to English, the constant flow of patients and the desperation of their cases made for a draining week.  I’ll try and paint the picture as best as I can.  The group was set up in a church that is connected to a clinic called Posta Santa Anna.  All of the LAMA volunteers were stationed in the actual church itself.  The day started at 8 am but the line outside the church began as early as 4 am, hundreds of Peruvians securing there time with the Gringo doctors.  Upon entering each person was weighed, got their blood pressure taken and received pill for parasites.  Then they waited… after waiting they were sent to triage with the nurses. There were ten nursing stations that consisted of a school desk, nurse, translator and patient.  The nurses got a general idea of what the patient needed, gave them vitamins, and sent them to the doctor they saw fit.  Now more waiting… this time outside of the doctors “offices.” There were 7 make shift wooden offices lining the church walls- each contained a light, an exam table, a desk (the kind you use in grade school), three chairs and a “door” that was actually a curtain.  Let me remind you that this is all inside of a church, a very small church.  Let me also remind you that when I refer to patients waiting for a doctor they are indeed waiting but it is not just the patient- they are waiting with their whole family- women and children mostly (never in my life have I seen so many nursing mothers- if there was a baby it was nursing).  The set up was a ZOO!  But it was as effective as it could be with the amount of people being seen. 

(this is the "office" as you can see the sanitation is well- nonexistent.)

The minute Dr. Bean saw her first patient of the day marked the last calm minute of the day.  Women entered her office, sat down and immediately starting spilling their problems.  After addressing their ailments that the nurses wrote down on their “chart” (aka half a sheet of loose leaf paper) they often came up with several new “illnesses” as the appointment progressed.  This aspect of the experience was frustrating because while you are working so hard to help the people in need- the people who literally have no access to medical care there was a great majority of people that were taking advantage of this opportunity.   Every woman came in complaining of either kidney, ovary, uterus, or liver pain… however when Dr. Bean had me ask them to point to where their pain was they really did not know where those specific body parts were located.  What they wanted was an ultrasound and any medicine they could get their hands on.  They were often very insistent and difficult about it.  We’d send them to get their ultrasound and sure enough the ultrasound tech would come back and they’d be healthy as a horse…   At first I wanted to sympathize with these women but after the first day and the repetition of the “problems” they had we had to work with our guard up so we weren’t sending these people home with medicine they didn’t actually need.  On another hand there were many women that actually did need help.  The most common problem these women had were infections, urinary and bacterial.  These infections are so frequent because of the extreme lack of sanitation and also lack of hydration.  If anyone has a yeast infection or UTI I’m positive that I’d been able to diagnose it after this week…  The second most common diagnosis was pregnancy.  Birth control of any kind here is uncommon- practically inexistent here.  The majority of the women who came into the office and were worried about pregnancies already had several children (typically in the room with them).  One woman we saw had a chart that said she thought she might be pregnant- well she sure was- no question about it, she was 6 months pregnant (and already had 4 kids under the age of 10).  It’s amazing how many resources these people lack.  The most basic sex education could help the population immensely- like Fr. Jack has reiterated education is the best way to help these people out of their current situation.  Another woman came in the office 36 weeks pregnant- she was 14.  Shortly after she came in another young woman at the age of 17 came in, pregnant with her second child, her first was just a year and a half.  It was hard seeing woman after woman come in with their arms full of children and their pockets completely empty.  These women are among the poorest of the poor.  They live in one room homes made out of estera (woven straw walls), dirt floors, and no plumbing.  Sanitation is obsolete and nutrition is scarce.  These families keep growing and they have no means to support themselves.  Their daily income is less than 2 dollars a day, that can barely cover one person let alone a whole family.

(this is a typical home this dirt floor, straw wall covered in a tarp, i took the photo from the "kitchen" a burner on a table, and the precious children you see in the pic all share this one bed- with their parents) BUT still manage to have something to smile about.

This week I was asked to be a madrina on four occasions.  Madrina is a godmother.  It is a little different than being a godmother in the states- it is more of a financial sponsor.  This was made very clear seeing as of the 4 women who asked me to be madrina none of them knew my name.  These women were just so desperate for a means to provide to their children.  Many of the women were single, husband have the tendency to leave when the goin gets tough.  It was a week of heartbreaking cases, and again a week of great appreciation for all the blessings in my life that I never realized I took for granted.  

Un desafío de internet

Today I went to mass for the first time since I think Christmas.  It was at 8:00 pm and was the second mass of the day.  It was packed- the pews overflowed with Peruvians and most of the volunteers.  While I don’t consider myself very religious- spiritual I suppose, I found myself leaving mass actually thinking about the homily.  I don’t know what is was exactly about this mass that got my attention maybe it was because it was in Spanish and in order to understand the message I had to pay that much more attention.  Regardless I found myself really hearing what Fr. Jack had to say.  First he read the story of Adam and Eve and followed with a homily about temptation.  He then challenged us to take a full 24 hours and commit to not using the Internet.  Do you think you could do it?  I was thinking how frequently I check email, facebook, and just dink around online… he said bye bye Internet see ya Tuesday- A test of both temptation and disconnection.  He spoke of how connected we are these days.  How communication has moved from snail mail where it would take two weeks to receive a letter in the states from Peru and another two weeks for a response, and today we are communicating instantaneously via Internet. 

So I committed the promise.  How I see it is- if people here live without running water, electricity, and lack many other necessities of life, I can for 24 steer clear of Internet.  I can focus on being here rather than being here and at home.  There have already been immediate effects of this promise.  Rather than stopping in the office after mass to check email and make a skype date with my mama I stopped to talk with my host brother Jose who is a guardiana (guard) at the parish.  As we were chatting a few volunteers invited me to a baptism reception I accepted and away we went.  Let me tell you- this was no ordinary baptism reception we walked into the house welcomed by about 20 people dancing and drinking…  everyone was having a great time and I was wonder why we don’t celebrate this way in the U.S??  It was way better than your typical brunch and cake.  One of the volunteers looked at me and said, “if you think this is fun you should go to a baby shower”- I can only hope!  But moral of the story is I already gained a new experience because I stepped away from mass communication and lived in the here and now. 

So I am back on the web and I must say taking a 24-hour hiatus was great I think that it is something that I will try and do every week.  It is refreshing and gives ya a great opportunity to really focus on what you have to do and what is going on around you. 

So you may wonder what exactly I am doing here and sometimes I wonder the same thing… But I am currently working as a Volunteer Program Assistant.  What is that?  Good question- I’m still sorta figuring it out.  The Los Amigos program is growing and the demand for help and volunteers is continuous.  While is it easy to say I will be teaching English or building houses or working in a prevention center the person who organizes all of that is sort of like the great wizard of OZ.  Rather than giving courage, heart, or brains the coordinator here provides opportunities for education and gives hope- yet all the while is sort of behind the scenes.  Well the great OZ down here keeps getting busier and busier so I am stepping in and will be in charge of prepping short term groups, host families, orientations, keeping things running with the long term volunteers and prioritizing/delegating projects.  With my time that I spend aside from this part of the job I have decided to take on the task of the Jardines (gardens).  The gardens here are in horrible condition.  This past fall they were lush and provided fresh produce for the 6 soup kitchens here.  Now you would walk by and think that you are passing an area of gated weeds…  No one really wants to work on them because it is going to be a ton of work.  Chimbote is an incredibly dry climate; they say it rains here about once every 2 years… so gardening will indeed be a big task.  My goal is to get the gardens going- (hopefully I’ll have the same knack for it as mom and nana) then get the community involved.  That will be huge.  The lack of respect the community has for the very few green spaces here is shocking.  I figure if people are putting in their own hard work and time they will respect the space, profit from the space, and it will be a more sustainable project. 

Bienvenidos a Chimbote!

Los Amigos is a faith-based organization dedicated to supporting programs that improve and transform the lives of the poor of Chimbote, Peru.

I’ve been in Peru just over a week now and it has been a week of adjustment and orientation.  The difference between life here and in the United States is extreme to say the least.  The average family here lives on less than $2.00 a day- could you imagine??  Take a second to put it in perspective- how much can you purchase with $2.00- not much.  Now try and picture a day living off that much while supporting a family.  Needless to say the life I’m accustomed to is very different than the everyday life here.

Here is a little glimpse into my day-to-day life here.  I have been placed with a host family- la familia Escalante, consisting of 2 older host brothers Jose (29) and Marco (27), host mom Bertha, and host dad Walter.  They are overwhelmingly kind and hospitable.  I will walk you through their house- one might say it’s a bit different than 2116 Juno Ave.  The outside is bright blue-, which is great because so many of the houses here look the same I always know which one is mine.  I have been given 4 different house keys- ay ay ay its like a game of chance every time I get to the door.  The front door leads into a long dark hallway that brings you to the family broom factory.  The bottom floor of the house is indeed a broom factory- it’s like walking through a maze of hay getting to the staircase upstairs.  Not to mention that there are animals everywhere turkeys, chickens, and guinea pigs…aka dinner.  There is a pen of guinea pigs right by the stair case- I count them everyday to make sure I’m not going to see one on my plate… Noooo thanks (there are 5).  Once you’re upstairs there is the bathroom- which gets about an hour of running water very early in the morning- so I am given two buckets of water daily to shower- soooo I’ve only showered once and can’t even imagine how ridiculous I looked doing it.  There isn’t even a shower head and as for the toilet, the phrase “if its yellow let it mellow, if its brown flush is down” is applied- except for that the flush doesn’t exactly “flush it down- I’m sure that’s TMI but woah is that different- also all the TP is thrown in the trash not flushed… Ha I’m sure I’ll get it down to a system soon enough.  Once past the bathroom there is my host brothers a room they share and Leah (another volunteer here) and me share another room- it’s very cozy!   Not like my bed- which I think is maybe a plank of wood covered with a comforter…  any who, it is very nice having Leah with me she is super nice (a recent college grad as well – from MN too)!  We laugh at all of the absurdities here like the dogs barking and roosters crowing as we try to sleep.  The other areas of the house include a nice dining room/living space, host mom and dad’s room and a kitchen that really only consists of an oven/stove and a table.  Then in the lower level of the house lives another host brother Wilman and his wife and 2 kids- it’s a very family friendly house.  There is actually a huge gaping hole on the floor in the hallway that they converse through- a hole that I always worry my foot will fall through!  The housing experience thus far has been good…

When not at the house I am typically at la parroquia (the parish).  This morning we (the long term volunteers) had a meeting with Sister Peggy and Father Jack (they are the people in charge- they run the show, Fr. Jack is like a celebrity here).  It was probably one of the first informative parts of the trip.  Fr. Jack ran through everything that the program offers and concluded with a quote that really captures life here. 

“It’s Not God’s Will that Poverty Exists,

Preferential Option For the Poor The Only Way The Poor Can Get Out Of Their Poverty is Through Education.”

The poverty here is hard to grasp.  I walk down a dusty dirt road littered with garbage, stray dogs, dog feces, houses with dirt floors and straw roofs.  There are small children everywhere without shoes and clean clothes, relieving themselves on the street and lacking any sort of structure in their upbringing.  There is a constant flow of pregnant women coming in and out of la parroquia looking for help, the community in uneducated in many areas especially family planning and birth control.  It is so hard to see all of these people who lack such basic necessities.  After hearing what all of the different volunteers will be working on Fr. Jack emphasized how everything that we are doing is providing the population here with education which will empower them with knowledge to make the changes that they can for themselves and will prevent them from continuing this horrible cycle of extreme poverty.  We are truly serving the poorest of the poor.