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| Park by my house! |
The past month has been amazing, challenging, exhausting, and emotionally straining but, probably also one of the most rewarding and eye opening months of my life! But, first I'll back up to the beginning of June and our week with fifteen 17 year old high school boys. Every year Malvern all boys high school, in Villanova, PA sends a group for an immersion/service trip led and planned by the Augustinian Volunteers, the three of us! In our attempts to keep them as busy as possible we exhausted ourselves but also really enjoyed being able to see the city we have grown to love so much through new excited eyes, eyes with great desire to help and curious souls questioning and pushing our knowledge. They played lots of soccer, gave out lots of candy, soccer balls, clothes, and love. They hiked hills, went to the river, came and helped me out at school (made the girls week, maybe even month, they just couldn't get over how tall they were), bought pottery in La Encantada, went to the special needs school, visited the hospital, cleaned Centro Pastoral, and passed time talking to people in the plaza. But, in the end the only thing they really "did" was paint at the elderly home, it wasn't about doing, it was about being, being in communion with the people. Learning about how the third world lives, their realities, their struggles, and their true happiness and finding the true wealth they have is in each other. People here are so proud of what they have, who they are, and all they've made for themselves. In the end, we hope the boys went home and told their story, told people about Chulucanas, Peru and all it's beauty!
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| Ceramics man! |
I know having them here to question things taught us a lot about Chulucanas, they refocused us on why we are here, and why we are so happy we still have five more months to leave our mark. The boys loved the most challenging place in Chulucanas, the orphanage, they just couldn't get enough of it, they went everyday because they wanted to go, they wanted to ask questions, dig deeper, and even try to adopt some of the kids. The orphange here is a home to 38 children under the age of 15 and is run by one nun and her assistant. They live off day to day donations, there are two kids to a bed, the roof leaks, and the sewer pipe is broken so it constantly reeks. The past couple of months we have tried our best to avoid going there just because it is hard to sit there. But, Malvern got me to go, got me to ask questions about why each kid is there, their stories. The ones that hit me the hardest are the little three year olds who can't walk because they were so malnourished before found, a three year old girl stuck in a bouncy chair her whole life, some kids taken away from abusive alcoholic parents by the police, others abandoned at the hospital, others found in plastic bags next to dumpsters, others voluntarily take themselves there when they are 12 years old and pregnant with their step-fathers baby due to being rapped. These kids like the children at the Special Needs School here need qualified staff members to help them, they need their own beds, they need the sewer pipe fixed, and they need so much support. But, yet are grateful for some kind of roof over their head, happy to be safe and happy to have the opportunity to go to school.
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| How we buy veggies! |
The day Malvern left, Global Health Medical Campaign arrived with a team of 39 people! Our days spent with the campaign were long, emotionally draining, challenging, rewarding, and a completely new adventure. Our days began at 7:15 in the morning and we didn't return home till 8:45 pm each night. But, the long hours weren't what caused us to pass out at 10 pm exhausted every night, but more so the emotional and mentally exhaustion from talking in two languages all day. I worked with a nurse practitioner, Genny, we saw all the kids under the age of 18. This was perfect for the fact that every patient was a new challenge, I didn't hear the same my back hurts, my knees hurt, my blood pressure is really high, or I might have diabetes story over and over again. Each child came in with a different story, and never with just one problem but more so a full list of things they were praying for a miracle for.
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| Fresh Fish! |
Throughout the two weeks I saw extreme cases of birth defects, mental disabilities, severely malnourished children, epileptic children ceasing while sitting there, parasites, hemophilic boys, big hernias, and irregular heart murmurs. One little boy was born with his brain in islands, four years old and unable to walk or talk, and probably never will be able to. Epileptic children with no way of being able to afford medicine to slow down the frequency of how often they were ceasing. Often causing these kids to then be malnourished because they cannot eat while ceasing because it may cause pneumonia! Kids weighing less than seven pounds at two years old being breastfeed by a mother probably weighing less than 80 pounds herself she is so malcourished as well. Children with asthma due to the fact that the mom cooks over an open fire with no ventalation for the smoke to be removed from the house. Other children came in with severe cleft lips, hoping to be put on the list for the operations in October. Another child was born with his skull already sealed not allowing for any head or brain growth. One little three year old girl looked like she was about 4 months old, she was born with severe schoiosis, a cleft lip, a back dimple signifing that her spine did not fully formulate and hips not in their sockets. Another baby was not born without an espophogus, another without a bladder, both attacted to several tubes in order for these kids to be able to eat or go to the bathroom.
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| Fruits! |
Never have I had to choke back tears so many times in a week, never have I heard such sad stories, never have I had to tell parents that their kids are going to join God and the angels soon, nor have I ever experienced such intense love! Some of these moms came from a six hour bus ride away, not to mention the 2 hours they walked carrying their child to get to the bus, then waited outside in the sun for several hours before getting to actually talk to a doctor, for me just to tell them their child wasn't going to make it. One mom came in with a baby born so with so many things wrong it was amazing the baby was still alive, when I told the mom about all the things wrong with her child, she started crying, she was 17 and this was her 3rd baby born this way, the other two didn't make it more than a week, but yet she wanted to keep trying. Another woman came in with her grandson because the mom was 14 and in school, the grandma traveled all night to get there. Another mom came in with her 12 year old daughter, who had a really irregular dangerous heart murmur. The girl needs an extreme heart surgury that is so far out of the mother's price range she doesn't know what to do. Next thing I know the mom asks the daughter to leave the room and go wait outside for her. The mom then starts to cry and tells me she has stage 4 cancer, but hasn't recieved any treatment for it because she would rather that money go to her daughter. This mom loves her daughter so much she is willing to give her own life to her.
The campaign also gave me time to get to more about people in Chulucanas. Multiple mom's of students or actual students came in to the clinic. I learned my favorite student, Christian, who I spend lots of time with, dad left him last year, since then his grades have dropped, he doesn't like going out, and he has trouble sleeping. My best student, Juan Jose, his mom experiences extreme PTSD and anxiety because her brother murdered someone and is now in the highest secruity prison in Lima. My cool kid in the class, Mr. I sit in the back, am too cool for anything, am just gonna sleep, actually has an irregular heart problem that keeps him up at night. Found out his parents aren't in his life anymore so he lives with his aunt, he is 17 (so 2 years older than everyone else in the class) and his main caregiver, his grandma, is super sick. Stories like these reminded me how much I can't get frustrated at students for not studying, so many of them have stuff going on at home, they all have a story, even the ones I thought I knew.
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| Regular sight! |
Lastly, the campaign made for some awkward funny times as well! Learning how to ask kids if they were sexually active, how often they go to the bathroom and what color it is, if it hurts when they go to the bathroom, if they have "blancitos en sus potitos," (little white things coming out of their little butts) parasites, and the list continues. Also, Genny, my doctor, was huge like 5'11 and super animiated, and of course didn't speak a word of Spanish. So when she would get up and explain things with actions the people would just stare at her like what is this crazy lady doing. But, then when I would translate it, I too would have to act out the same actions so they understood what which part meant. I've never had to teach so many little girls how to clean themselves after going to the bathroom or how to have uncircumsized little boys clean themselves to avoid infections. Never a dull moment! But, overall a truly amazing experience! Just wish their was so much more we could do for these people! Campaigns like this are awesome but also such a bandaid! These people need extreme education, they need access to clean water, prenatal vitimins, regular doctors, and equipment that supports all the hard manual labor they have to do.
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