¡Paita nececita nuestra ayuda!

In Lima, Peru

Written by Justin V.

We took a flight from Lima that was pretty much blocking everything below us for the duration of the flight. If you didn’t already know, it’s overcast a good portion of the year in Peru. We had no idea what to expect when the plane broke the clouds for a landing. We had our ideas and premonitions but none of my family knew exactly what was coming. We broke the clouds about 30 minutes before we touched down and looked out at the bird’s eye view of Paita. My mother looked at me with a look that said “Not sure what I expected, but here we go”. The first thing that blew me away was the clash of ideas that I saw around me. By this, I meant that I saw people hawking water bottles on the street while holding onto a smart phone from the last year or so, standing in front of a dynamic billboard lighting up the absolute bedlam of an intersection populated by “motos”. The buildings were what I’d expect from a city like this. Some of the architecture was actually quite striking. Other than the initial culture shock, the ride to the St. Claire school was relatively uneventful.

Day 1 in Paita:

Sister Paula, Justin, Sister Matilde

We arrived in Paita and it was nonstop moving. Luckily, I had spent the day touring Lima the day prior so I was able to jump right in with a full tank of gas. I’m not medically trained, and all of my medical knowledge through osmosis from my parents, so all of my assistance was done in moving things with my mediocre man-muscles and giving input on how to design some of the systems we were devising to have people move through. Rest of the day was spent picking who would do what job.

Day 2:

Opening day. I was set to work the de-worming clinic handing out Mebendazol (had to look up how to spell). Working with people and speaking Spanish I learned very quickly what I did and didn’t know. I was surprised I actually know more than I thought but I also had a very poor level of comprehension when it came to understanding questions outside my knowledge bubble. Luckily I had Niko to lean on when I had a gap in understanding. We worked pretty well and we managed through with minimal hiccups while still providing the drugs people needed to rid themselves of the hookworms.

 Patient Consulting with Medical Staff

 Day 3:

Nothing to talk about. I built water filters all day. I thought they were cool, but I doubt me explaining how they work is interesting. NEXT!

Marc S. Buil

Play by play over:

So I wasn’t sure how I was going to be affected by the people that I interacted with in the clinic. I was working with some of the people and when we handed out the de-worming medication, we had the instructions on the side of the container. Some people could not read. Not being sarcastic, they were are part of the non-literacy statistic and that blew my mind that in 2019, there are people who can’t read or write, even in a small city in Peru. That was kind of sad but I wasn’t truly emotionally affected until we had to work with this small baby Valentine. It was the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever seen. Watching the doctor beg and plead them to take this child to the ER because he wasn’t able to breath properly. Every gasp this poor baby had to take was laboring. The cough he had was wet as hell and I can’t imagine what the mother was going though. Everyone offered their prayers but I just wish the healthcare was good enough in a country that little babies didn’t have to die from improper care or fluid in their lungs. It sounded like the child wouldn’t be taken to the hospital and I felt so sad for the rest of the evening. I’m sorry Valentine. The world is too cruel.