I'm currently on the plane heading back home to the reflecting on our time in Peru. After a long and exhausting week, I'm anxious to get back home to my family. However, personally, a little piece of me stays behind. I love the kindness, warmth and tenacity of the people of Paita. They have so little yet are grateful for so much and have and amazing faith in God and his care for them. An example we can all learn from.
I first want to thank the Sisters of Santa Clara for giving us this opportunity to serve. They are relentless in their work. They work so hard to give their students and the community a sense of hope when honestly, it feels like there is none at times; an education that will hopefully prepare and take them to bigger and better things; make their lives happier and healthier with our Medical Missions and Water Purification Ministry. Sisters Monica, Paula, Maltilde and Maribel are rock stars and super heroes and don't even know it. They inspire us. Thank you!
I cannot thank our team enough! It takes a special person to take the time away from their families and comforts of home to serve in such a capacity. To my fellow providers Dr. Rob and Cathy, PA, I could not have done this without you! Your professionalism, compassion and work ethic were ever present. Our ministry is truly blessed to have had you join us on this journey.
Charlie, Cathy, Catherine, Linda, Lisa (Front Row) Dr. Bob (Back Row)
To Dr. Lisa and her lovely daughters Olivia and Lindsey, whom we lovingly referred to as the Weber Girls, thank you! Lisa is a Chiropracter but she took on the role of our Pharmacist and she didn't miss a beat! She may have another career waiting for her! Olivia and Lindsey, who hope to be PA's in the future, both did an amazing job with any role I gave them. I would be proud to call you both my colleagues one day! Thank you!
Our professional nurses Catherine and Linda checked in patients, quickly triaged the urgent ones, kept things moving smoothly and warmly welcomed our patients. Catherine did double duty as a translator for Cathy. Thank you!
Then we have our special assistants, Emily and Elena. Young girls mature beyond their years who helped in any capacity and where I needed them. They helped with registration, fitting glasses, working with the parasite clinic, cooking, cleaning, running errands, helping with the water filters. What didn't they do? Your contribution was so helpful and we thank you.
Then there is Miranda. She was inspired to help with the water purification ministry by what she saw in Peru during her first trip there, seeing first hand the impact of poor water quality on the community. With the guidance and assistance of her advisor, our Deb Passino, Miranda was able to take this project on as her Girl Scout Gold Award Project. With Emily's help and Deb's guidance, she was able to assemble 50 water filtration systems which included instructions and supplies to maintain them. On Monday morning before we left, she taught three different groups of moms on how to use, clean, maintain and trouble shoot the filter systems. She also created a patient education handout that talked about how to recognize infection, how to prevent transmission of illness and food handling as well as how to sanitize water with bleach and iodine for those who don't have a filter. Those were also distributed to our patients in both the medical and parasite clinic. She also registered patients and worked the parasite clinic. Miranda, thank you and we are all proud of you.
Last but not least, I want to thank Deb Passino. Deb and I start the planning process a year in advance of these missions. She handles the so very important administrative and logistical side of things and I plan and coordinate the medical aspect. Together, we get 'er done!! While there, she takes very good care of the medical team by cooking us fabulous meals, makes sure we stay healthy and with anything else we may need to keep things running smoothly. She is up early and stays up late every night. Her contribution is priceless. Thank you Deb!
Baked French Toast with Real Maple Syrup
Finally, I want to express thanks and gratitude to the family members of our team. We know you worry and take care of things at home alone while we are gone. It's not easy yet you support us in every way. Deb and I thank you, our parish thanks you and the people of Paita thank you!
Today I held the three classes for the families receiving the filters. Before it all started, I just wanted to get it over with. The last three days have been so much work and it's been stressful. It turned out to be a little more work than expected because I had a few bumps in the road. None of the spigots on the systems were tight so I had to go back and tighten all of them. The holes I drilled also weren't big enough so I had to go back and make them bigger. However, I made it through these obstacles and it was all worth it when the families got the systems.
They were all so amazed that the filters could purify the water, not just clean it. We told them that they could take any dirty water and it would still be safe to drink and all of them were just stunned. I remember one woman kept asking about what type of water could be used to purify and every time we told her that this can purify anything, she would be amazed all over again. Everyone was so grateful and that was when I knew all the stress and hard work was totally worth it and I would do it all again.
This experience was one of a lifetime, sure I could go to Peru again and do the same things but it will never compare. I have met many new people who have now become good friends that I hope for a lifetime! There are some of the crew still traveling in South America, but today (6/20/16) I made the trek home along with five others. This experience was something that I would want everyone to go on if they are able to, this is something that can change you if you let it and considering I am 15 years old it was a good experience at a younger age. I do wish to go again but this time bring someone who could also experience what an amazing things can happen before you when you are down there. Submitted by Emily D.
Last night I was laying in my bed, after our third full day of clinic, debating with myself about what I missed the most about America: -My bed -English Or - Flushing toilet paper
God must have been listening to my diva thoughts and brought to my attention how these people don't get those luxuries and this is their lives. The people of Peru have huge families of 4-5 young children and young mothers of early 20s. If I live here I would have 5 children by now. It's amazing watching how free spirited they are nursing in public, children running everywhere, and laughing at everything. This is a tight knit community, everyone seems to know everyone helps people communicate with us when they don't understand. Sometimes mothers or grandmothers will bring other children from their neighborhoods if they're parents cannot come.
It's humbling to understand how they can live in such a poor area and still make the best of all situations and keep a good demeanor. One grandmother came in with her grandson who was blind, deaf, and unable to walk. He was 7 and she was carrying him over her shoulder. It was so moving that she brought him in the receive treatment. They truly care for each other and understand the importance of love and compassion.
God has brought me here for more reasons than just providing health care but to understand how lucky I am and how he's given me abilities to help even His poorest people and I'm thankful for this eye opening experience.
It's our last scheduled day of clinic. There are so many things I don't want to forget. Like the large black gate where we enter into the school grounds or the wooden door with a door knocker where one of the sisters lets us into the main building. Or the concrete floors inside the school buildings. Or the smiling faces of the sisters and the patients. Or the beautiful flowing Spanish. Or the giggling Peruvian boys and girls that wanted pictures with all our younger missionaries. (Olivia kissed one of the boys on the cheek and the whole group of them swooned!) Or Lindsey and Charlie with their love of all the little babies. Or how this entire group worked endlessly to provide such excellent medical care to this medically deprived society.
Cathy's last patient Saturday evening was one she eventually sent to the E.R. She was a woman in her forties who had very high blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat. The woman said she was told before that she had this and was given meds but then a family member got sick and she never followed up with her doctor after that. She seemed angry at Olivia and Linda when they took her vitals and informed her she had high BP. I think she thought it should have been 'cured' with the medicine she had consumed from a previous prescription. I don't think they are educated much on chronic disease. One young 17 year old was told he had arthritis but nothing else. Charlie had to educate him that he actually had rheumatoid arthritis and what this meant and how to care for it and how to follow up with medical care. He broke down crying. It was heart wrenching.
Dr. Roberto saw a baby with multiple birth defects who was rasping trying to breathe and was obviously in heart failure. The baby also had previous medical care but the family wasn't educated on how to care for the baby at home. Dr. Roberto didn't think the baby would live long. The baby was also referred to the hospital.
Sending patients to the ER here is not like it is in the US. There are no doctors at the hospital or in the ER at night so the best time to have an emergency would be during the day! We are so fortunate in the US to have such great medical care. Here in Peru, if you don't have the money, they can deny you treatment.
We were hoping to be finished with clinic by 11 am today, but we finished closer to noon. We began packing the pharmacy up and taking inventory of our supplies. The medicine that would expire before the next missions trip was given to the sisters for their pharmacy. When we finished, we went back to the hostel to get ready for our boat ride and excursion into the city of Paita.
We rode the motos to get the ocean. One cannot visit South America without riding a moto. There are hundreds of motos flying down the streets all the time. There are hundreds more motos than there aree cars. Motos are motorcycles with a covered bench-wagons on their back. This was the main transportation for the city. Very few automobiles. Riding a moto is a unique experience. The motos move at about 30-40 miles per hour and you fear you will tip it over if you move so you just sit still. The motos took us down the ocean front and then back to the school.
Headed to Downtown Paita for Boat Ride and Dinner
Catherine in Moto
We saw sea lions on these shores basking in the sun. They were practically laying on top of each other. Occasionally, we could see them fighting. The boat ride was short and once we disembarked, we walked to an ocean side restaurant. Along the way, we saw what I understood to be the oldest basilica in Peru named Our Lady of Mercy. How fitting and fortunate for us to see this basilica in the Year of Mercy.
We divided into two groups of eight, boarded small boats and motored through the fishing boats to the far shores of Paita.
Dr. Bob, Catherine, Linda, Sr. Paul, Charlie and Miranda
"Sea Wolves" of Paita, Peru
Charlie and Miranda
Dr. Bob
Sr. Monica and the other Group
Group Picture After the Boat Ride
We ordered sea food dishes and some of us had cerveza (beer). I'm not much of a beer drinker but took a sip. It tasted a little like Miller. A band played with Peruvian singers. It was entertaining but LOUD! Some of us danced on the dance floor. I think we looked like clumsy Americans! Haha.
Our Last Dance in Peru
Cerveza Grande
The Team on the North Side of the Table
The Team on the South Side of the Table
Linda...Look at That Large Shrimp!
Emily and a Chicken Dish
Sister Matilde and Ceviche (Raw Fish in a Lime Marinade)
A Rice Dish
Charlie and a Pasta Dish
Once back at the school, we rested until it was time for Mass then we took another moto to a church called Iglesia de San Franscico. The church was so beautiful inside. There were life sized statues along the walls with the stations of the cross in between. The ceiling was painted with beautiful paintings of Jesus. Behind the altar, the wall portrayed life size statues of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, St. Francis, and two other saints who I understood one to be a saint from Lima. Above Jesus was a dove for the Holy Spirit and then above the dove, a painting of God. I don't ever remember seeing a human depiction of God before.
To the right of the altar was Jesus on the cross and to the left of the altar was a shrine for Mary. This shrine had a beautiful life size statue of Mary laden with real gold and silver. She wore a beautiful white gown accented with red and gold. Lindsey asked me why her throat was cut and for the first time, I noticed a horizontal slice in her throat at about the level of her Adam's apple. We asked sister and I later asked Charlie what happened to our lady. I will have to look the story up when I get home but this is what I gathered. Two statues of Mary were brought over by the Spanish when they first arrived. One was named Carmen and the other was named Mercedes. They wanted to move Mercedes to Lima, but she was too heavy for them to carry. So they decided to move Carmen. Carmen, however, was supposed to stay in Paita. She was not supposed to be moved. But they put her on a ship and began to transport her anyway. A pagan pirate named Drake attacked the ship and tried to destroy Carmen (Mary), but he was unsuccessful and the only mark he left on her was the slice he made with his sword across her throat. Frustrated, he threw her overboard. Mary washed up onto the shores of Paita, her true home, and that is where she remains today. People come from all over the world to see Mary and pray to her.
Most of the Holy Mass was short, except for the homily which was maybe a half hour to 45 minutes. I didn't understand very much of it. The rest of the Mass though was short. No singing between scriptures. Not a lot of singing at all actually. And the music was recorded during the few short songs that were played. The church was packed. Mass is every night at 7 pm. And every night I hear is packed. It felt good to take communion. No wine/blood was given and I don't recall any wine on the altar for the priest either. Every person gave what they could during collection. One soles or more, it didn't matter. And they celebrate Mass every night. And most of them have to ride the motos so there is cost there as well. God is good. He gives us what we need.
After Mass, we rode the motos back to Santa Clara and had dinner in the dining room. We had rotisserie Peruvian chicken (Pollo a la Brasa) and french fries and finished off the last of the delicious cake that Deb had bought for us a few days ago.
Pollo a la Brasa Cut in small pieces
Sister Paula No, she did not drink all that wine and beer!!!!!
We went back to our hostel to sleep. We would be leaving Paita for Piura the next day. Our mission was over and most of us would be heading back to the states. Some of us would continue on to Machu Picchu for a tour.
Miranda and Charlie would be giving classes on the filtration systems before we would leave.
Our last full day of clinic was yesterday. By the end of clinic yesterday, the heat and the work was really taking its toll. My body ached, My feet were tingling, my eyes were dried out, and I had incessant phlegm in the back of my throat from the dust. Through each day, the rest of the world just melts away and time goes by quickly. Then, at the end of the day, when all the activity slows down, that's when the pangs of homesickness settle in. You lay in bed listening to the loudspeaker from the nearby soccer field, thinking of home, and think you'll never fall asleep, but then you close your eyes and the next thing you know, the rooster is crowing and the motos are moving and it's time to wake up.
The shower in the hostel heats up to just above lukewarm, but after I dress into my scrubs, I feel l might break out into a sweat just standing still. Then when I walk outside, it feels cool in the morning. The plaster walls must insulate the hostel rooms so they stay warm all the time.
We ended up seeing 119 patients yesterday so that totals 364 so far. We are working this afternoon and have 70 scheduled and we will work tomorrow morning and will see another 30. So that makes a total of 464. There will be patients we will have to turn away.
Miranda and Deb are building water purification systems made from two, five-gallon buckets and large carbon filters that are a larger version of the filter in my Berkey water bottle. The two five-gallon buckets are placed on top of each other and holes are drilled through the bottom of the top one then through the top of the bottom one. The Berkey filters are placed in the top bucket and their threaded stem are placed through the holes and into the lower bucket. Unfiltered water is pored into the top bucket which flows by gravity into the lower bucket and becomes filtered. There is a spigot in the lower bucket to pour water from. The water in the lower bucket can be ingested without fear of getting sick. Amazing. Miranda, Emily, and Deb are assembling 50 of these water systems. Each set of these Berkey filters costs $100 plus the cost of the buckets and shipping them down here. St. Paul purchased the materials for 43 of these filtration systems. Miranda held a fund raiser which raised enough money to purchase the other seven.
This purification system is amazing. It has fairly low maintenance, having to use a green, 3M scrubby to open the pores of the Berkey filters every several weeks. The buckets need to be sprayed with a bleach solution when one sees a build-up of algae. The Berkey filters themselves should last an average of 5-8 years or the ability to purify 6,000 gallons of water. It's all dependent upon usage.
Deb did a lot of research to figure out the best filtration system for the Peruvian community members. originally, the popular sand filtration system seemed like a good idea at first. The sand filtration system was popular in Guatemala a couple of years ago. The theory of this filtration system is that the sand is used as a barrier between the unfiltered and the filtered water. On top of the sand is a layer of bacteria. The water sits on top of the bacteria which consume the harmful microbes in the unfiltered water until the water seeps through the sand and into the container below leaving filtered water that can be consumed. The sisters in Guatemala tried this filtration method, however transporting all that sand was back breaking! And the maintenance of having to scrape the top layer of bacteria as it gets too thick to be effective would be very cumbersome for the families. And it's time consuming. All in all not an efficient personal water filtration system. I think in Guatemala they were setting up the sand filters in large basins to be used by the entire villages but then if the water accidentally became contaminated then the entire village that filled their water buckets at that basin would become ill.
Again, these Berkey water systems are amazing. Miranda, Deb, and Emily spent the better half of two days putting them together - drilling the holes for the water buckets, assembling the system, priming each filter and running one purification cycle with red food coloring to test for leakage or a defective filter. There were some problems with several buckets and Miranda had to replace the defective bucket with a new bucket. We are recommending that each family run two cycles to eliminate pathogens from the carbon filter.
Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) installed one of these systems in the kitchen of the sisters from which all team members have been using this trip. The school has one system, and 23 systems are working in the community since last May.
Miranda, Charlie, and Deb will be giving training to the vetted recipients of these 50 water filtration systems on Monday. Once these 50 filtration systems are a success and all the kinks have been worked out on how to educate recipients and the best methods of sys maintenance, then more filtration systems will hopefully this project can continue and more systems can be donated to neighboring settlements where parasite and bacterial infections run rampant.
Drilling Holes in Buckets
Assembling Buckets
I wish I could show you how wonderful these filtration systems are and how blessed the people of Paita are that St. Paul cares so much to donate them. I wish you could see how dry it is here, how so many people are bloated as a sign of dehydration, and how parasite infections are so common. Then you could truly appreciate the gift you have given these people. I don't think I will ever take our clean, fresh water in the US granted again.
Saturday began at 8 am with a Father's Day celebration at the Santa Clara school. The school children put on an amazing show with dancing and instrumentals. It was very entertaining and I loved to see the beautiful costumes and the bright shining faces of the students. Sister Monica gave the opening speech along with another administrator. Throughout the show, all the dads in the audience got involved. Dads were pulled into the act, including Dr. Roberto! And later, students pulled Lindsey, Olivia, Elena, Miranda, and Emily into their dance routine!
Video of
Dancing With the Stars
It was wonderful fun. As the end of the show grew near, the aroma of the steaks grilling nearby announced that lunch would soon be ready. It smelled delicious. They use a lot of spices here.
The show ended and an explosion of selfies and photos took place. Individual and groups of students and their parents wanted to get pictures of us as much as we wanted to get pictures of them. There was so much smiling and laughing. This photo session lasted for close to an hour. Parents of the students lined up to receive their take-home steak and potato and vegetable lunch while we finished taking our photos with these wonderful children. I loved the pictures of the teenagers with our young missionaries.
As much as I loved the show, I was anxious to get back to the clinic. I wondered if everyone else felt the same way. We assembled into the dining room for lunch and were served the same wonderful grilled steak that the families were served. My mind started to get groggy and I could easily have taken a nap. The popular Inca Cola went down very smoothly.
Olivia, Lisa, and Lindsey
After lunch we resumed our clinic. Our supplies continued to dwindle. I kept a list of meds and supplies that we ran out of early. I also kept a wish list; like nose auctions, orthopedic supports, strollers, wheelchairs, lice medication, hydrogen peroxide, ear suction kits, and Prilosec or Nexium.
I haven't seen Olivia or Lindsey all afternoon. They are busy at intake and triage. I'm amazed how quickly they acclimated to the clinic. Olivia is a real pro now having been on a medical mission trip two years ago and having been a CNA for two years now. Lindsey underwent baptism by fire this mission. She began the trip after just completing her CNA course and inciting she didn't know much Spanish to communicating to patients in Spanish while taking blood pressures, ordering and administering urinalysis, taking vitals and histories, and triaging. Incredible experience for all of us.
I'll be honest, I am dragging a little this afternoon. Where I felt I was the energizer bunny two days ago, I know felt like the slower half of the tortoise and the hare. I wonder how everyone else is faring...
This morning the school celebrated Father's Day with a program and festival. It was wonderful!! The children wore beautiful costumes and sang and danced. Great recorded music, and the band was pretty good too. Afterward the team and the students all took pictures together. The five beautiful young girls and women with us were a real hit!
Dr. Bob and Young Dancer
Our Girl Fabiana
Miranda and Dancer
Young Dancers
"Inca Priest"
Young Girl Dancing
Young Dancers
This is my fifth day, and I just now learned that the school uniforms didn't say "Santa Claus" on them. They say "Santa Clara" which is the name of the school. I originally thought some generous company donated all of their Christmas shirts to the school children.
We've had a lot of fun and a lot of laughing, but the team works extremely hard -- 12 hour days in the clinic. I'm sitting in the chapel with the window open and I can hear the wonderful music outside.
It's been an interesting and sometimes difficult week. Jesus really brought me down low -- homesickness, feelings of inadequacy related to my poor Spanish and nursing skills. Now we're coming to the end of our mission, and I am finally feeling more comfortable. I've learned some Spanish, recalled more of my medical vocabulary and refreshed my triage skills. I stayed calm and didn't get frustrated or overwhelmed today. Thank you God(3) and Mary and Saints Francis, Paul, and Bruno. It took all of them. I still hate the cold showers in the morning! The people here and the team are amazing. They are all a real blessing.
