Our kids!

Liz and I have decided to keep this orphanage in Lima, we are going to work with Solidarity in Action to try to raise money to feed them and eventually build onto their way too small house that they live in now. There are 15 kids that live there all the time, orphans, and then 30-40 that spend their days there. They have a very small space to play with only cement floors, this space is also cleared out and tables put up so that they can eat their meals. Clara has taken these kids into her home and is a great mom to all of them. I want to introduce you to each of our kids! After a day at the beach with Liz and Jana!

The best picture that I have of Antony...for whatever reason I cant find a better one. But...I will work on that in 2 weeks when I get to see him again!

Jamie...9 years old.

Angie...12 years old.

The kid on the right is Fernando...11 years old and has lived in the orphanage for 6 years.

Yovana....the one that I want to adopt! She is such a good little girl...super helpful with the other kids. She has lived in this house for 6 years. Treated her for scabies and lice.

Valerie...2 years old...treated her for lice and a staph infection on her face.

Carlos...3 years old and very attached to Clara.

Jhackeysi...6 years old...the younger sister of Jhon and Jhael. Treated her for lice.

Jhohan...9 years old. Fernandos uncle. Cesar...4 years old.

Jhael...twin to Jhon and older brother to Jhackeysi...7 years old.

Jhon...twin brother to Jhael and older brother to Jhackeysi...7 years old.

Lucho...8 years old...super smart. Has lived in the orphanage for 6 years.

There are 2 kids missing, I will have to take pictures of them when we go back in 2 weeks. This is a start...I hope that they steal your heart just like they did mine! I cant wait to see these faces and get hugs and kisses from them in just 2 weeks!

blog post from Monday March 14

This is the blog written with no internet connection on Monday March 14. Therefore, it was written BEFORE the last blog posted and could possibly have some repeated information. It has once again been too many days since I have blogged, the days are flying by for some reason. The past week has been more uneventful than the weeks prior so I keep telling myself that I will blog as soon as I have something to write about. Apparently I have a lot to write about but just didn’t have an exact plan as to what our next step was going to be…but now I do! Upon arriving in Guayaquil we were expecting to be given some direction, unfortunately that did not happen. Last week was Carnival therefore a lot of the offices and therefore our contacts that we had made were closed, so when we arrived Paul was more than frustrated. But, as the week went on we talked to more and more people and got more and more insight into what we might be doing down here. Javier (our contact in Lima) gave us the name and number of a lady that he thought could help us, we contacted her and she is super excited to help facility everything that we want to do! We visited a few clinics, that are understaffed but running pretty well. But, the final place that we visited this past Saturday was a hospital in a rural area with about a million people in 8 square miles. The hospital used to be full, according to the administration but they have to charge a small fee ($5) since they are a private hospital. Because of this fee most of the people go to the public hospital which has absolutely no resources according to our contacts. This hospital has 3 working operating room suits with 3 working ventilators and the ability to do laparoscopic surgeries. There is one nurse for the entire hospital, they have about 20 inpatient beds and a trauma bay. While we were there there was only one patient, but apparently they get about 30 patients a day. The best part about this place is that there is an “apartment” on the top floor. They offered for us to house people up there, so we are waiting to hear back to see MMRC can live up there permanently. So, the plan is to first assess the area and find out what the needs are. Once we figure that out then we will put together teams to come down and address those needs, surgeons or orthopedist or whatever we find out will be useful. We are super excited to get these programs going and think that we have found the perfect place to facilitate our needs. In the midst of meeting with people and seeing these places in Guayaquil we ran into a man named Paul (yes, another Paul-we have deemed him ‘new’ Paul) who was staying at our hostel. It all started by him asking Liz if she knew the password for the internet. As we started to talk he started sharing all that he is involved in down here, he is teaching the people how to do organic farming, (which they have implemented in the schools) he has helped start an all girls school and clinics. He has been involved with these people for 15 years. As we were talking he was super excited to have us join him and meet the people and see what we could do to help. We mentioned that we are super interested in starting an orphanage, and he said that he doesn’t know of one around! But…that there aren’t too many orphans because someone usually takes them in. So, that is how Liz and I have ended up in Quito tonight! The five of us (MMRC) discussed the options that we had in front of us and decided that Liz and I would come up north and check out the projects that new Paul is working on and how we could be useful there and big Paul would continue organizing and finding out more information for the project in Guayaquil and Nick and Bridget will be going to work on an organic farm for a few days with a guy from Amsterdam (that we also met at the hostel). So, here we are…Liz and I sleeping in a hostel in Quito. We took yet another bus, but only 10 hours this time, north to a place much colder than anywhere that we have been lately. Its FREEZING here! Freezing compared to Guayaquil…but much warmer than most of you are at home Im sure. Here, we met Paul (who flew) at a ghetto bus station somewhere in the north of Quito where our bus just left us. This lady, who thought it necessary to sit basically on top of me, would not quit talking to me. She asked me a million questions, asked to use my phone, and told me I look like Im Chinese! Crazy lady! Fortunately Paul arrived, but he seemed to have a sad face when he met us, we instantly knew that something was wrong but since he is our new friend we gave him time to explain. Someone had stolen his laptop…and his camera…and everything that was inside of his laptop bag. So terrible, but as we talked about it we basically concluded that what comes around goes around and that guy is in for something bad! The worst part is that he lost pictures and lots of work on his computer. Plan as of now is for Liz and I to head up to Pimampiro (4 hours north of Quito) tomorrow with new Paul and check out all of his programs. We are super excited and ready to see what we can do in this village. He has told us all sorts of amazing stories, so we have high hopes for what we can do in this place. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we are trying to figure out exactly where we are supposed to be and where we may be most useful.

you know you are old when....

your ankles swell to be the size of your calves when you sit for a long period of time! and then it takes them FOREVER to go back to normal size. I remember a time, not too long ago, that i was in south america traveling and riding buses for months with no issues...now when riding for only a short time my ankles are huge! Other than that, I am so super tired...every day all day. Im not sure what the issue is but im going to just say its my age and all this packing and unpacking and carrying 60 pounds on my back and getting on and off buses just makes me feel like im suddently 85. Anyway, on to more exciting things... So, I blogged all about this past week but it is stuck on the laptop. We are in a town with no wifi, imagine that! And we tried connecting it straight to the cable and it still doesnt work...so we are in an internet cafe where we are paying 80 cents per hour. A little out of our budget, we know, but we are trying to keep you all updated! If and when I can get that off ill post it too. But, for now let me think about all the things that have occured over the past week. Let me start with how we got to Pimampiro. After a day of looking at clinics and meeting people in Guayaquil we met a man in our hostel (Paul-now deemed ´new´ Paul) who was there setting up an event for next month. He asked Liz for the password for the wifi at the hostel and it was all history from there. He started telling us all about his life here in Pimampiro, and how it is eternal spring and how beautiful and amazing the people are. We were instantly interested in his work, he has a foundation where he is teaching the people to farm organically. There is a big problem here with them using chemicals and pesticides and people are dying from working in the fields with these substances. They have also strated a girls school and are implented the organic farming into the schools. Its amazing the headway that they hvae made in 5 short years. The more we talked to new Paul, and basically told him that we were open to anything he invited us to come up here and visit. We discussed all sorts of options of other programs, including an orphanage or some sort of home/safe haven for girls that have been sexually abused. So many options, but the best part is that he already has a presence here and is willing to help us in whatever way that he can! We arrived here last night after leaving Guayaquil on Monday morning. The bus ride was a short 10 hours to Quito where we met Paul and stayed the night in Mariscola. Breakfast and a little sightseeing and then we jumped on another bus to Otavala. Otavala´s claim to fame is that it is the largest market in all of South America quite possible the world. We met Segundo there, who is a friend of Paul´s and also a man who on his own built a building behind his house where he teaches over 100 kids about their heritage and the importance of keeping it. Amazing man trying to make a difference! He invited to his families house and told us that his house is our house. After some lunch and time at the market we threw our stuff on another bus and headed up to Ibarra. Ibarra is the nearest ´city´ to where we are. Off the bus in Ibarra, Paul had to take care of some business than back on the final bus to our new location...Pimampiro. After an hour of stopping every other block to pick someone up or drop someone off we drove faster than we should have up a windy hilly road and arrived about 20 feet from Paul´s doorstep. We arrived and his friend who is working with him at the project had dinner ready for us! So thankful for such thoughtful people! Now, they set up for us a place to stay here, with a super nice lady. She lives alone, recently her husband left her and her mother died, her kids live in the states and she loves to entertain. She is like our Ecuadorian mother! We plan on staying there for at least a week, maybe two while we are getting to know the area (not that there is too much to get to know since its almost 2 square miles and only 5000 people) and then deciding if we will stay up here or go somewhere new. Today we visited the clinic here, it runs pretty well but is lacking supplies. There are so many patients and just not enough staff. We met with the director and she told us that they see quite a few traumas from things such as car accidents or just accidents in general. We walked into the ¨trauma¨room which consists of one gurney and a small metal table with 3 bottles of alcohol a box of gloves and a metal tin that was supposed to have meds in it but had none. She told us that they are lacking IV´s and oxygen...which I know are two very important things when trying to attend to a trauma patient. She informed us that they just transfer the patient to the hospital that is an hour away, apparently without doing much for them before the transport. Can you imagine if you were the patient? So, starting in the morning we will work there and try to get our foot in the door of this community and see what else we can do to help them. Im sure you are wondering what we did with everyone else, the rest of the MMRC clan...well Big Paul is in Guayaquil working on our projects there, Nick and Bridget are working on a farm, and Liz and I are here. The plan is for Paul to get everything together in Guayaquil, he is making contacts and putting together some proposals of how we can help. We are planning on partnering with an inpatient hospital in the south east of the city where they have 3 working operating rooms and a functioning clinic. We are hoping to assess the needs of the community and bring down teams of people that can address these needs. This hospital is willing to let us use their space, we are just working on the final proposal. Keep this in your thoughts and as i know more i will post, but you can also check out MMRCglobal.org where we will also be updating. Before I bore you to death I am going to say goodbye...love and miss you all!

destination...Guayaquil!

Guayaquil! We have arrived! It only took a 28 hour bus ride, some Chifa (Peruvian Chinese food), lots of random stops for the bus driver to buy things for himself, and boarder crossings. We left Lima at 3pm on Sunday, luckily we found a bus that wasnt too expensive that would take us the entire way...no dragging our bags across the boarder and finding a new bus to bring us the rest of the way. This bus was nice, air condition, blankets and pillows, and food! And the most important part...a bathroom! Now, let me enlighten you on this bathroom...imagine an airline bathroom with a window. The seat is spring loaded so you have one of two choices, sit on it (which in my case was not an option at all) or hover over the large silver hole. The issue with hovering is that the bus is moving, the roads are bumpy, there are potholes, pedestrians, oncoming cars, animals...so the chances of hitting this hole arent so great. Fortunately they give you a handle attached to the wall directly across from the toilet, if you grip it tightly, bend your knees at just the right angle, and levitate at the perfect height going to the bathroom is a possibility.

Once we got here, we met the rest of our team (Paul, Bridget, and Nick) at a hostel where they have been for a week waiting on us. This place is beautiful, overlooking Guayaquil with hammocks and a pool. Dont get too excited, we are only here for a few days. The best part is this hammock that I am laying in right now...Liz and I have been wishing for something comfortable to sit in for a very long time. We are convinced that Peru has no comfortable seating, all of the seats basically try to throw you out...no place to lounge and be comfortable. We are very grateful to be able to relax!

Tomorrow we will begin our house hunting, we are trying to find a place to live and to house volunteers while we are down here. We have a few good options, so we are hoping to secure a place in the next few days. This week is Carnival so everyone is on vacation, but we have been contacting people and getting some connections and going to get started working as soon as possible! Javier, our contact in Lima, is coming up sometime next week, he knows a lot of people and we are hoping that he gets us hooked up with some contacts. We are all anxious to get this show on the road, but as for everything in life we are trying to be patient!

The school...we ended up seeing about 700 of the 900 kids at the elementary school over 3 days. The issue apparently is that in the first week not all the kids show up, for numerous reasons. We are compiling the data, but it is ridiculous the amount of kids who have lice. We will be giving the information both to the school and the public clinic in the area so that they can send the information home with the parents and hopefully get this under control.

What do you think of when you think of lice? I would presume that most people would think only of the nits/eggs that are usually found in the hair, well here we not only find those nits but bugs. Bugs, big bugs, bugs that if I had them in my hair I would know it, i would feel them moving! But, these kids have no idea...if you ask them if they feel something moving they say no. The biggest problem here is that they do not have hot water, they must boil all of their drinking water and washing everything that they own in hot water just isnt an option. The only other way to get rid of lice from your house, clothes, stuffed animals is to put them in plastic bags for 2 weeks. Unfortunately they dont have enough clothes and things to just let them sit in plastic for all this time. We cannot come up with a good idea to eradicate these bugs, especially from the orphanage.

Speaking of the orphanage, MMRCglobal.org has decided to see what we can do as an organization for them. They need more space, Clara the lady who owns and runs it and who is the mother to 15 kids, does a great job with what they do have but they need more space. The house is small and they have one covered cement area that they eat and play in. Otherwise they have an upstairs with 7 sets of bunk beds, and a bathroom. We are trying to figure out a way to either build onto her current house or what the procedure is to build something from scratch. This is a lady who loves all her orphans and all of the kids (somewhere around 30) that she watches every day. Liz and I really think that helping her will help the community of San Genaro and help these kids to have a better future. We are uploading pictures of each of their faces to the mmrc website over the next couple of days. You will have the opportunity to see each one of them and help us to help them!

Saturday Liz and I took 10 of the orphans to the beach! They were so excited! We got two cabs, stuffed everyone in and headed to the closest beach. This beach, Vanessia, is nothing like Chorillos...we could actually see the water and play with the kids! We played in the water and the sand with them, they loved every second of it! Since they obviously have no sand toys they were playing with trash that they found, wait until you see the sand castles that they built with straws and other various objects! We cant wait to get back down there and be able to take them other places and do other things with them! It is amazing how appreciative children are over the smallest things here, I would love for every child in the US to experience one day in the life of a child in a third world country.

Now that I have taken up most of your day reading about my past week, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and take a look at the mmrcglobal.org website!

the smiles of the orphans...

Tomorrow we begin an endeavor that seems much to large for us to accomplish...lice removal of 900 kids! Granted we are going to be given some help, two "nurses", altogether making 4 nurses and our man Javier and our friend and translator Mayra. The reason for the quotes is because nurses here, so we have been told, are different. We arent exactly sure what that means but as soon as I find out Ill fill you in! As far as Javier, he is our contact and usually sits somewhere just in eyeshot looking at his watch. That makes him sound impatient, truly he runs errands for us when we run out of things. Or if I need medications or anything really, he is the man. Mayra is so much help, we have been truly blessed to have her, she is willing to do anything and everything. She gets in there with us and picks lice and does whatever is needed to be done. We will be very sad to leave her, we might even try to take her to Ecuador with us! Mayra is 17, she is studing communications at the University. She speaks both English and Spanish and spends every day all day with us. She also volunteers her English skills and teaches 3 days a week at a school for teachers, where they are learning to speak English. They believe that if they can speak English that they can better their society and make more of a difference in their country! Yesterday we had the opportunity to go into the poorest part of Lima, they have no water, no electric, no homes, no nothing. Of course "no" is not totally true, the water truck comes 3 times a week with not drinking water but water for bathing and washing clothes, the electric is "borrowed" (wires are rigged from the electric poles into the houses) from the power lines closer to the city, and their homes are made out of scraps and trash. This place is on the side of the highest point in Lima,which makes it the hottest in the summer and the most wet in the winter. Apparently they have mudslides which wash away their "homes" so they have created barriers with old tires and rocks to try to decrease this issue. Regardless, these people are in need. Javier is trying to figure out where we start, what can we do for these people to make their lives just the tiniest bit better. He introduced us to this place so that we could help in deciding what to do. We stood in this shanty town, with the kids playing in the dusty street around us and the mothers washing their families clothes in buckets of freshly delivered water, thinking. What do we do to help these people? I am truly "at home" here. I love being here, I love working here, I love the people and the language. I am looking forward to meeting our friends in Ecuador and getting some of our own projects started, but being in South America makes me feel like I am right where I am supposed to be. I do not miss anything of the United States, except my family and my little doggers Leila of course, but I havent thought once that I am missing out on anything in the good ol US of A. Crazy, I know...but amazing nonetheless. Today, we got to play with our kids at the orphanage! I love those kids and they love us! As soon as they see us drive up they are at the gate yelling our names, when we enter they are jumping on us and kissing and hugging us! Not one second goes by while we are there that they are not in our laps or dont have their arms around our necks! They need so much love! and I want to take every single one of them and love them forever! It breaks my heart every single day when I have to close that gate behind us and tell them goodbye. Clara, the owner/teacher/mother of all of the kids gives them all lots of love...but could you imagine having 15 kids to take care of and splitting your lap and neck time? On top of the 15 that live with her she takes in somewhere around 30 more every single day as like a daycare. She is an amazing woman. Soon we will be posting the pictures of each of the orphans with their names and ages so that you can see them and see what we see in their beautiful faces! Think about us as we come in contact with 900 kids over the next few days...in a very poor area with lots of needs and even more lice!

RECRUITING ALL LOUSE REMOVERS

So, I just noticed that my blog is making me crazy! I KNOW that I blogged on tuesday night but it says it was Monday, I thought that maybe I missed a day! Hopefully it is fixed this time! So, I left you after we removed lice on Tuesday...well on Wednesday we did the same thing all over again. Javier, our ¨main man¨, said that he believes that lice is an epidemic here in Peru! Funny, but he is probably right. Wednesday morning we went back to the orphanage/daycare and removed more lice from kids in the community. We spent all day there, there were so many kids...so many dirty kids. It was a long long long day with some kids that had obviously had lice for a very long time. Some of the bugs were bigger than ants! We came back to the convent and had some lunch and then headed to central lima! First we visited the Church of San Francisco and the main plaza then we went to the Parque de los Aguas (Park of the Waters). This place is full of water fountains with lights and music and all! Its beautiful! Eventually we will post some pictures. Thursday, we thought was going to be a new day, new things other than lice, but little did we know that we would be acting like monos (monkeys) all over again! Luckily this time we gave the mothers information about what they needed to do to get rid of them and we didnt have to actually ¨pïck¨each and every bug and egg out! The kids that attend the kindergarten have a little bit of money and most of them have running water, so they were pretty clean and free of lice. Just when we thought that we were done (that we had seen all the kids for the day) another 10 showed up at the door...and these kids had lice. boo! Luckily we gave the moms the information and let them take care of it themselves. We had a great late lunch made by the lady who owns the school (who is also one of our contacts who sets us up with alot of our work) and then called it a day. We came back to the convent, showered and then met my friend Diego in Miraflores. Diego, I met when I was here two years ago (he is actually from Hungary) and we have kept in touch ever since. Waking up Friday we were dreading what was ahead of us, seeing old people in San Genero Dos. This ¨community¨ is super poor, they do not have running water, bathrooms, or any type of modern commodity. They must wait for the water truck to bring them water, and their homes are made of what you or I may call trash. The roads are all made of dirt, there is sewage running down those streets, the smell is of urine, the sun is burning all exposed skin. This is a place where the poorest of the poor of Lima live. Though these people are at the bottom of the chain they are the nicest, so giving and loving. We took blood pressures and talked about their medical issues, treated a few people for infections. One lady in particular that I will not forget came up to us, she looked very sick. She complained of fever, difficulty breathing, weakness for a few days..her eyes were glazed. First, and foremost we made her take off the 14 layers of clothes that she was wearing. I was sweating wearing scrub pants and a tank top, I cannot imagine wearing the amount of clothes that she was wearing even without a fever! Her lungs sounded like crap so we treated her with antibiotics and motrin, we will follow up with her this week at her house. Today was a day of rest, the beach seemed inviting but once we arrived (after walking quite a distance down-the convent is on the edge of a cliff) there were so many people bothering us we joked about putting a sign on our umbrella saying ¨do not disturb¨. There are thousands of umbrellas and chairs and people selling things and and and. Definitely not relaxing, but I did steal a few minutes of sleep and have a churro! Dinner with the nuns...and off to bed at an early hour! On our way to the beach today, we thought that we would drop our laundry...the nuns told us that it was close to here. Thinking that it was close we put all of our clothes in one big black trashbag and started down the street...little did we know that we had to cross 10 streets and go through a main square. While we are standing on an island (between a few major roads) suddenly we get squirted! Luckily it was just water...but picture two white girls struggling to carry one large black trash bag full across a busy street and suddenly they are soaked by a squirt gun! Tomorrow is still to be determined, we have to make some teaching handouts and we will probably do some reading. or Spanish studying!

we have arrived!

Liz and I have arrived in Lima...with no problems! We left Miami bright and early on Sunday morning, thanks to Jackie we arrived right on time. We checked in for our flight, but unfortunately we were informed that we must claim our luggage in Bogota and recheck in for our flight from Bogota to Lima. Im pretty sure that I did not agree to that when booking the tickets. Fortunately we made it...off the plane, thru customs, claimed our luggage, got back in line to recheck in and thru security and customs AGAIN to finally arrive at our gate just before boarding time. Then, for whatever reason they stamped "standby" on our tickets...so we waited with our fingers crossed hoping that we could get on the plane. luckily...we got on...all our luggage was in Lima and our contact Javier was awaiting us with a smile and a sign! As soon as we met Javier English was to become our second language...Spanish is the only option here! Liz and I did wish that we would become fluent in Spanish in our first two weeks here...little did we know that we would actually have the opportunity to make that come true! Javier (our chauffer, contact, go to man, etc) has introduced us to so many people it is ridiculous! After arriving at the airport we packed our stuff into Javiers car and headed for the chalet (a convent overlooking the beach). When we arrived at the convent we met the head nun (Graciella) who showed us our room, which is a room with 4 smaller rooms each with a bed and dresser and a bathroom (with a shower with hot water!). Every morning and night we have food prepared for us by the nuns, they even pack us a lunch for the road! Javier left us here at the chalet and told us to rest cause we have a full two weeks! Monday morning Javier arrived around 9 and so did is daughter Mayra who is our translator. She is 17, super cute and nice and speaks English pretty well. She is studying at the university but spends every day, all day with us teaching us Spanish and helping us to understand the more difficult Spanish words! Monday was a day of introductions...we met teachers at the school where we will be doing lice removal on 900 kids next week, the director of an orphanage/daycare where we did exams today, and alot of other people! After a long day of introductions we worked on handouts to use on things such as handwashing and teethbrushing and their importance for the remainder of the evening. This morning we were more than ready to begin our work here, so we got up early, had breakfast, dressed in scrubs, and prepared for the day! We arrived at the orphanage/daycare...Im calling it this because 12 of the children live there full time and the rest come during the day while their parents work. There are about 30 kids in total, with a few coming from the community to be checked added on top of that. Liz and i checked all of these kids for skin rashes or infections, lice, flat feet, or anything else that we noticed that we could do something about. We are sure of the significants of the flat feet either, so dont worry! but apparently it is important here in Peru! After checking all of these kids...we started shampooing and combing all of the lice and nits from the kids hair. This took us ALL day! These kids have lots of hair...lots of thick hair..with lots of nits and bugs! We will return to this place in the morning to say hi and play with the kids some and also return next week to make sure that the lice are gone. I think we counted one million and one louse removed! haha! After the louse removal session we had a quick lunch of Chifa (what the Peruvians call their take on Chinese food) and then off the English classes. There are about 10 classes of English that are take at a school a few blocks from where we are staying, Mayra also teaches there. We got to introduce ourselves to the classes and speak in English (funny how easy it is to forget something that you use every single day when you stop using it for only a short time) with the students. Most of them are beginners so they ask simple questions, but we got to interact with a classroom of teachers who teach English and we got to actually speak and interact with them. Overall it was a great day... Tomorrow we will get to play with the kids and see some of central Lima...