The mission
While we slept, my parents arrived in Santa Cruz at 8 in the morning. We went and ate with Panfi while my mom slept. We ate at a restaurant that sells food by the kilo, meaning they weigh your plate and charge you by the kilo. We had already checked our bags in (except for 2 bags of my parents which didnt make it). So we got to watch a whole World Cup game, which was exciting. We left for Puerto Suarez an hour late, so we arrived at night. On the airport there, when they shut off the lights, we can see the Milky Way very clearly. The next morning, Sam flew us out to the mission in his 6 seater plane. It is only a half hour flight, but we got to see the Pantanal as we flew over it. We arrived, and started to work in the afternoon. We had to tell people to come back later as the bag with the medicines hadn't made it yet. I had my translating skills put to the test as I had to translate for both of my parents. But I managed to do fine, I believe.
Food consists of beans and rice, pasta, fresh meat every Sat (they kill a cow), salad, and lots of bananas and tangerines (my favorite part!). It is very enjoyable to have the variety I dont have at Wayqichas.
They had built a new guest house, so my parents and Andrew stayed there. I stayed with Panfi, so we could chat more. The new guest house was nice, except that the hot water didnt work yet. On Sunday, we had a day of rest. At church, Panfi welcomed us back and told everyone how I had learned Spanish. So I had to talk in Spanish in a bunch of people and wasnt quite ready. I do understand Spanish there better than in Peru, some Peruvians talk at times with a Quechua accent.
Monday, we went back to work. Lots of translating and lots of kids with coughs and bronchitis. There is a doctor there now all the time, but he was told that he couldnt work while we were there. He isnt actually licensed and charges people for visits when he is already paid by the government. The nurse is actually an aid and sleeps with some of the students. So we had a lot of patients come see us because it was free. We told people if they wanted to get more meds they should visit the pharmacy because it was free. We had a Brazilian guy come who charged people to ride in his truck to see the doctor. He made my dad really upset after we found out.
I played soccer one day with the girls for 10 minutes...and my team lost. I didnt have as much time to play or wander around this time. I was always needed to translate.
After a few days at the clinic, we went to visit the surrounding communities with Panfi. She is the principal of these schools and has to check up on them. So while she did that, we provided medical care. We got to reach out to other people and get a sense of how they live. There are poorer people, who don’t have access to fruits, vegetables, and milk. We saw multiple children who are described by their mothers as dirt eaters. When a child is eating dirt, it is lacking iron in its diets. We had vitamins, but not liquid iron for their deficiency. These kids were very pallid and listless, often sick with coughs and colds. It was hard to leave these kids behind. You always wish that you could do so much more, such as improving their quality of life and availability of fresh water. We were often asked for vaccinations, because the nurse with the license for the vaccinations is too lazy to go them. The kids have been without vaccinations for over 2 years. There are a lot of issues with this nurse, who has actually worked with us before, and helped us this time in one of the villages. Hopefully her certificate will be given to someone who will put it to good use. We ate one day at the wealthy Brazilians house (we were actually 2 hours late to eat because of how many patients we had lined up). This was the same guy who charged people for a ride to the doctor. They made us a quiche-like casserole, venison and lamb meat, bread, salad, etc. It was a wonderful meal. Andrew and I played with the little girl for a while (we assume she doesn’t play with the local kids). We ended up discussing their medications with them again, and I had a conversation with the grandmother. She spoke only Portuguese and I spoke Spanish, so it was a limited conversation. I assume she like me, because she took me back to her house and gave me a big bag of cake. She invited us to stay with them the next time we come through. There are problems in Bolivia, the president wants to nationalize all of the country and kick the foreigners out. It is possible that they won’t be there when we come back the next time. These people are nice to people they believe to be their equal in status, but to the Bolivians they overcharge and don’t do things just to help their fellow man. We go because we truly believe the people there to be equal with us and born into a different situation than us. We help because we can. I always have such a sense of peacefulness in Bolivia, I am always very sad to leave and always look forward to when I can come back.
Food consists of beans and rice, pasta, fresh meat every Sat (they kill a cow), salad, and lots of bananas and tangerines (my favorite part!). It is very enjoyable to have the variety I dont have at Wayqichas.
They had built a new guest house, so my parents and Andrew stayed there. I stayed with Panfi, so we could chat more. The new guest house was nice, except that the hot water didnt work yet. On Sunday, we had a day of rest. At church, Panfi welcomed us back and told everyone how I had learned Spanish. So I had to talk in Spanish in a bunch of people and wasnt quite ready. I do understand Spanish there better than in Peru, some Peruvians talk at times with a Quechua accent.
Monday, we went back to work. Lots of translating and lots of kids with coughs and bronchitis. There is a doctor there now all the time, but he was told that he couldnt work while we were there. He isnt actually licensed and charges people for visits when he is already paid by the government. The nurse is actually an aid and sleeps with some of the students. So we had a lot of patients come see us because it was free. We told people if they wanted to get more meds they should visit the pharmacy because it was free. We had a Brazilian guy come who charged people to ride in his truck to see the doctor. He made my dad really upset after we found out.
I played soccer one day with the girls for 10 minutes...and my team lost. I didnt have as much time to play or wander around this time. I was always needed to translate.
After a few days at the clinic, we went to visit the surrounding communities with Panfi. She is the principal of these schools and has to check up on them. So while she did that, we provided medical care. We got to reach out to other people and get a sense of how they live. There are poorer people, who don’t have access to fruits, vegetables, and milk. We saw multiple children who are described by their mothers as dirt eaters. When a child is eating dirt, it is lacking iron in its diets. We had vitamins, but not liquid iron for their deficiency. These kids were very pallid and listless, often sick with coughs and colds. It was hard to leave these kids behind. You always wish that you could do so much more, such as improving their quality of life and availability of fresh water. We were often asked for vaccinations, because the nurse with the license for the vaccinations is too lazy to go them. The kids have been without vaccinations for over 2 years. There are a lot of issues with this nurse, who has actually worked with us before, and helped us this time in one of the villages. Hopefully her certificate will be given to someone who will put it to good use. We ate one day at the wealthy Brazilians house (we were actually 2 hours late to eat because of how many patients we had lined up). This was the same guy who charged people for a ride to the doctor. They made us a quiche-like casserole, venison and lamb meat, bread, salad, etc. It was a wonderful meal. Andrew and I played with the little girl for a while (we assume she doesn’t play with the local kids). We ended up discussing their medications with them again, and I had a conversation with the grandmother. She spoke only Portuguese and I spoke Spanish, so it was a limited conversation. I assume she like me, because she took me back to her house and gave me a big bag of cake. She invited us to stay with them the next time we come through. There are problems in Bolivia, the president wants to nationalize all of the country and kick the foreigners out. It is possible that they won’t be there when we come back the next time. These people are nice to people they believe to be their equal in status, but to the Bolivians they overcharge and don’t do things just to help their fellow man. We go because we truly believe the people there to be equal with us and born into a different situation than us. We help because we can. I always have such a sense of peacefulness in Bolivia, I am always very sad to leave and always look forward to when I can come back.
posted by Becca at 12:23 PM
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