Peru - Malone Project

     After a restful Wednesday, we were off to Benjamin for our last clinic at Pastor Jorge’s church.  We arrived at the church around 9 am and began setting up the clinic.  A triage statio was set up to take blood pressures, heights, and weights.  Two doctors were at the clinic to see the patients.  We also had a pharmacy to give medications to the patients.  A final station was set up to give away donated clothing.  We have given away most of the clothing and tooth brushes.  We saw about 150 patients at today’s clinic.  Some of their diagnoses included scabies, pin worms, tuberculosis, and asthma.  A registered nurse joined us today for the first time and she taught the children good nutrition and hygiene practices with big, colorful pictures.  She also administered Hepatitis B vacciniations for children ages 2-19.

   Towards the end of the day, we had some more time to play with the kids. We weren’t exactly sure what some of the games they wanted to play were, but a few of us were able to sit and color with and try to talk to them. After we prayed with Pastor Jorge, some of the kids that were still there came around and hugged us and said goodbye. A couple followed us out to the bus and kept hugging us and waving. It was hard to leave them.

Our clinic ran all day until about 4 pm, and then we went back to Hannah’s Home for supper. On the way there, we were joking about our attempts at spanish. Someone kept asking the patients how big their chicken was instead of how big there clothes were. Another person was saying “lo siento” (I’m sorry) instead of gracias. So at the very least, we brought amusement to the Peruvians.

  We stopped by Hogar de ninos (orphanage) and watched the children play in the swimming pool.   In the evening, we walked down the beach to a local store to get ice cream. Adios! Jacoby & Sarah

Hola from Peru!! We’re having so much fun and have been so busy, we haven’t even had the time to blog. So here’s an update on day 4! We started the morning off by waking up a bit early…7 am (which came wayyy to soon!) but we gathered to pray and then had individual devotional. After devotions, we gathered back together for breakfast. We had eggs, rolls, passion fruit juice and coffee. The staff has been amazing and the food they prepare for us is muy delicioso! After breakfast, we gathered once again to pray for the day as we set off for our hospital tours and for the men who were heading out to work on Hannah’s Home. Nikki sang ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ beautifully for us, in hopes that her luggage would show up! And it did! We traveled about an hour to Lima, side by side with the crazy drivers here! (They have speed limits, but don’t follow them. If you get pulled over, then you can pay off  the cop with a couple soles. So basically, pay the cops and no ticket!) We were running ahead of schedule, and one translator had not yet arrived, so we stopped at the market to wait for her. We all piled in and Rick told us to go see the Guinea Pig, which they keep at the meat counter. It was interesting to say the least! Once Deanna arrived, we were off for our tours. The first hospital we went to was called Hospital San Juan de Lurigancho.  Most of their patients are there for child birth, and they have 24-48 hours for their stay because they’re so overcrowded. They have around 20 births during the day, and another 20 births at night! It was amazing seeing all the moms with their tiny newborn babies!

      The second hospital was called Hospital de la Solidaridad. This hospital was composed of many shipping crates side by side. Each crate had a different speciality for the patients. (Such as gasteroenterology, neurology, dermatology, physical therapy and a high tech lab.) This hospital is more expensive than the first, but offers more services. After our tours, we stopped for lunch at an authentic Peruvian restaurant….McDonalds!:)  After lunch we headed back to Ola Grande to hang out before church. We decided to go into the ocean, even though we knew it was freezing! We had alot of fun, until the waves and undertoe kept knocking us down and pulling us under the water. After a few incidences, we decided it was time to get out. We all headed in to shower and get ready for dinner and church.

    While we were on our hospital tours, Tracy and her son Cory had the opportunity to meet their compassion child. They had planned on going to the zoo, but their plans changed when they met up. Brian, their compassion child, his mother and sister all came to meet and spend the day together. Upon their arrival, Brian and his family brought coconuts as gifts for Cory and Tracy from their own trees. They went to the beach and had lunch at KFC. They were able to just enjoy the day and each others presence. Brian loved Cory’s sunglasses, so Brian gave Cory his MP3 player, in return for his glasses. However, Brian’s mother told them that the MP3 player was a bday gift from his grandfather, so Cory let him keep the glasses, but Tracy gave the MP3 player back to his mother since it was a precious gift. It’s amazing to see how the people here are so giving, but this time, Cory and Tracy received a gift they’ll never forget. They enjoyed their experience and were overjoyed when they returned to tell us all about it:)

    The staff prepared steak, rice and french fries for us. The rice and french fries has been a typical part of dinner, but steak switched it up from the chicken we normally have. After dinner we grabbed our stuff and headed to church in Lima. We ran a few minutes late, but they hadn’t begun without us. They welcomed us, just as everyone here has…with open arms and a kiss on the cheek. The people here are truly genuine and enjoy our presence. The church was bigger than the one we attended on Sunday, and the service was also a bit different. Nikki sang Amazing Grace with  one of our translators Christina. They did an awesome job, and closed out the service after that. We headed back to Ola Grande and got ready for bed after a long day!

   We’re looking forward to our last clinic tomorrow in Benjamin. We can’t believe how fast the week is going by! God is doing great things with us here!! 

Amanda, Melissa, Dana, Tabitha-and Team Peru!

Today, like the others, has been quite an amazing experience for everyone! After eating omlets and drinking coffee/juice this morning for breakfast the team headed out to drop the guys off at Hannah’s Home to do some construction work and then went on to the police station in Chilca for our clinic. Upon arrival there, the scene was in chaos!

We unloaded all the materials we had to offer and paired up to work stations set up in the street and different rooms of the police station. There were five doctors on site (two general medicine, OBGYN, dentist, and pediatrician) along with social workers, psychologists, legal department, and many volunteers! Translators were also sent with us to the different stations. Experiences such as passing out medications, IM injections, vital signs/weight/height, learning from the doctors, and passing out clothing items were common happenings among those of us in the group.

Throughout the day some 250 patients were seen and given care (about double of the clinic yesterday)! We shut down about 2:30 pm, picked up the guys at Hannah’s, and arrived back to Ola Grande around 5:00pm. From there we had supper and spent some time discussing events of the day and what God has shown each of us through our experiences. Overall, the group came to the conclusion that God has done some great things through us thus far and has shown us an even greater need for the rest of the week.

Keep praying for our safety and for God to keep touching lives through the ministry of Childreach here in Peru!

God Bless, Brooke Finley and the ‘09 Peru team

What a day yesterday! The day started great with a muy delicioso cup of coffee and ended with an experience I will never forget. We set up a clinic today at Hogar de Ninos. It was nice to see the past three years of nursing school has paid off. We were able to help about 120 people. They may not have known it but they helped me. They showed me so much love and were so gracious for our help. The clinic was only half the experience. Playing with the children at hogar de ninos was amazing. Seeing them smile brought joy to all of our heart and was as fun for us as it was for them. The language barrier was no problem. The kids and adults are so patient and understanding. A smile and hug is the same in every langauge. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us the rest of our week!!

~Corie and Team Peru

After our first breakfast of scrambled eggs and rolls we left Ola Grande at 945 am and headed to church. Pastor Jorge taught about making private devotional a permanent part of our lives. One of the major differences between the Peruvian church and US church culture is the universal acceptance shown to newcomers. The people greeted us with open arms (literally!) and even kissed each of us as we entered and the sanctuary. After the service the children swarmed us and wanted to take pictures of us with our cameras! Even though we don’t speak spanish, understanding nonverbal cues was fairly easy. You could tell how much the children wanted someone to talk to them and they were just as excited to get to know us as we were to be there.
We then headed off to the little fishing city: Pucusana to eat lunch. Most of us had “Lomo,” which consisted of beef, peppers, and onions served alongside white rice with some good old french fries! To drink we were served frozen, fresh squeezed lemonade a nice change from the already mundane warm water. It was delicious!
Hannah’s home was our next stop! We got to hear the stories of the directors and hear their plans for expansion. They hope to eventually serve 50 abused and pregnant women and open up an orphanage. We were able to tour the grounds and see the new construction. Also in Chilca, the city where Hannah’s home is located is Hogar de Ninos, the orphange we will be serving throughout the week. Here, we were also able to tour the grounds and meet the children. We can’t wait to spend more time with the children, and receive the blessing of being able to minister to them as the week progresses.
At 5 pm we returned to Ola Grande and roamed the beach before dinner - which consisted of baked chicken and french fries (which we learned are always served together!). Now we are relaxing and enjoying our new friend’s company! Buenas noches (good night)!!
Alexandra, Dana, Kathleen, and team Peru!!!

It´s Sunday morning about 7:30am.  The team, less Nikki, arrived at ola grande last night safe and sound and with all our luggage.  We made it to bed about 2:00am  Nikki missed her flight connection in hotlanta but will be here tonight. 

Today is church and a tour of hannah´s with a little time this afternoon to rest up from the long and of travel and for our week ahead. 

Can´t wait to see what God is up to with this team. 

rick