April 12th: Yurimaguas Day #1

Today is Easter Sunday...it feels much different than from home. We returned to the Hogar today where we will be based out of until Wednesday when our Doc and another RN arrive from Edmonton. Once they are safely here we will depart the next morning for the jungle. Today has been a wonderful day of starting to get to know the children and expectant mothers that live at the Hogar. I think I told you about the maternal care aspect of the Hogar: high risk pregnant mothers being brought in from the jungle, to stay with their children, until they deliver safely at the hospital. Another aspect of the Hogar is specializing in the treatment and care of neglected or malnourished children. Yoly, who is like the mother to all of these children, has such an incredible gift in helping to heal these kids. Above, "reading" with me (again...that phrase book comes in handy!) is Nancy. Below is a picture of Nancy when she first arrived at the Hogar 3 months ago. It's a difficult picture to look at because she is so wasted. You would never know seeing her now that she was once so ill...and not all that long ago. She is a fiesty little girl, who runs and runs, and smiles and laughs. She loves to be held and picked up and played with. Truly, she has known health and love in this place.

We spent a good part of the day today sorting through medications...sorting, and sorting and then sorting again. We had to go through all the many bags we had and establish what was staying at the Hogar, what was coming to the jungle and what would we take on to Lima for the clinic at the end of the trip. It's hot! I am feeling the heat and sweating and sweating...so much sweat! We have to keep reminding ourselves to drink lots and lots of water. It's so easy to become dehydrated when you're sweating so much. That cold shower in the morning feels pretty chilly at first, but an hour into the day, I'm longing for it once more!

Got a chance to call home today (international phone cards are a beautiful thing) and Mom didn't hang up on me today! I decided that I shouldn't greet them in spanish when I call..maybe that will help (:

It has been wonderful seeing Martha and Lily who arrived two weeks before us to stay at the Hogar. Martha is a beautiful, dear woman from my church, in her 70's who speaks fluent spanish. She is originally from Argentina. She has been having a huge impact on the lives of the women staying at the Hogar...simply by "being" and loving them and spending time investing in their lives on a physical, emotional and spiritual level. We also met Jim and Ginnie Street at the Hogar. They are missionaries that are spending some time in Peru before beginning a long term assignment in Honduras. They have been an invaluable help to Susan in preparing for the arrival of our rather large team.

Just wanted to share some pics from around the Hogar....above and to the left is Jolson. He's one of the children of an expectant mom staying at the Hogar (which mean "home" or "shelter" in spanish). He's VERY full of energy and a real fireball. In the pick above, he's having a grand ol' time playing with his paper boat in a tiny puddle.

The central area of the Hogar outside...a cooking area and just one small segment of laundry!! Always, always lots of laundry!

Ah, the chickens! Once they were there...and then they were not. In actual fact I have some great shots of Lily decapitating a chicken but chose not to post them here! She desperately wanted to get in on real life here in Peru and she was brave. The poor chicken probably would have appreciated a faster death, but in the end...well...we ate her for supper...she and her friends too.

A common view at the Hogar...children colouring and playing.

This was the greatest extent of wildlife I saw! A praying mantis that was determined to climb the steps.

A view of the roof tops beside the Hogar: tin roofs with palms leaves over top.

A trip to the market with Dilcia, one of the women who works at the Hogar, was a highlight of the day. Hot. Hot. Hot. I kept lunging to the shade of umbrellas. In reality, this was the last day the market was open...the strike started the next day and food became tricky to get. Dilcia was moving fast to get as much as she could. I was a bag holder!...I did that well!

A family loads a moto-taxi with the day's goods at the market.

Dilcia shopping the spice booth.

Lots of starch! By the way, the woman in this picture was a definite exception in north eastern Peru. Very rarely do you see people who are overweight. Most people are just trying to make ends meet.

The end of the day comes quickly here...it's dark by about 6:30 p.m. I would like to say it gets cooler at night but the reality is it doesn't. In many ways I am most grateful because it is usually hotter here at this time. The heat really isn't so much the issue...unless the sun is out...then my heavens, it is hot! (close to the equator). The humidity is what gets to you...tires you out very quickly.

Had a great Easter service at Susan's church tonight. Wonderful group of people. The Pastor was most gracious and allowed Susan to translate for us so we had the sermon in spanish and then english. I say this is gracious of him because I am convinced that he reduced his sermon significantly to allow for translation. I had been told the service could go very long, but somehow I think he had compassion on the foreigners!