Planes, Trains, and a Whole Lot of Mountains

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in updating the blog. The past four days have been very exciting. Thursday and Friday started out much differently compared to the previous days of our trip. Just as we started getting used to our one hour bus naps and asking for directions on dirt roads, we started to prepare for our last clinic destination; a 10 minute drive from Casa de Retros Betana, the retreat we had been staying all week. Previously we had volunteered at orphanages, Shalom church, and Peru Children’s Charity. When we arrived at Escuela de Talentos on Thursday, we were greeted by Mesa De Reino, a non-profit organization. We were scheduled to evaluate 24 patients for the day. All of the workers at Escuela de Talentos were very helpful with organizing the patient schedule and translating for those who were unable to speak Spanish. Nick (AKA “the trouble-maker”) and Ben (AKA “the spy”) worked together, with their main focus on patients with wheelchairs. Altogether, we were able to see 17 patients before lunch. During our lunch break on Thursday, we played soccer with Peruvian students who attended the school in which we were working. We enjoyed a tasty lunch with the chef himself and managed to see seven more patients before heading back. On Thursday night we enjoyed our last night out and walked along the peninsula, Municipalidad Distrital de la Punta.

The girls and two brothers with muscular dystrophy

Patient at Escuela de Talentos

  Friday came quickly and we could not believe that it was our last day working as student physical therapists in Peru. While waiting to get started for the morning, we were entertained by a sassy girl with down-syndrome. She was kind of like a sour patch kid, first she was sour and would tell us where we were allowed to sit, and then she was sweet, showering us with hugs.

While treating patients with various diagnoses from muscular dystrophy to cerebral palsy, we could hear students playing guitar, singing, and dancing to celebrate the anniversary of Callao. At the same time, the celebration felt like it was for all of us: for all of our long bus rides, language barriers, sore throats, runny noses, and all that we had accomplished the past two weeks. Every moment has truly been an eye-opening and rewarding experience. To give parents hope, to see the children smile, and to know that our actions did and will continue to make a difference in the lives of others, made all of the hard work worthwhile. Thank you for all of you prayers and support, we could not have done all of this without you! The next four days will be spent relaxing, touring, and getting ready to head back home to good old Pennsylvania.

All of us at the center of Cusco

On Friday night we spent our time packing and preparing for our flight to Cusco in the morning. The view of the Andes Mountains from our plane ride, hostel, and travels to Cusco were breath-taking.

We were able to get our first taste of Alpaca meat, browse the markets, navigate the narrow cobblestone roads, and enjoy the architecture at the center of Cusco.

Cusco

So far, it has been a great experience to see another part of Peru outside of Lima. On Sunday morning, we finished some last minute souvenir shopping before hopping on a bus ride that would take us to our train to Machu Picchu. Our bus driver let us make a pit-stop to take pictures of the Andes Mountains and to take selfies with the llamas. It was impossible to nap on the bus when a new view popped up with every turn on the steep roads. The train ride to our hotel in Machu Picchu was just as beautiful, with sky lights and windows all around for viewing the mountains, river, and farmland. Once we settled into our hotel, we explored the markets and ate our last Peruvian dinner. Ben decided to order a Peruvian delicacy: Guinea Pig. The guinea pig was smiling on his plate, confirming that my choice to get a dish that didn’t look me in the eyes was perfect. Later, we put on our swim suits, walked over bridges between the giant mountains, and hopped into the hot springs at Agua Calientes with the night sky above us. Tomorrow will be an early start so that we can see as much of Machu Picchu as possible before heading back to our hostel in Cusco. It’s crazy to think that tomorrow is our last full day in Peru. These past 16 days have truly flown by.

Erin 

Gratefulness

Hola amigos!

Again, I apologize for the delay in communication. The stories below are from our time in Pachacutec on Wednesday.

We traveled to a private PT clinic where the current therapists were there to keep the day running smoothly as well as learn as much as they could. The SRU PT students were again paired with a PT for the day. We were able to see a total of 24 patients so that made for a busy day. 

Children came with mothers or fathers or siblings and some waited in line all day to be seen. Each day, children come with a variety of conditions. Cerebral palsy and spina bifida seemed to be the the top diagnoses today. Cerebral palsy is a result of incorrect development or damage to the brain before or after birth. Spina bifida is a result of a folic acid deficiency of the mother during pregnancy that results in defects to the embryo. Both pathologies can present in a variety of ways making each child unique, but also making each experience an exceptional memory.

Erin, Estephanie and I

The first girl we saw was 11 years old. She had spina bifida, leaving her with an incomplete ability to use her legs to walk (ie: incomplete spinal cord lesion at L2/3). She used a wheel chair as her primary mode of transportation, but it did not fit her well and it was simply a transport chair, meaning someone else had to push her.
Although this girl could stand and walk with assistance for exercise, she really needed the assistance of a wheel chair to be independent at home and interacting with friends. I wish i could have captured the smile on her face when we sat her in this new chair. It was priceless. Not only did it fit her and make her exceptionally more comfortable, but she could push herself. It was incredible and such a blessing to be a part of.

It was also in that moment that I realized more of what it means to be grateful. A wheel chair for this girl seems so simple, but it actually changed her life. There are times throughout my day that God is teaching me. He is teaching me to be patient or be kind or be grateful and it is times like these that I need to stop and realize who He is and what He has given us. We serve a God that is worthy of all of our praise.

This week certainly has been wonderful. God is here and He is good.

Kristin Eberhart

A Peruvian Weekend

Hola,

Sorry for the delay in blogging. Wi-fi has been inaccessible the past few days. So, this blog will catch you up on our adventures from this past Saturday and Sunday.

As I am sitting here typing this blog, I cannot believe we are starting another work week here in Peru tomorrow. This weekend, our team got some much needed rest and relaxation, but also had the opportunity to go sightseeing around Lima! After sleeping in on Saturday morning, we woke up with a few less people as they left early in the morning. Our professor, Dr. HJ and her son, Jack, left for Cusco; and the three volunteers from Stand With Me, a nonprofit organization that makes pediatric standers for children in need, left to go home. We will definitely miss the comedic relief we received from Emily, Riley, and Scott, and getting to know them this past week. We will also miss the expertise we received from Dr. HJ when working with adult patients and the willingness from Jack to assist us with everything from wheelchairs to foam cutting to photography.

A few of us…okay, one of us may have woken up full from dinner the night before. Ben successfully finished a plate for 2 people, as well as finished the meals of roughly 3 people, by himself. We were quite impressed to say the least.

Saturday morning, we met our van driver, Willy, who was going to take us from place to place. Luckily, Willy speaks English quite well, and we were able to interact with him as it was just the 6 team members, whose longest Spanish phrase might be, “Donde está el baῆo?.”  I will let you google that one. However, we are learning more and more Spanish each day, and are trying to speak with the locals as much as possible.

Our first stop was Pachacamac, the ancient ruins of 4 native tribes. One of the structures, Mamacona, housed women who were dedicated to the sun god. Also on the premise were temples that housed the ruler of each tribe. At the top of the ruins was the Templo del Sun (Temple of the Sun). At this temple, the most beautiful women from Mamacona were sacrificed as an offering to the sun god. It was a great honor to be chosen as a sacrifice. The location of Pachacamac was very different than anything we have ever seen. These desert ruins were surrounded by lush grass along the coastline of the Pacific.

Temple of the Sun

View from the top of Temple of the Sun

Central Lima

Following the tour, Willy dropped us off to eat lunch at small street café in downtown Lima. Hilarity ensued after we quickly realized that all the menus were in Spanish and none of the waiters understood English. We ordered with hopes that we would like what we were getting (and we all did), and then we headed to central Lima where the government and capitol buildings were located. Here, we saw the Capitol, Congress, the President’s house, and a beautiful cathedral. Our last stop on the tour was the San Francisco Cathedral, which housed the catacombs of over 20,000 Spaniard mummies.

Following our tour, we headed back to Chalet, where some napped, others ran, and a few walked around for some more sightseeing in Chorillos, the district in Lima where we have been staying.

On Sunday morning, we woke up refreshed and ready to go to an English-speaking church. We enjoyed singing familiar songs and hearing an excellent message from a missionary Pastor from the States. After church and lunch, a few of us stopped one last time at the Inka market for a few more souvenirs (let’s just say, we are now pros at bargaining in Spanish!). Around 4pm, we packed up our belongings at the Chalet, and left to go to our new home for this next week. We are staying at another Catholic retreat center located in Betania, a district in Lima, just a few miles from the airport. As I type this, I am listening to jets take off and land, and the guard dogs barking. Yes, we were warned that if we would like to leave our retreat center with all limbs intact, we should not venture out of our rooms past 11pm when the guard dogs are released for the night!

Time to put in the ear plugs and get a good night of sleep before we start our second week of physical therapy service.

**If you would like to pray for our team, please pray that we would allow ourselves to fix our eyes on God so that our eyes would be open to the suffering and needs of those whom we are treating, both now in Peru and future patients in the States. This past week as been an emotional rollercoaster. We are having the time of our lives, but are also reminded everyday of how blessed we are to have the support and love of our friends and families, and access to healthcare to meet our needs. Many of us have treated patients who traveled hundreds of miles for their children to receive medical care, or waited years to receive a functional wheelchair. Our eyes have been opened to the healthcare needs of those in a third-world country, but we need to remember that our patients in the States need the same physical, emotional, and spiritual support as those we are treating in Lima.**

Que Dios te bendiga,

(God Bless You)                                                                                                                                                  

Connor Sheriff

In His Hands

Our team with Joel at the orphanage

Friday was our last day at the orphanage. It was sad to leave the children and the workers there as this has been one of my favorite experiences thus far (as every new experience here has been consistently dubbed “my favorite”). The orphanage is not funded by the state and cares for about 90 children and adults. Their main provider of physical therapy service is a man named Joel who attended school to be physical therapist assistant for only one semester before he ran out of the funds to be able to finish his schooling. However, he amazed me with his aptitude and passion for working with the children. He exuded an incredible hunger for learning how to better help the children, hanging on every word we said and asking excellent questions. Additionally, as an interesting side note, he is an amazing artist. I know for sure that he painted at least one of the many murals covering the orphanage and I would not be one bit surprised if each of the murals gracing the walls of the orphanage were painted by his hands.

Kristin teaching Joel a technique for
loosening up secretions stuck in the lungs

I can’t help but think about the incredible task that Joel was undertaking in caring for so many children as a large percentage of the children in the orphanage had been abandoned because of some type of disability, deformity, neurological insult, or cognitive delay. Aside from prescribing and fitting the children with orthotics and providing various treatments ourselves, a substantial amount of our focus was spent on teaching Joel as much as possible about each child’s condition-specific treatment so that he could continue to treat the children after we left. His attention was pulled every which way as he was bounced from group to group to either answer questions about a child’s known medical history or be given instruction and advice for treatment plans. Yet, after seeing how well he works with the children, I have much confidence that the children have been left in good hands.

Playing soccer on slippery mud and concrete with about 20 of the boys while we waited for our bus driver to pick us up, ; the mural on the background wall was painted by Joel

Dr. HJ with one of her favorites <3

As I currently lie here on an alpaca blanket after today’s short day of treatment (because a number of the kids had not been feeling well enough for us to see them), I can’t help but wonder at how amazing this past week has been and how this experience will impact me for the rest of my life. In our hands has been placed this incredible opportunity to help so many in need. Yet, even though they lack material wealth, the children and the people here have blessed and taught me more than I could have ever imagined. It has been a true blessing to be able to work with, pray with, and play with these children who have shared with us so much joy and affection. Each smile, giggle, or burst of laughter has shed rays of sunshine into the cloudy, chilly, and damp weather covering this stretch of Pacific coastline. Just a few more rays and these children may just draw the sun out from behind these gray skies.

One lesson that God has impressed upon me thus far is that, ultimately, we are all in God’s hands… each child, their parents, ourselves, the caregivers… and from His hands we have all been given purpose, gifts, and talents that we have been instructed to steward. Though they may lack worldly things, it does not mean that they must also must lack spiritual wealth. Each child that we treat has God-given purpose and talents. God not only sees their physical needs but He also sees them for who He has created them to be, His beloved children to whom He offers a hope and a future. Though we may not understand His ways, God has a plan for each and every one of them, a plan that is just as amazing as the plans he has for each of us on this team. It is our choice to decide what we will do with what God has given us. It is our choice to say “yes,” to partner with all the plans and purposes that God has set out before us; and it is our choice to allow our lives, every fiber of our being, to rest “in His hands”.

Laurie Martin

Mural painted on the orphanage

Mural painted on the orphanage

The men modeling their Inca Colas

Cafe con Leche por favor!!!!

Farewell Picture of the Shalom Team

We spent our last day in Shalom on Wednesday, however we will never get the Shalom song out of our heads! It was a sad day saying goodbye to the friends we made through our time at Shalom. This wonderful place will be forever in our hearts and prayers as well as the patients who blessed us with their stories and smiles. On the journey back to the Chalet, we finally gained some understanding of the never ending honking on the roads. The cars and buses seem to use this as a way of communication or radar system to locate each other. It is actually quite a brilliant system considering the aggressive driving down here.

When we arrived at the Chalet we had another wonderful dinner (did we mention that all of the food here is delicious?). After dinner we decided to go on an adventure to a Peruvian shopping mall. Surprisingly, the mall was very similar to one you would see in America but with more ICE CREAM :) and Inca Kola. Inca Kola is a bubblegum flavor soda (pop for those west of the Susquehanna) that is very popular in Lima and it is actually quite tasty. Inca Kola is also only available in Peru!

Yummy in our Tummy!

Thursday morning we peeled ourselves out from under our alpaca blankets and made an hour and a half journey to an orphanage. Here we will be blessed with the opportunity to provide aide and loving interactions with 40 wonderful children who were abandoned by their parents. Many of these children do not have medical diagnoses nor have they been to a doctor for their physical and/or mental disabilities. As I sit here I cannot find the words to describe the joy I felt when these children received the medical equipment and treatment they needed. These pieces of equipment, which we can get so easily in the States, are nearly impossible to purchase in Lima. If you have access to a medical supply store you need to have a lot of money available in order to purchase them.

Louis and friends

We had the opportunity to assist patients with orthotic fitting, wheelchair repairs, caregiver education, and gait training. One specific patient stood out during our time at the orphanage today. His name is Louis and with the use of a walker, he was able to walk for the first time in several years. When he stood up and took his first steps, his smile lit up the room as you can see from the picture. It is moments like this that make all of the hard work worth it in the end and it makes you forget the frustrating times, heartaches, and struggles.

Dr. H-J with girl from Orphanage

                                                 
Tomorrow brings a new day with new opportunities to learn and grow. We are all excited to see what the rest of our journey will bring and blessed to have people following our story and keeping us in their prayers!



- The Dark Knight (Nick Wilhelm)

New Beginnings

We have been called as children of God to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the hopeless and care for the sick. This trip has already given us many opportunities to provide a light in an impoverished and often dark place, and we would first, like to thank those you reading this blog for your constant prayers. Thus far, they have been answered, and lives have been touched in marvelous ways.

Early Morning Plane Ride

              We arrived in Lima Friday evening after an otherwise uneventful trip. For some, this was their first experience on a plane. However, after being driven across Lima in a Taxi, we realized that being 40,000 feet in the air catapulting across the sky at 500mph, is far safer than driving in South America. White lines are a suggestion, horns are a constant means of communication, and red lights mean stop….if you have time. Thankfully, we made it safely to the catholic nun’s retreat center where we will spend our first week, and immediately went to bed.

First look at the Pacific

             

 The following morning (Sat), was a free day that gave us time to organize our materials, go to the local market, and get to know some of the other team members that have joined us on this adventure. In total, there are 16 people helping the first week.

Our First Peruvian church service.

              Sunday was used to prepare our first location for the clinic and mold our hearts to better serve those in need. After breakfast, we hopped on the bus and road across Lima to Shalom. Shalom is the name of the organization/clinic/church, where the first clinic would be established. After our first Peruvian church service, we set up the equipment and then returned to our hostel. During the clinic preparation, I was fortunate enough to be asked to accompany one of the clinic directors Pat, to the market; this was a very interesting experience. First, we took a taxi van to the market. At first glance, that might sound normal, however, when there are nearly thirty people sitting/standing in a van the size of a dodge caravan (and I take up 20% of the space) it becomes an adventure. Once we exited the bus, we searched the market for foam and paper clips. Again, this sounds common place. However, the market itself easily spans ten blocks in all directions, and the shops are not organized in any discernable way.  Fortunately, after 45min of searching and a couple of miles of walking, we were able to find our items and head back to shalom; however, yet again the ordinary became exciting. Because we had to get back quickly, we decided to take a mototaxi (part motorcycle, part taxi). This involved forcing my 6’5” frame, two pieces or 4”X18”x5’ foam, and Pat into an enclosed trike. Luckily, we both made it back safely, and the rest of the day was free time, which we used to play the locals in a game of football. Surprisingly enough, USA took home the world cup!!!

              Monday, was our first day in the clinic. It was a whirlwind of wheelchair and orthotic fitting, evaluations, and continual ingenuity. In all, we provided care to 24 local Peruvians of all ages (mainly children). It is amazing to see the look on people’s faces when they receive their first wheelchair, or when they finally understand how to relieve their unbearable pain. As Americans, it is difficult to comprehend the lack of healthcare or the abysmal living conditions. Many of the people’s homes look no better than an abandoned building in the States. There are no carpets, little furniture, and only the bare essentials.  The roads and sidewalks are covered in feces from the thousands of stray dogs and the houses are stacked upon one another with no room to move, but this is where we have been called to serve. To the “least of these”. To those who are ostracized because of their physical or mental handicaps, to those who cannot afford proper health care, to those who have no one else to turn to.  We were able to pray with them, counsel them, and then treat their physical needs.  

 With every child we treat, I see the face of my little adopted sister. She has been a constant blessing to our family for the past three years, but could she have been one of these children before our family took her in? It is far too easy to become cold and clinical and forget how many people desperately need help. How many children simply need a loving home or a hug? My prayer is that more people will open their hearts and homes for these children.  Please prayerfully consider either giving to, or opening your homes to a child in need. Although you may think that you are blessing them, you will quickly realize that you are the one who has been blessed.

              We are all excited to see what God has in store for the next two weeks. Please continue to pray for our team and for those who we are serving.

               

                                                                                                 Benjamin Lowry 

Hello Friends!

August is finally here! We will depart for Peru early Friday morning. The thought is somewhat nerve- racking. It will be our first opportunity to utilize our clinical skills (since the completion of classroom studies), in a completely foreign country, with a people we have never met and in a language we do not understand. That can definitely elicit a fear factor. 

However, I began to think about this very special people group we will get to meet, the conversations we will have, and the opportunities we will be a part of as we serve a God that is bigger than us. It is incredible. I have no doubt He is going to use us in ways we cannot imagine.

As for those of you who are journeying with us as you read these snippets, WELCOME! We hope that you enjoy the updates, picture and stories to follow. We want you to be a part of this adventure, but more than that, we hope you see how we can each be used in incredible ways in any place we are.

The next hours will be spent packing our bags, organizing donated equipment, and scrambling to gather the last few items on our checklist. During that time, would you join us in praying for adequate preparation and safe traveling? You are awesome! 

A big Thank You to everyone who took part in making this trip possible. We look forward to sharing more with you after arriving in Peru.

Kristin