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)