¡Hola! Bienviendos mi amigos de la Estados Unidos!
(That means, “Hello! Greetings to my friends from ths U.S.”)
I can’t believe I have already been here four days! I am
having so much fun and time is flying by. I have a lot to catch everyone up on,
as I have been a little lazy in the blogging department. I will give a day-by-day
and then do another post about what God has been teaching me.
Thursday:
I arrived around 4:00 Bolivia time (which is 1:00 Pacific
time). Neco (the volunteer host) picked me up in the truffi (Bolivian taxi)
driven by Manuel (HOH driver). Driving through Bolivian streets is much like
walking through a crowded mall—except everyone is in cars. It is organized
chaos. The most common car is a truffi, because most people don’t have cars in
Bolivia. The truffi’s are typically Toyota vans extremely worn out from the
cobblestone roads. No one wears seat belts and we can fit around twenty people
into one van. It gets a little crowded, but it is a fun bonding experience.
Anyways, I arrived at the hospital tired but very excited.
There were about twenty other volunteers here (5 from Wheaton, 10 from APU and
a couple other independents). They were all incredibly welcoming and made me
feel at home instantly. Rose (Neco’s wife) gave me a tour and led me to my
bedroom. I spent the rest of the evening getting to know the other volunteers
and unpacking. I went to bed around 8:00. As you can imagine, I slept very
well.
Friday:
Friday was my first day in the hospital (woowoo!). Rounds
begin at 7:30AM. There were only two patients that stayed the night so it
didn’t take long. I decided to work with the pediatrician on Friday as we
decide . I observed as she saw new patients and I worked on my Spanish with one
of the interns.
Luckily, I was with a group of girls that ran into the
surgeon at the perfect time. Leah, Allie and I were able to see a gallbladder
removal surgery. What? Yes. So cool. I got to wear a mask, cap and booties. It
was a laparoscopic surgery with four entry points. I am so glad I have taken
Anatomy because I was able to identify the liver, gallbladder, bile, and
peritoneum from the screen.
Things in Bolivia are very relaxed. During the surgery, the
surgeon invited the wife into the operating room. She brought her phone and was
taking pictures while her husband was
being operated on. The three of us were all joking that the photos would make
for a good scrapbook page.
Wednesday was a holiday in Bolivia so things have been
relaxed the past couple of days. In the afternoon the Wheaton girls and I took
a walk to an abandoned mansion. It was incredible to see such wealth amongst
such poverty. The mansion reminded me of the Playmobile dollhouse. Apparently a
rich man built the house to be used a vacation home and then decided not to use
it. Now, tourists can come and tour the gardens and house.
Friday evening I brought out Anomia. Even in Bolivia it was
a big hit (thank you mom)! We had about 10 people playing at one time. There
was lots of screaming and I had a really fun time watching people learn to
play.
Saturday:
Saturday morning the big team from APU left to volunteer in
Santa Cruz. The rest of us went downtown to eat lunch at a restaurant. After
that we went to one of South America’s largest markets. There are no malls in
Bolivia, so everyone buys their food and clothing in the market. Because of
this, the markets are very crowded. Americans are an easy target for thieves,
so we had to keep all of our money hidden or wear our backpacks in the front.
There were so many colors and I got to barter with some of the shop owners. It
is incredible how being in a Spanish speaking language can help ones Spanish. I
did not like Spanish in high school. I dreaded every class. However, I have
been having so much fun talking to people in Spanish. Now I see the benefit of
learning another language and am so glad I took Spanish seriously in high
school.
We then got ice cream and sat at the center of Cochabamba. I
was on dinner crew and we made fajitas. They were delicious! I then moved into
the Wheaton girls bedroom and we said goodbye to Lorenzo (one of the
volunteers). After dinner and goodbyes we went over the protocol for the clinic
and made sure we had all of the supplies. Some of the other girls taught me how
to take someone’s blood pressure, respiration and heart rate. I still need to
practice a lot but they were good teachers, so I think I am getting the hang of
it. We all went to bed early because we would be getting up very early the next
day to run the clinic.
Sunday:
Today has been my favorite day in Bolivia. We all got up at
6:15 to go to a town about two hours from Vinto (the town the hospital is in).
It is a rural town in the hills of the city. Some of the residents only speak
Quechua. We arrived at a small town center where they hold community
gatherings. We sent up several different stations: triage, eyes, height and
weight, pharmacy, and two doctor’s offices. I was in charge of the eye station
with Jenelle. I would point to the different letters while the patients would
indicate which direction the letter was going. Many of the people had poor
eye-sight (20/30 or 20/50). I am guessing this is due to a lack of vitamin A
caused by poor diet. We saw about seventy people; all with varying degrees of
illness. All were thankful to have us there. I don’t think many of them had had
much medical care before and so I pray that the little we had to offer could
improve their lives. One of the jobs was evangelism and all of the children got
stories about Jesus and Allison (another volunteer) lead some stories about
Jesus and the disciples. Many Bolivianos are timid and skeptical of
Americans—for good reason. They are friendly, but they know that white people
often times have hidden agendas. Offering free health care is a way for us to show
them that our only ‘hidden agenda’ is that we want to love them and that not
all Americans are greedy and promiscuous.
We then went to lunch at a beautiful restaurant. I had fried
beef, chicken, beets, and roasted bananas. I also had cheese and fava beans. It
was delicious. We picked up three more volunteers and headed back to the
hospital. Alli, Rachel and I went on a short run. Going up hill in the heat at
8,000 feet was difficult but I (barely) made it. Down hill was fun and I am
looking forward to building more red blood cells while in Bolivia.
I am looking forward to the other adventures God has planned
for me while in Bolivia (only 15 more days!). Thank you for your prayers!
Internet here is really sketchy so I am sorry if you email me and I don’t
respond. I am not trying to ignore you, it just takes a long time to load
everything.
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