The Clinic...

Hola! Just to give a quick update, the week has been going very well and has kept us very very busy! The gynecological clinic is quite a success, we´ve seen many patiens in our 7 hours of work each day and continue to help as much as possible. Tuesday was pretty exciting for me...I got to give people shots! Yep, that´s right, I´m pretty much a nurse here...haha. It was really busy that day, and so Dr. Flemming taught me once how to deliver a depo shot, and I did about 10 more during the day! It wasn´t gross or scary, just really really exciting! I keep learning so much everyday from the people we see and the explainations that Dr. Flemming gives. It´s been hard, too, we told a woman yesterday that she had a miscarriage, we examined a lot of 9 year old girls today and we think one was sexually abused, although she was too scared to talk about it. But we do put smiles on faces of other people, especially the old women. A lot of people think they have cancer but don´t, so that´s a quick change of emotions for them! It´s a long, tiring day though, a lot goes into listening to peoples problems and examining all day long! But it´s totally worth it, I am so appreciative of this opportunity. Tonight I think we´re going out for pizza, and I´ll probably cry because I´m so excited to eat normal food! Last night we got a huge group of about 20 people that invaded our space, so that was kind of a bummer. 16 women and one shower this morning...not cool. Oh well! It´s that good ol siesta time now, so I think I´ll go enjoy that. Only a few more days here, and then our real vacation begins! Hope all is well with everyone, miss you! Love, Emily

Beginning of Week Two...

I´m sure thankful for my fun and enjoyable weekend, because I learned today that this is going to be a long hard week! Last night I met Dr. Flemming, a true blessing from God that she´s here! She has come a few times before, but yep, she´s a gynecologist from Nebraska here to run a gynecological clinic this week. See...a blessing that she´s here, not only for me, but for our OB-GYN med student! She invited me to help her and Laura out with the clinic this week...like I was going to say no! I was so excited! So this morning around 830 we walked to the small clinic and settled in a small room. There were about 10 patients waiting to be seen already that morning. Dr. Flemming was wonderful about getting me involved. I assisted women in changing and getting onto the table, giving and taking away medical instruments to her and Laura as necessary, and just doing the behind the scenes things that needed to be done! But the thing that was the greatest was that I got to stay with the kids while their moms were examined. Most kids were freaked out that mom was being looked at that way by a white person, so I tried to calm them down by coloring with them, or listening to their heartbeat through the stethsescope (OK...so my spelling isn´t that great yet whne it comes to medical terms...) There was one boy who actually fell asleep on me! haha. I felt very useful today. Dr. Flemming kept calling me an amazing nurse, just knowing what to do without being told! That made my heart melt. Laura also said that when we both graduate, she would love it if I was her nurse. We work so great together. See, even here, I´m receiving so much encouragement, especially about the career path I have chosen. I prayed so much today that the letter waiting for me when I get home will say, yes, please come be a student in our nursing program! I truly have found out that this is where my heart and passion is. We saw some wierd things today, let me tell ya. Some women complained of having breast pain, and it was caused by having too small of a bra. Some women were just constipated, boring! Lots of women had yeast infections, or other problems that were easily cured. Dr. Flemming is an amazing woman, I cannot even tell you how much I learned from her in the first day! She is SO great about explaining everything to me, I just learned a ton and I´m so thrilled about all my new knowledge! And we were all so tahnkful to have a wonderful translator, so I really could pay attention to what was going on today. After our first 10 patients this morning we went back for Siesta. On our way back, we made a home visit to the mother of one of the nurses at the clinic. This womans name is Angelica, and she has horrible cancer. Her home was nicer than most, but still not anything that someone with cancer should be living in. Smelly, flies everywhere, and hot. She was lying on a piece of old foam on a bed, with a cathedar, so she probably never moves. She has bed sores the size of softballs, and you can see so much of her bones. She´s super weak. She had a MASSIVE tumor on her back that had fallen off, they think, and so there´s this huge open sore probably the size of a cantalope on her back. Her daughters do an amazing job of cleaning her sores everyday, that´s the only reason she´s still alive. She´s too weak to make it through surgery, has another tumor forming in her abdomen, and will die a long, slow painful death in pain on this bed, probably by next year. It was extremely hard to watch this...daughters taking care of their sick mother and doing the best they could do, knowing it wasn´t enough. Toward the end of our visit, she started crying. I went up to kiss her goodbye and started to cry as well. My heart just automatcially fell in love with her. I wanted so much to convey to her that Jesus loves her, that she is in my prayers, and that I will be back to see her again, but I didn´t know how to say that in Spanish. It was the worst thing I´ve seen since I´ve been here, and I´ve seen a lot. On the walk back I tried to not cry, but I told Laura that was going to be one of my weaknesses as a nurse. I just had to cry a bit. It´s affected me all day, and probably will for a long time. If just seeing this one patient that´s like this in a city of 400,000, how many others like her are there¿ And I bet they don´t receive the amazing care that Angelica does from her daughters. It was nice to get back to the Parish and break for Siesta. We had some PB and J for lunch, then I went to my spot on the roof to rest for awhile. Around 3 we headed back to the clinic for the second shift. Here we saw a lot of different cases than we did in the morning. We saw herpes, gross, and lots of other very interesting caess that probably would never see in the states. Some women just make me sad. They come in and want to be checked for STDs because they know their husband sleeps around, or they want to go on birth control because their man friend is coming back for his once a year visitn with the intention of getting her pregnant, but she has already had 5 of his kids. Life is just so different here. But I do love helping. I learned so much today about everything. When I´m holding a child during their mothers visit, I now embrace the smell that comes with them because I know that they are very poor. When the kiss me on the cheek, or want a hug, I take it all in and return it right back to them. When the old, toothless, dirty beggar women greets me in the morning, I hug her back and wish her good day. I even don´t mind helping the people with terminal cancer and huge wounds, because I know that Jesus would have done the same. The phrase 'Love them Like Jesus' has been running through my head all day, which I think is important. I´m just so humbled and thankful for everything. Tomorrow I return to the clinic for more interesting and learning experiences. But now, I´m going to enjoy a refreshing shower and bedtime chats with my friends. Blessings to you all! Love, Emily.

A fun and relaxing weekend...

Hola! I´m really enjoying the weekend here! On Friday night, a group of us went dancing at this really nice club in downtown Chimbote. Don´t worry, we had to Peruvian friends along to escort us which was very helpful. The club was actually really nice and clean. We were able to all sit down for awhile and enjoyed a beer. No one was really dancing, even after we had been there for an hour, so us American girls started the dance. It was pretty comical actually, because as much as we tried to do the Spanish style dancing, we couldn´t help but pull out some good ol`American moves. haha. It was pretty fun though, no guys tried to dance with us, everyone there was really classy and nice, and we actually stayed for about 3 hours! The location was really cool too, the back window looked out over the ocean, which is where we sat. It was a lot of fun! When we got back, we headed up to the roof to talk with the St. Bens/St. Johns kids, since they were to leave on Saturday morning. And then we called it a great night! Saturday morning we woke up and were set to climb a mountain. Wilder, a worker at the Parish, took us up the mountain. We drove most of the way, and It was so horribly scary! There were only rocky dirt roads with nothing but a huge drop off on our side, no guard rails or anything! But once we got to the top, wow was it worth it! There was a church on the top of this hill, as well as many other pieces of architecture. We were just so amazed at the view, a beautiful view of the ocean as well as the city of Chimbote. It was a wonderful way to begin a Saturday morning, we truly enjoyed that journey so much! Then we were taken to view the cemetary of the poor. Over 400,000 people are burried on this piece of land, some are marked with a simple wooden cross, others are just burried under the sand. Some have coffins, others do not. An average burrial here costs only 5 dollars in American money. That was a little hard to see. But we were then pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the Bakery in downtown Chimbote! We all bought this cookie that looked really good, but did not taste anything like it looked like. Bummer. But the Ice cream cone that followed sure made up for it! It was so good! We also went to the supermarket for the first time, which was really exciting! I´ve never been so exicted to find a can of pringles, or an ice cold DR. PEPPER like I was here. Wow, I´m really appreciating everything we enjoy in America! So it is safe to say that our morning was most enjoyable! The afternoon was amazing. Emily, Alysha and I put on some comfy summer clothes, went up to the roof and laid there for about 3 hours. We put sunscreen on, don´t worry. We had our iPods goin, the sun was shining, and it was soooo great! I still can´t believe I´m enjoying this weather in January! However, every now and then we would catch the strong smell that Chimbote produces. It seriously takes your breath away and makes it hard to breathe. It will be so great once we can leave that behind. I don´t know how people get used to it! Then we were happy to make some calls to home, and finally shower after a day outside! A group of us decided we wanted to go out for dinner, so we headed downtown again and ate at this Chinese place. However, Emily, Alysha, and I are super picky here, and we could not be more thrilled to report that they served us, somehow, Ice cold coke in a bottle, popcorn chicken, and French Fries!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me!!! It was SO great, and we were all shocked at how fast we got full! Then we headed back, talked for awhile, and hit the sack early. Thanks for the prayers and support, they mean the world to me! Send me a message anytime, ezehrer@gac.edu Love, Emily

Working at the Maternity Hospital!!!!

Yes, that´s right, I´ve finally made it to the maternity hospital/orphanage, and I´m SO thrilled about it! But first I will tell a bit about a tour that we went on Wednesday afternoon. We were taken around in a van to a large village type place, all homes lined up made of thatch and nothing more. The town was so poor they were stealing their water from neighboring towns. We toured one home, and it had nothing in it at all besides simple things and basic necessities. It was dark, dirt floor, small and smelly. We also toured a summer school, you could tell the kids did not want to be there, as well as a battered women´s shelter. Quite a downer. Everywhere we drove in this van, people would coming running from all directions because the white people had arrived. They wanted their pictures with us, to take us into their homes, and to get our money of course. I never thought I´d ever see a place in such poverty. People had pretty good spirits for the most part, but night time around there brings out a different side of people I´m told. I don´t know if I´ve mentioned Laura...so I will now. She got here a few days ago, fourth year med student from Nebraska studying OB-GYN! We love her so much. She´s here for two months! We´re planning on spending a lot of time at the maternity hospital, so on Thursday morning we caught a cab, yep by ourselves!, and went to the hospital around 830am. There are so many people that go there, the lines start so early in the morning because they know there are only so many workers, exam rooms, perscriptions, and hours in the day. We met our contact person, Sister Lily, and she assigned us to our duties. Laura went right to the delivery room, lucky!, and I was assigned to pre-natal exams and pap smears. The women and her assistant in the room did not speak english, surprise surprise, so I stood the whole time and just observed. We saw about 20 women from 830-130, all seemed to be having healthy pregnancies as far as I could tell. I helped the women ¨keep their privacy¨¨ I soppose I could say. I was also fortunate enough to listen to many babies heartbeats! It was a really interesting experience, and I would really love to have a chat with them about their HORRIBLE sanitation problem. Every women examined laid on the same sheet, used the same towel to cover up with, the medical examiner did not where gloves everytime, nor did she always wash her hands with soap, and all the instruments were thrown into a bucket with water. Yikes. Needless to say, I felt pretty gross after that. But I was very fortunate to have had that experience. I was beat by the end though, standing for 6 hours was not the most fun thing I´ve ever done, especially with sunburned, swollen feet squeezed into tennis shoes. haha oh well, it could be worse! Later that day, after a lot of rest took place, we went to mass at 730pm down the road in a small garage. It was crazy. They left the doors open, so gangs would come in and be loud, dogs run up and down the asiles, kids are restless, and it´s so hot! But it ment a lot to the people we´re staying with. THEN we took a very big adventure...to downtown Chimbote with some fun Peruvians! The Tommerdahls were with, don´t worry. We caught a cab and went to Don Ramons...for Kareoke! I had my first Peruvian beer...mmmmm! haha. I also had this other drink that was so delicious. We obviously had to sing...since we would probably never see these other people again...so Alysha, Laura, and I sang songs like, I´ve got you babe, Always be my Baby by Mariah Carey, Killing me Softly. It was hailrious!!!!!!!! We had such a great time, even learned to dance a little bit! But We were so exhausted by the time we got back. My head hit the pillow at midnight and I was out. Friday morning I woke up to start another day at the maternity hospital. One of my favorite parts about it is that I get to wear scrubs...hehe. Laura and I had a harder time getting a cab this morning but we made it. Today we BOTH got to be in labor and delivery, woop woop! We first went around and checked all the women that had just delivered, as well as the ones who thought they would deliver soon. There were probably 20 women who had had babies in the last 2 days, all lined up in two rows. No privacy at all! The two women who were close took awhile to finally get there, so Laura and I went to the orphanage. There we held the babies, some were handicapped or retarded, others just wanted attention. But the young kids just climbed all over us the whole time just craving our attention and time. It was hard, but great making them smile! Finally the first woman went into the delivery room. Keep in mind here that men are not allowed in the delivery room, and there are no drugs for the pain. So the women are alone and in so much pain, not fun. I stood by this womans head and held her hand through most of it which was such an amazing feeling. THe delivery was smooth, and she never screamed. What the heck. She had a beautiful, healthy baby boy who came out lookin´ kinda gross, no lie, but he was crying which was great! I got to help measure him and dress him, although they don´t wash the baby before they dress them. Gross. The mom was happy, but not as excited as I expected. Still, it was so wonderful to be a part of that! We went outside to eat our lunch after that. We have to pack our lunches, because who knows what they´re serving in that kitchen. We came back in and went to the orphanage again, but soon after the next women was going to deliver. This woman was exhausted and in so much pain. I felt so bad for her! For her too I was near her head holding her hand. She grabbed me in so many wierd ways, and started just freaking out for awhile because of the pain. We think she was saying she wanted to be killed it was so bad. She was flailing and screaming, kinda freaky. But finally the baby was delivered, another boy, and she calmed down. This baby had a pretty rapid heard rate for awhile, so they took him to another room to monitor him. We went home around 2pm, after seeing two births, not a shabby day at all!!! The Tommerdahl adults have left for Lima now, so it´s just us college kids. Who knows what that holds in store! Tomorrow we are climbing a small mountain...hooray. Hope all is well back home, talk to you soon!!

The first few days in Chimbote

Hola! I´m happy to report that each day we´re hear gets better and better. I´ve been praying so hard for encouragement, and I´ve had my prayers answered. Yesterday the college volunteers took handicaped children with their families, totaling over 200 people, to the Beach! WE loaded four buses and took the 30 min drive to the ocean. It was such a process getting there, but once we were there it was worth it! SOme of these kids had never been swiming before, and we were the ones who got to pull them out of their wheelchair and play with them in the water. I´ve never experienced something so cool. There were so many smilies, and the kids were so grateful. We played with so many young ones, both healthy and sick, and it was the highlight of the trip so far. We played at the beach from about 10am until 3pm! LOng day. I, being the white woman I am, loaded up twice with SPF 50...and boy do I look like a lobster today! My feet look hailrious...but are so painful. JUst my neck and arms otherwise. WE also so dolphins at another part of the ocean yesterday! It was just amazing. WE got back and had to rinse sand off of ourselves for about 45 min...then rested. The other EMily T. got sick last night...bummer. Must be heat exhaustion though. I have not been eating here very much at all...the food is just not made for me. But i´m surviving off my american crackers and bread they provide here. Last night Alysha and I talked on the roof for like an hour and just watched the city life. Amazing! THis morning we took a tour of the maternity hospital and orphanage...WOW! I start work there tomorrow and could not be more excited. Can´t wait to update you on that! Now we´re going to work in the daycare for a bit...then take a big tour of the city later! Love you ALL! THanks for all the prayers and support, I´m definitely experiencing some rare blessings here! Keep it up! Talk to you soon, Emily

The beginning...

Well I made it to Peru! It was a long day of traveling on Saturday ...from Mpls to Huston, then to Lima! It was so crazy getting to Peru at the late hour of 1230 am...and not getting to the hotel until 2am! The hotel, and the whole city in general, was kinda sketchy but OK. Then we woke up early Sunday morning to catch a bus to Chimbote! We rode the bus for about 7 hours...and 6 of those hours consisted of only ocean on our left, sand on our right. Kinda boring but oh well! We still had fun. When we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by our new Peruvian friends who brought us to the Parish where we will be staying. I absolutely LOVE the set up of this place. It´s like one giant maze...always finding something new! The main level is just like a big plaza with the sky as our roof. Upstairs are the boys and girls dorms. We unpacked our things and settled in, then went up to the ROOF! Just oneflight of stairs away! We hang out up there a lot...it´s such a cool place and you can see so many things. Peru is definitely different than what I ever would have thought it would be like. So much poverty and simple living, yet people are so nice and there is really no danger at all to us while we are in Chimbote at the Parish. Last night we had supper - the food is not real great at all but oh well...i´m getting by... - and we went to¨mass since this is a catholic organization. WE´re here with a really great group from St. JOhns-St. Bens, and I´m getting along great with them! We turned in soon after we went outside for a bit. We were all doing great, but Alysha was suddenly hit with a very sick feeling. She had horrible pain in her stomach, was sweating, and icky. It turned out to be a long night. She was sick with vomiting - of both ends at the same time- from midnight until 7am. Since we´re all in the same room, I was also up with her. It was pretty awful, she got sick about every 15 min. It was really hard, but I´m glad to say she´s feeling better now. Keep us in your prayers, anything we eat could be dangerous!! THis morning I was running on no sleep but ready to take on the day. I spent the morning at the clinic, where I observed about 15 patients. There was everything from simple shots given, to huge cuts and gouges being sewn up. It is SO unsafe here medically. NOthing is clean, sterile, or safe really. It was hard to see these conditions, but this is the best they know how to do. THen at noon, we were introduced to Siesta! Everyday at noon everything here closes and people rest for three hours! It´s nuts! WE headed back, ate lunch, went to the craft sale, and I took a lovely shower! Now I¨m enjoying the rest of my Siesta...it´s wonderful! HOpe all is well, I will report back soon! Love, Emily