April 13, 2017 10:30 am
The Construction of Soledad's House has Been Completed!
Written by Rosali VelaIn April of 2017 MEDLIFE completed one of our long-term projects, building a house for Soledad and her son. MEDLIFE met Soledad in 2014 (full story here), and upon see her living conditions, we knew we needed to get her a new home. The home she was in was unsafe, and appeared to be on the verge of collapse. The fundraising process and construction process was long, but we succeeded. A group of students from Cornell University, who helped fundraise for the house, got to be there to help put on the finishing touches, see the finished project and meet Soledad themselves.
The back of the old, structurally insecure house.
Soledad and her son, inside their old home in 2014.
The completed house.
Volunteers helped us add the finishing touches on their volunteer trip!
Soledad, on the day her new home was completed.
Thank you to this group of volunteers for your help fundraising and finishing the house!
Thank you to our year long interns for all of your help on this project!
MEDLIFE Future Project: A New Home for Soledad from MEDLIFE on Vimeo.
Published in
Home Construction Projects
Last week brought a close to MEDLIFE´s Spring Mobile Clinic season. MEDLIFE staff and volunteers from Universities across the US and Canada worked in communities in the capital city of Lima as well as Cusco. Over the 6 weeks in Lima, a total of 4237 patients came visited a Mobile Clinic of which 1669 were children. A total of 3185 patients visited during the 3 week of clinics around Cusco as well.
The communities visited for Mobile Clinics have limited access to health care services. Visiting with the local doctors at mobile clinics gives patients a chance to sit down and talk about any problems they are experiencing and recieve individualized attention and possibly be admited into MEDLIFE's patient follow up program.
In addition to checkups with doctors, MEDLIFE brings gynecology and dentistry stations to Mobile Clinics. In Lima, over 500 women recieved a pap smear exam as well as over 300 in Cusco. In a addition to pap smears, MEDLIFE also provides breast exams for intial detection of breast cancer. Over 700 patients recieved an exam in Lima and over 500 in Cusco.
Dental care is often one of the immediate concerns of patients. The dentists working on clinics are able to provide immediate care and relief to patients in some situations. A total of 788 patients recieved dental care in Lima, in addition to 692.
When children come to mobile clinics they visit a toothbrushing station to teach proper brushing techniques, allowing parents more uninterrupted time with doctors. Volunteers passed out 4722 toothbrushes to children in Lima and Cusco as well as applying fluoride to their teeth.
One of the most imporatant aspects of Mobile Clinics is identifying patients the recieve further attention in our patient follow up program. After the clinic, MEDLIFE nurses will visit a patient in their home or accompany them appointments to assist in navigating the Peruvian healthcare system. In many cases, MEDLIFE can cover most of the cost of visits and surgeries. We will be visiting with 113 patients from Lima and 192 from Cusco in the future to create a path for recovery. Patients in the program can take anywhere from one visit to a hospital to over a year of continued communication with MEDLIFE nurses to recieve the care they need, but we are able to provide sustainable care, past intial visits, due to contributions from chapters as well as the funds raised from volunteer trips. We thank all who came to volunteer in Peru this Spring season to make these Mobile Clinics possible!
If you are interested in joining a moible clinic in Peru, or anyother of MEDLIFE's locations, you can view future Mobile Clinics HERE.
Published in
Service Learning Trips
The old slide.
When Grant Schmidt visited this school in Kiura on a MEDLIFE volunteer trip with Miami University, he knew they could do more than just help complete the bathroom project they worked on during the week long trip. After seeing a child climb to the top of this slid and then decide not to slide down, as the wood was old, rotting, and splintery, he decided he would organize his group to fundraise for the slide. We interviewed Grant about his experience with MEDLIFE and how they fundraised for the slide.
The volunteer group that helped fundraise after their MEDLIFE volunteer trip.
How did the group react to the idea of buying a slide for the school in Kiura:
It was such a blessing to have gone to Tanzania with such a wonderful group of individuals. After the dinner on our third night of volunteering in the clinic, I stood and asked our group if anyone would be willing to donate to the cause of raising enough funds to buy the children a new plastic slide, which Neema worked out would be around $400. As soon as I had finished asking the question I was met with an overwhelming amount of positive support and encouragement for the idea. Every single member wanted to donate regardless of the amount, and they did; we raised over $200 within the first hour after dinner.
How is this slide project different than the project you fundraised before coming to Tanzania?
I wasn't a direct part of the fundraising project that MEDLIFE conducted before coming to Tanzania, but I think I can compare the two. The previous fundraised was calculated, planned, and carried out. However this was a spur of the moment project. It was the members of our group realizing that they had the opportunity to help just a little bit more, to brighten the lives of a few more people, and then doing everything in their power to make sure that happened.
Why did you think it was important for the children to have a slide?
We all came to Tanzania thinking about the medical illnesses we could help treat or provide medication for to help improve the lives of some people there. We wanted to help give them some of the opportunities we experience on a regular basis. But after seeing the slide we realized something almost all of us take for granted growing up isn't available here. We wanted to help give the children the same experiences, and joy we had growing up, as happiness is an integral part of health.
While volunteering in Kirua we couldn't help but notice the old wooden slide that sat on the grounds. We would see children climb to the top of the slide and then just sit there for a while before climbing back down, not wanting to slide down the two old splintery wooden planks to the bottom. We all thought "something like this would never be allowed to exist on a playground in America".
Kids using the new slide in Kiura.
How do you hope this slide impacts this school in Kirua?
We hope the slide will give the kids another way to play and have fun, and that their happiness will translate into a better schooling experience.
How can quick, group fundraising efforts like this have an impact?
Quick fundraising efforts like this show that mission trips itineraries don't have to be set in stone, they can change based on the needs of the people you find. We hope that this slide may set a precedent to other groups that, if they find an extra need, they can fix it, whether it be the need of a new clean water system or even just another slide.
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MEDLIFE Project Fund Projects
In March of 2017 MEDLIFE completed our largest water project yet in the community of Laderas de Nueva Esperanza, in Lima Peru. The three water tanks will serve about 500 residents from Laderas de Nueva Esperaza. The community is located high on the hillside and is dependent on water trucks. They are located so high, that the water trucks rarely drive to their community. Before the tanks, residents quickly ran out of water before the trucks returned. Now, with the tanks, residents will have enough water to last between visits, and be able to purchase the water at the much cheaper bulk rate to fill the water tanks. On Saturday April 1st, MEDLIFE staff, volunteers, and Laderas residents gathered to celebrate the completed project. Thank you to community leaders Victoria Ramos, Feliciano Curiñaupa, Gavilan Quispe, Nora Lopez, and Santiago Quispe. Also, to Paola Zapata, Cesar Reyes, and Dr. Carlos for your work and for speaking at the inaugeration.
MEDLIFE staff, interns, and volunteers together at the inaugeration.
The community surprised us an amazing performance of traditional Peruvian dance!
Published in
Global Topics
Carmen Galanza has lived in Nicolas Pierola for twenty years. She never expected to see a disaster the magnitude of the Huaycos, a flood of mud and water, that came and tore her house in half, along with dozens of others on March 15 of 2017. Fifteen days later, no organization has arrived to help those left homeless, and no one has arrived with water. “We are here, waiting and forgotten,†said Galanza, “hoping they come and tell us something.â€
Galanza describes the day of the Huayco, which came down at 1 in the afternoon, as like “being in a disaster film. We had to run up the stairs to escape. It pulled the house apart and took everything with it… everything shook and moved horribly.â€
The Huayco tore off a section of her home that used to be her kitchen, laundry room, and her brothers bedroom, leaving nothing but a gaping precipice over the massive trench carved by the Huayco.
Galanza was forced to go live in a tent camp with 205 refugees displaced by the disaster from the surrounding communities. Two weeks later, little help has arrived and no one has made it to where she lives to sell water.
A tent at a camp for people displaced by the huaycos. MEDLIFE brought a Mobile Clinic here along with donations.
Galanza said she and her community are getting by without electricity and housing, but the water shortage has become a serious problem and people are getting desperate.
The residents of Nicolas Pierola have had to travel long distances chasing down the trucks selling water at high prices. “The other day, an old woman fell and hurt herself chasing after a water truck,†lamented Galanza.
As MEDLIFE staff surveyed the community, nearly everyone we passed asked us if we could bring them water.
“What we want now is water,†Galanza said. “There are kids, there are elderly here, and we don’t have water. We are asking for water, nothing more. Without water we can’t do anything, water is the base of everything.â€
MEDLIFE was able to contract a water truck to bring water to the residents of Nicolas Pierola and several other communities the following day. Bringing water trucks to communities that have been left dry during the crisis is one of the primary uses of flood relief donations. Please, DONATE now and help us bring water to Huayco victims.
Published in
Community Profiles
Las Brisas de California, next to the huge drainage gorge carved by the floods.
When Rosio's daughter began to panic and tell her she was certain, a huge flood was coming, she could hear it, Rosio didn't believe it at first. It was raining, sure but Rosio didn't hear anything but the normal sound of the rain. Then she saw the avalanche of water and mud cascading down the hillside.
They grabbed their valuebles and pets, and ran for higher ground.
Water from these hills collects to create the floods that hit Las Brisas de California.
Luckily, their house was not damaged in the flood. The community of Las Brisas De California, founded around 1997, had learned not to build in the drainage path of the surrounding hillsides when previous years floods swept homes and stores down into the river below.
However, that wasn't enough to save them from the terrible flood season of 2017. Communities lower down had flattened the drainage path, causing the floods to overflow the river banks and destroy the road that provided the only access to the community.
One particularly bad week of flooding left them without access to electricity, food, or potable water for an entire week, because the road was destroyed and the river was so high it was uncrossable.
When the rains ceased and the community became accessible, the water trucks the community had always relied on to come and sell them water, along with public transit, never came back. They now had to walk an hour to Chosica to purchase and basic supplies and then carry it back.
MEDLIFE went to visit Las Brisas de California while surveying communities to see how we could help after the flooding, and decided to get in touch with the water trucks ourselves, and to pay them to bring water up to this community. They agreed, and Las Brisas finally got water after over a week with no access.
Although tap water has been restored to the parts of the city connected to the municipal water system, many communities that rely on water trucks to bring them water, like Las Brisas and most of the commmunities MEDLIFE works in, remain thirsty and unserviced.
We be returning the following week to bring a Mobile Clinic to Las Brisas, after water and food, residents told what they needed most was medicine.
MEDLIFE staff coordinates with community members to bring a clinic the following week.
Published in
MEDLIFE Project Fund Projects
Historic flooding and mudslides have hit Peru bringing the worst destruction from floods in two decades. An estimated 70,000 people have been displaced from their homes along with an estimated 72 dead due to the natural disaster.
Referred to locally by the Quechua name of huaicos, these natural disasters are a results of heavy rain brought on by the El Niño season in the Pacific ocean. The rains cause the rivers to overflow bringing floods to the normally dry desert coast of Peru.
Armando Calderon points to where his house was before the huaicos.
The flooding has overwhelmed local water treatment plants and Lima, Peru’s capital city, has been without water for almost a week. The Peruvian government has issued a state of emergency around most of the country as floods and debris flow into the streets.
The rains are predicted to continue into April, bringing more flooding to the already affected areas. Areas with vulnerable access to water have been completely cut off from their normal supply. The aguatero trucks that normally suppply many of our communities with water have stopped visiting, and many supermarkets have completely run out of water. Tap water was not working in large parts of the city for up to a week, and receiving intermitent water in other parts.
A railroad is decimated by flash floods from huaicos in Chaclacayo.
Critical infrastructure has been damaged, the bridge that connects El Augostino y San Juan de Lurigancho collapsed due to the overflow of the huaicoloro river, makes access to the district very difficult. Many other roads and railroad tracks have been completely washed away.
This week, MEDLIFE went to survey the communities we work with around Lima that have experienced flooding, to make a plan for immediate relief aid and possibly plan a development project for the future. We visited Chaclacayo, a district hit badly by the force of the huaicos
The Chaclacayo District is one of many regions in Peru affected by the huaicos.
The village of Brisas de California, in the hills of Chaclacayo, experienced flooding and mudslides taking out bridges throughout the village.
In Chaclacayo, people are lacking basic necessities like food, shelter, medicine and water. People in the valley experienced flash floods after surges of water hit the Rîmac River. The floods swept away homes, railroads and roads in it’s path.
Victims of the huaicos have been using tents as temporary shelter.
Those displaced by the huaicos have been seeking shelter in encampments of tents provided by the municipality of Lima. Guadelope, a resident of Chaclacayo, has been sleeping in a tent with her daughter since their home was flooded. When asked what she needed most, she responded with food.
With forecasts of more rain, the situation is expected to worsen bring more huaicos to the already vulnerable communities.
We have started a fundraising campaign to go directly to communities affected by the flooding. You can donate HERE. During times of natural disaster, direct donations can have the most impact because the money is going directly towards supplies for victims to start rebuilding their lives like food, water and medicine.
In Brisas de California, huaicos overwhelmed the waterway, eroding the banks and taking out bridges.
Sources:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-peru-floods-idUSKBN16O2V5
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-39318034
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/03/peru-suffers-worst-flooding-in-decades/520146/
Published in
Global Topics
March 16, 2017 4:38 pm
The Wall of Shame separating the rich and poor of Lima
Written by Sam RobersonIn the hills, high above the city center of Lima, Peru, sits the community of Nadine. One of Lima’s Pueblos Jovenes, or young towns, people began to settle in the area in 2012 and now there is an estimated 350 families living there.
Lima is surrounded by informal communities, like Nadine, without land titles and thus without recognition from the government and legal access to public electricity and water. However, Nadine sticks out as a dramatic example of the city’s stark divide between rich and poor because it sits along what has been dubbed the “Wall of Shameâ€.
The wall was built about 30 years ago by those living below in the wealthier area of Santiago de Surco to divide themselves and their poorer neighbors. The wall has been covered by Peruvian media as well as internationally. The dramatic view from the top works as an all too provocative visual metaphor to the divide between the rich and poor of Lima.
Living up in Nadine means no access access to a public water supply. Fabiola Rosales Bartolo, a resident who has lived in Nadine for 3 years says she pays around 200 soles, about $60 USD, a month for water for her family.
“We pay much more for water than people that live on the other side,†Bartolo said. “I have a baby and it lasts for a week, because I have to wash clothes, I have to cook.â€
Oxfam estimates that those living without access to SEDAPAL, Lima’s public water supply, pay up to 10 times as those with access, a case where it truly is expensive to be poor.
Life for residents in Nadine and communities like it reflects the informality of the town itself. Houses spring up on land not formally owned by those who live there. Water deliveries can be infrequent and unpredictable. Most residents make their money in an informal economy by selling goods and services on the streets.
In Nadine, this life is all lived with a view of the paved, tree lined streets of Lima’s wealthier districts. However, from below, you can only see a wall.
“Here we can to look at the other side to a comfortable life,†Bartolo said. “There is a big difference between the rich and the poor. The wall separates us from the people that have. More than anything it shows you the reality of our country,â€
Published in
Community Profiles
Dr. Genry Aguilar has been working as a doctor on mobile clinics with MEDLIFE for two years now. He practices medicine where he grew up, in the Andean city of Cusco, Peru.
Dr. Aguilar brings an infectious energy when he works mobile clinics. When talking with a patient, all parties are engaged, including volunteers. The conversations are in Spanish, apart from small asides in English to volunteers, yet volunteers are absorbed into Dr. Aguilar’s expressiveness and physicality when talking with patients.
When listening to a heartbeat, he will get volunteers on the stethoscope as well and have them listen for the murmurs and irregularities. Dr. Aguilar has found a way of caring for patients needs, while also teaching volunteers about the signs he’s looking for.
Dr Aguilar decided to work in Lima this week instead of his usual base of Cusco to see other sides of Peru.
We spoke with Genry Aguilar after a clinic about his experience working with MEDLIFE:
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am Genry, I am a doctor. This is my second time working with MEDLIFE. It is my first time working in a different place like Lima, I used to work in Cusco. For me, working in MEDLIFE has been a good experience, I have learned a lot. I have met a lot of people from different countries.
Why did you start working with MEDLIFE?
First, I have always the intention of helping those in need in any way possible. Medicine is a helping career. It is a career where we are here to resolve pain.
What value do the volunteers have in clinics?
They are very important, without them, these clinics wouldn’t be anything. They are youth with a great desire to help. It is indescribable, working with them, I have encountered a joy to help, to serve. To bear witness to the pain that often patients must endure alone, to make a child, or a person who is suffering smile. Health is the most important thing in life, along with education.
How does MEDLIFE work with the local system?
MEDLIFE works at the level of the ministry of health, the professionals are certified in this system at the same level as any Doctor that works in the Peruvian healthcare system.
What value do Mobile Clinics have for the communities?
This value, it’s not just an immediate value. The youth, who have come before, have left a big mark. When they see volunteers, the expect the best for them, from each one of them. Somone shows up, and the kids surround them. For sure, this is because of the impact of the positive impact of those who have come before. For you, it is a question of improving upon it. Make it better, so that this persists.
Published in
Service Learning Trips
Marangu is a lush green rural Tanzanian town tucked in the shadows of the mighty Mt. Kilimanjaro. MEDLIFE conducted clinics there in 2016. Many of the houses were very poorly constructed and offered little shelter from monsoons.
One particular case was brought to our attention when during a mobile clinic, an 84 year-old woman wrapped in colorful cloth came in named Elianasia, nicknamed Bibi, and asked us for help with her bathroom.
MEDLIFE staff followed her through the jungle to see her bathroom. It was hard for Elianasia to walk so far, her leg was causing her pain. She lived all alone, all of her children had gone seperate ways and were not caring for her. Her husband died tragically in 1962. When staff saw the rest of her house, they were surprised she was only asking for a bathroom.
Her kitchen was a fireplace sheltered by some wood poles and tattered rags, the bathroom was a hole in the ground covered by a small wooden board, which was being slowly devoured by ants and appeared it may collapse into the hole next time it was used. She did not have a room anywhere that could provide shelter from the rain. During monsoon season, she slept on a wet bed and tried to cook in the rain.
"I will be very happy if you can provide for me a house where I can stay," said Elianasia. "I am praying for you, so that god may bless you in everything that you do, thank you very much."
In 2017 the project was completed, thanks to a generous donation from Goodlife Travels.
MEDLIFE founder and CEO Nick Ellis, MEDprograms director Angie Vidal, and MEDLIFE Tanzania Director Neema Lyimo visited and found Bibi living happily in her new home.
Published in
Home Construction Projects
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