Aldea Infantil "San Francisco de Asis"

(Due to time constraints, this entry has been typed in English.)

"Aldea Infantil" translates to "Children's Village" in English. The whole name means, Children's Village St. Francis of Assisi. The principal religion in Peru is Catholicism, so it makes sense that many of the buildings would be named after saints or have a Catholic reference.

Throughout our stay in Huancavelica, the HMM student volunteers and I went to the orphanage, Aldea Infantil, nearly everyday to plan fun activities for the kids, teach them the benefits of sanitation and maintaining personal hygiene, and help them with their homework in English. My project at the orphanage was to give each child a new pair of shoes; I'll talk more about that later on!

Here are pictures of the front lawn right when you enter the orphanage:

That small green building is actually an auditorium, and that's where we held the majority of our activities for the kids. Here is a picture inside "el auditorio":

During our first day at the orphanage, we already did a couple of fun activities with the kids! The first thing we did was have everyone form a circle and introduce themselves:

When it was Little Mike's turn, all of the kids were staring right at him with their eyes wide since "Little" Mike stands more than 6 feet tall (or at least it seems like it!). Peruvians are generally short and slim, so it was funny to see everyone's reaction to Mike:

Our next activity with the kids was to have everyone create their own name tag (student volunteers included) -- it was a fun activity and at least we got to take pictures of each kid holding their own name tag:

After that, we spent the rest of the day getting to know the kids and looking around the orphanage.

Here's a picture of me and Maria, the first kid I made friends with at the orphanage:

An interesting thing to note is that many of these kids don't have digital cameras, haven't seen a digital camera, and thus haven't taken many photos with a digital camera. So as you can probably tell, many of the kids were interested in taking their own pictures with my camera and seeing the images after:

While touring the orphanage, I noticed that Maria stopped to get water from what looked like a fountain. Little did I know that she would actually drink water from a small hole that had water just barely trickling down from it:

Later, she removed a big ball of trash from the bottom of the fountain; this ball of trash ended up being a plug to drain the water in one side of the fountain to the other:

This was a bit shocking to watch -- I've never seen anything like that before! But, also surprising to me was the bathroom:

The faucets and toilets seemed to be in fairly good condition, and I was even more surprised at how clean everything was! In general, the buildings in the orphanage weren't in bad shape at all, and there were a few classrooms, too:

And for some reason, I always thought the orphanage was going to be a lot smaller, but there was just more and more stuff to see. For example, there was a cuy farm! "Cuy" means "guinea pig" in English. The orphanage had its own cuy farm, meaning they breed their own guinea pigs to eat later. Luckily, the team and I got to check out this farm, and we saw as Sirvio caught one with ease:

I thought it'd be easy to catch them, but they're pretty quick! It took me a little more than 2 minutes to catch just one, even though Sirvio caught one in mere seconds. Here's my picture with the cuy I caught:

Isn't it cute?

Angelica, one of the "moms" at the orphanage, was taking care of one of the youngest kids at Aldea. I noticed she carried him on her back using a large cloth. I wanted to try holding the baby on my back, too, since I always see the older women in Peru carrying their children in this way:

Isn't that amazing? I think I may have been holding on a bit too tightly, though, because the baby started to cry. After giving the baby back to Angelica, the team and I continued touring the place. All around, there are great views of the surrounding mountains:

It's unreal. How often do you see mountain tops just looming around, everywhere you walk? Also, there was still more to see:

They've got their own greenhouse! I'm not exactly sure if they use it to grow their own vegetables to eat, but if they breed their own cuy then I'm pretty sure they grow their own veggies. Afterwards, we decided to just have some fun:

(One of my favorite photos of the hombres!)

(Seesaw with T.C.!)

(We love the slide.)

And here are even more pictures of the orphanage:

(So many stray dogs just wandering around in Huancavelica!)

The children were so fun to be around -- it was such a joy volunteering at the orphanage and getting to meet the kids. There's a total of about 38 kids ranging from ages 1 to 17 years old, with some who go to school in the morning, and others who go to school in the afternoon. Our team would visit the orphanage in the afternoon, so we wouldn't always get to see everyone all at once, but it was still just as fun! In general, the kids had a huge desire to learn English, and to just play and be around new faces. They were always interested in what activities we had for them, and they were well-behaved, too! It definitely was tough having to say "ciao."

I'm going to post more about our adventures and activities at Aldea in later entries!

Cuidado de La Salud en Huancavelica

(Due to time constraints, this entry has been typed in English.)

There are two hospitals in Huancavelica: El Hospital de MINSA and El Hospital de EsSalud. The main hospital that the PAMS volunteers worked at was El Hospital de MINSA. The word MINSA is short for "Ministerio de Salud". From my understanding, MINSA provides health services to the people in Huancavelica and other regions of Peru, provided they fill out the necessary paperwork and they have health insurance with either SIS or EsSalud. I will explain more about the healthcare system in Peru later in this post.

OUTSIDE OF THE HOSPITAL:

As you can see, the outside of the hospital consisted of tents for patient consultations on a number of departments, depending on the specialties of the HMM doctors/health professionals. The tents had nothing but a desk, a chair, and a small gurney for patient assessments and examinations. Unfortunately, the tents were also at the mercy of Huancavelica's climate; some days, the tents were extremely hot, other days there would be so much wind that the tents would start to topple over, and a few times there would even be rain. Still, I found the tents to be extremely effective for our workshops, and at nighttime there was even a light bulb attached at the top of each tent to supply light.

INSIDE OF THE HOSPITAL:

(This room could fit about 6 patients!)

Contrary to the tents outside, the inside of the hospital was consistently cold. And though the pictures may make the hospital appear larger in size, in reality it was quite small. Still, there were a number of departments and services available for patients as seen on this board:

I was amazed to see all the services that the hospital could provide, though the downfall is that many patients (waiting as early as 8am) had to stay in line for triage to have their vitals checked, papers filled, and be referred to another department in the hospital.

Here's a picture of all the patients waiting bright and early in line:

If you notice the sign on the first picture above, there is an acronym that says "SIS". SIS stands for Seguro Integral de Salud, and was a system established in 2002 to offer free healthcare to Peruvian citizens. Of course, even with the free healthcare services, residents still had to consider costs for traveling and medications. With these costs, not all patients could have access to healthcare.

On the other hand, EsSalud is another way that Peruvian citizens gain access to healthcare. EsSalud is short for El Seguro Social de Salud del Perú -- it acts as a social health insurance system that does require payment. There was a triage tent for EsSalud that stood in Hospital MINSA:

Patients who line up at this tent do have insurance for EsSalud, and thus access to other services. It's difficult to determine whether or not the services had higher quality or less of a wait time, but from several conversations and general understanding, the patients with EsSalud may have had equal or better quality of their services (compared to SIS), plus less paperwork to fill out. But, as you can imagine, only a few patients had EsSalud; the vast majority had SIS.

It was very interesting to see healthcare in action while in another country, especially one with such pressing issues in health. Of note, here are some interesting facts about rural poverty in Peru (thanks to T.C. for the facts!):

Rural Poverty in Peru: 

• Peru has one of the highest economic growth rates in the world, but 35% of people live below the poverty line.
• Poverty in Peru is deepest in remote rural areas
• Nearly 9/10 rural poor people are in the arid Andean highlands, where they produce basic food crops at a subsistence level.

—The 5 poorest states in Peru (in comparison to Lima’s 3%):

• Huancavelica (74%)
• Huánuco (61%)
• Cusco (49%)
• Cajamarca (50.8%)
• Apurimac (47%)

What does this have to do with health? Take those stats into consideration, and then consider the fact that, because a large portion of Huancavelica residents live in poverty or below the poverty line, many are uneducated and perhaps unaware of the preventable diseases and ailments they contract. In a nutshell, these diseases and conditions include:

• Parasites
• Rabies
• Food-borne and water-borne illnesses
• Sun burns and scars
• Childhood malnutrition
• Tuberculosis
• Vitamin and iron deficiency

So what are the health needs of the residents of Huancavelica?
Education, education, education.

The HMM student volunteers and I thus implemented several workshops at the hospitals and orphanage to educate the residents about the importance of hand washing, sanitation, sun burns, and fire safety. I'll be posting another blog about the workshops later on.

Overall, the solution for healthcare is difficult in a country with few resources and the majority of people in poverty or below the poverty line. Being at the different hospitals in Peru and seeing the healthcare system in action there was definitely a big surprise, too, just because it reminded me of the healthcare system in the USA: you may have to wait a long while before you get seen by any doctor, and when you do get seen, you may or may not get the treatment/medication you need, and there are certain hidden costs that aren't exactly presented to you until later on.

In other words, it's tough. There is no perfect healthcare system, but at least Peru is on its way to improving their healthcare, especially with the establishment of SIS.

More entries to come!

• Aldea Infantil "San Francisco de Asis"
• La Comida de Huancavelica
• Nuestros Talleres de Educación para La Salud

Bienvenidos a Huancavelica, Perú!

(Due to time constraints, this entry has been typed in English.)

Huancavelica is a tiny Peruvian city lodged about 12,000 ft above sea level, enclosed by the Andes mountains. The roads are bumpy, the buildings worn out, yet the city's rich background lies in its vivid architecture; churches and colonial buildings remain standing as a sign of the city's lucrative mining history.

(Photo taken by Mike Larremore)

The Peruvian American Medical Society (PAMS) volunteers and I stayed at the city's finest hotel, the Hotel Presidente. The exterior has a unique historic feel, with its brick walls and tiny balconies. It's a rather small hotel, which makes the interior undeniably homey and comfortable, especially with hot coca tea available anytime at the front door.

My roommate T.C. and I had our room (unfortunately) located on the third floor. I never gave much thought about how exactly the altitude would affect me, but at least for the first week I was in the city, climbing up two flights of stairs felt like running a slow mile.

The first few days in Huancavelica were used to get familiar with the city, the hospitals, the orphanage, and perhaps most importantly, the altitude. A few friends had to stay inside for some time, combating the fatigue, headaches, and other symptoms that had come as a result of the elevation. Luckily, I didn't have to stay inside for any altitude sickness, but it did take about a week to completely adjust to the high elevation; meaning, it took about a week to adjust my breathing and not be so exhausted while climbing up the stairs.

THE CITY OF HUANCAVELICA:

I never would've imagined living in a city spread high in the mountains! The views were unreal and the skies were always beautiful. Huancavelica is a big change from the city life, that's for sure, and I'm glad I was able to at least familiarize myself with such a different lifestyle.

THE HOSPITALS:
Hospital Ministerio de Salud -- MINSA
Hospital del Seguro Social de Salud del Perú -- EsSalud

THE ORPHANAGE:
Aldea Infantil "San Francisco de Asis"

There will be separate posts to talk about the hospitals, the orphanage, etc. Truthfully, I am already back home in Orange County; I arrived in LAX last Saturday night. Still, there's so much to write about! I haven't had much time to blog while I was actually in Peru due to a number of reasons, but I will make as much time as possible to write everything I can!

As an aside, I'm also working on a YouTube page to upload all the videos I took during the trip! I've got a few videos up already, but there are many more to come!