Sunday May 16

Sunday May 16, 2010
Ah a morning off to recover from yesterday’s marathon clinic day. I didn’t get up until 7:00 and was looking forward to a rest and walk across the street to the Artisan Market which is only open during the daylight hours. Just a few students went to church and two walked to church twice but found no one there and bagged the whole thing. We worked a bit on checking supplies and planning for the week. I ordered the ice cream for the event we planned at Poppy’s house in the afternoon and was amazed at the cost. Four gallons to feed about 40 people cost $140 Soles ($50) plus about $15 for cones. Just as I finished sending Moises to buy the ice cream the family who lives at the jungle camp arrived with their children. The youngest child had several large abcesses on her scalp and other parts of her body. We see these here a lot in little children but the one on her scalp was very large. Sue examined it and decided it really needed to be drained so while she was looking at the rest of the family several students and myself located the supplies so she could drain it. We borrowed Lidocaine and scalpels from the dental box and the rest from the medical supplies. We were working in a storeroom with terrible light and no airconditioning or ventilation. The best light was in the room where we store meds (the pharmacy) but that morning it bore more resemblance to a sauna.. We gathered some headlamps so Sue could see to work, put the mom in a plastic chair holding the child who was 15 months. The baby was pretty quiet until Sue started injecting the Lidocaine and she got more agitated and screaming from there on. The abcess was difficult to drain and seemed to have several pockets, getting it open on a screaming squirming child added to the difficulties. In addition we were all sweating so much we could hardly see what we were doing. After about 20 minutes Sue finally felt she had gotten all the pus out she could. She ordered antibiotics and we taught the mother how to care for the wound. After the rest of the family was treated for minor problems they were off in the motor car for downtown and the ride back up river. The morning was gone, lunch was nearly ready and we had planned to debrief the clinic from the day before, preview the activities at Poppy’s house for the afternoon, and go to the zoo. So much for our rest day.
The debrief was very helpful. The students had some excellent suggestions and we were also able to determine an approximate number of groups of people we could see. The translators give out numbers to the people waiting but each “family” group gets a number so when we give out 50 tickets that probably means 200 people, most have minor problems but we do an enormous amount of health teaching which is not done by the medical groups. The translators are more accustomed to the medical groups so they want to try to make us hurry up and see more people.
After lunch we loaded up the buses to go to the zoo. I planned to take my book and sit on the beach and read but that’s not what I did. By the time I visited all the animals I really like – that would be all the cats, the alligators, monkeys, and the birds. I also had to watch the students handling the anaconda – it’s so much fun because they expect it to be slimy and it’s smooth and dry and heavier than they expect. The beach was packed – I don’t know when I’ve seen so many people in the water here. Very soon it was time to go off to Poppy’s house.
Poppy’s house the living center for young girls who have been living on the streets or whose home situations are abusive. Currently there are 9 girls and three children. The girls range in age from 8-22. The moms have single rooms and the girls without children are paired up in rooms. They all go to school, have study hall in the afternoons, and are required to assist with running the facility by helping to cook, wash up, maintain the grounds and etc. Once they finish their schooling they are transitioned to work or university. The compound is quite large with a pond, fruit trees, a play yard with a large play fort with a slide and climbing ladder and platforms with hammocks. There is also a kitchen, dining room, parlor area that is used for group activities including study hall. An interesting innovation is that one of the staff goes to school with the children and the consequence is that education for all the children at the school has improved because the teachers and the children are held accountable. We planned to do pedicures, manicures, and massage for the girls and developmental testing for the small children. In addition a woman who lives in the community had a stand selling “hamburgeusas” and chifa (chifa is a rice and chicken dish that is so popular with Peruvians there seems to be a Chifa store on every corner). She was initially supported by a microloan from People of Peru so we decided to support her business and we paid for chifa or burgers for all of the residents and staff of Poppy’s house. She was setting up to cook when we arrived so one of the staff took us on a tour of the community of Santo Tomas which is where Poppy’s house is located. This is an interesting community. The main street contains many small tiendas selling produce, dry goods and other “corner store” items. On the road behind the main street to the east is a tributary of the Nanay river and there are some rather large and very beautiful homes that are owned by people who come for weekends and holidays. According to our guide the owners are mostly military folks. On this road we saw more cars than anywhere else in the Iquitos area including one restored 65 Mustang and Willy’s jeep both owned by the same family who also had a several large boats. One of the side streets contains the homes of a number of artists some carve wood others paint. One of the houses has a large workshop where the artist makes large numbers of carvings that are sold to tourists. He carves them and another person in the village paints them. Right now he is working on butterflies.
When we returned to Poppy’s house the hamburger lady had her grills and oil hot and she was cooking. The chifa that most of the Peruvians ordered was quick. The “burgers” took more time. The burgers which really tasted wonderful were more like French fry burgers than hamburgers. She cooked a paper thin slice of meat (who knows what kind someone said it was lunch meat) with a layer of excellent French fries topped with watered down ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise with cabbage and tomatoes on a hamburger bun all for 2 soles or $0.60 each. They were surprisingly tasty – so much so that we are ordering them for the mental hospital. The students who supported us by collecting money can feel good that we not only provided a special treat to folks who seldom get one but we are supporting a local women operated business.
After the residents ate dinner and while some of the hamburgeusas were being cooked, the students began doing chair massages, pedicures and manicures for all the girls living at Poppy’s plus most of the staff. The girls had never had pedicures or massages and they loved every minute of this unexpected pleasure. The staff was also in seventh heaven. (see photos). A few students worked with Sue to do developmental testing which seemed to provide a source of laughter as well as of fun.
Afterwards we served ice cream which was a tremendous treat for the girls and the staff. We had four kinds – strawberry, chocolate, chocolate chip, and chocolate brownie. Everyone got big dishes and they savored every bite. I know everyone at Poppy’s house went to bed happy. And we the students and faculty were grateful to the WSU Peer advisors who raised the money so we could do this.