Hope
Here in North America, there is an ever so slight whisper of spring. Although we just survived an artic blast rarely seen, the promise of spring is apparent. It gives me hope.
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Here in North America, there is an ever so slight whisper of spring. Although we just survived an artic blast rarely seen, the promise of spring is apparent. It gives me hope.
Read more
Thank goodness for a 10 acre property.Official figures report more than 7,000 deaths in Perú during the last week. Conventional belief is there are many more deaths undercounted. For all intent and purposes, systems are beginning to fail: Oxygen is challenging to find and expensive, hospitals are at capacity, and people are overwhelmed.
We have never done a Go Fund Me project before. Heck, we’ve never been through a global pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic challenges in Perú are decimating the healthcare system in the country. We feel a compelling need to respond. We’re working with our medical and healthcare professional colleagues in Lima on a pilot project.
Check out our Go Fund Me project and learn more about our plans at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/per-oxygen-concentrator-response-project
As always, thank you for all your ongoing support.
I bet there are a lot of us who are closely tracking the COVID cases in Latin America. The reports coming out of Manaus (a city of over 2 million people in northwestern Brazil) are incomprehensible and altogether a clarion call to the rest of Latin America and the world. This backdrop makes what happen over the past two weeks even more otherworldly.
About two weeks ago, I received a call from a physician who has been a Health Bridges partner for several years. He called to ask if I knew how to get health equipment (PPE, oxygen, etc.) into Brazil. He was calling on behalf of his daughter, an academic anthropologist who runs a venerable climate and forest NGO (GCF Task Force) funded in part by Norway and which partners with the UN. Read more
Today, January 31, Perú re-enters a period of quarantine and inmovilizaciones sociales obligatorias. For the next two weeks, significant parts of the country will be under lock-down orders.
There will be nothing easy about these new restrictions. For many, the simple fact of their lives is this – theres is a need to be out-and-about to make the money they need to feed themselves and their families. For others, the struggle of the pandemic has pushed nerves to the point of breaking. For everyone, this will not be easy.
We mark our work in years and decades. This is a slow and steady approach to our work. It means that a lot of what we do can’t be measured in a single outcome. Instead, measuring the impact of our work requires a more integrated approach.
There are, however, those times when we can see some degree of immediate results. A few years back, we planted trees at the Casa Girasoles Kusi, outside of the community of Yungay in the central highlands of the province of Huaraz. With the help of a volunteer agronomist, we selected plants and trees that fit a high-altitude environment’s challenges. Over three days, we planted a bunch. Then we left. I always wondered what happened to the plants in the back of my mind, but things got busy, and I did not hear back from anyone. That was until a few days ago.
Wait. What? We just started 2021, and it’s already been a humdinger of a year.
Not two weeks into 2021, and we’ve already seen unimaginable increases in COVID cases and deaths, continue downward economic spiraling in many global economies, and a near coup in the United States. I guess 2021 isn’t going to be the year for getting back to normal like we were all hoping.
I think that’s a good thing.
On our weekly team call – the mood suddenly shifted as staff began to report the images streaming on their devices of the melee occurring in Washington, D.C. At one point, a team member shared their screen and scrolled through photos of the Capital’s insurrection.
Surreal? Oh my gosh, yesterday afternoon felt otherworldly. Perhaps what made it even more compelling was witnessing the events unfolding in the nation’s Capital with colleagues from Perú. Over the past 12+ hours, I have heard over and over again – “how is this possible in the United States?”
As one colleague said, “are you certain this isn’t happening in Perú?”
We’ve learned so much this year.
We’ve learned what it means to deliver direct supports to families and children living in underserved situations and stay focused on bigger systems level change. We’ve learned how to shift our efforts to maximize our ability to train healthcare professionals and maintain meaningful relationships. We’ve learned how to remain resolute on our goal to develop sustainable models to advance child empowerment and how to stay flexible in the face of great change.
A very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from the entire Health Bridges family.
Thank you so much for all the support in 2020. It has been a year like no other. Thanks to all of you, it has been a year when we have had the support to show many people they are cared for and honored in these challenging times.
Who knows what 2021 will bring. One thing is certain, we will be ready. Thanks in great part to all of you.
So this Holiday Season – may this be a time of friends, family, fun, and joy. Most of all – may this Holiday be a time when the world receives the peace and hope it so abundantly deserves.
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