One of the boys in the Casa Girasoles really needed a dentist. He was scared.
The pandemic has made it very challenging to get in to see a dentist in Perú. However, things opened up last week and we were able to get him seen, not once, but THREE times! His teeth, well – they were bad.
Not anymore. We’ve got him all fixed up and we have a prevention plan in place.
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It is no secret, especially for those that know me – I love professional bike racing. I watch races from Europe a few times per week. It’s a passion.
Recently, however, I’m finding it harder and harder to watch the events. Races in France, Italy, Belgium, Spain – the crowds are a fraction of their pre-COVID numbers, but the fans showing up roadside – far too many aren’t wearing masks. It causes me great distress. I think about all the people who are impacted by what seems like a very personal decision. I think about Juan Diego.
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I had to mail a couple of packages the other day. It had been months since I was inside the postal annex store in our neighborhood. The owner, a dynamic, friendly person who knows every customer’s name, asked me how I was doing.
In what seems like a custom of our pandemic-era, we talked about the changes that are occurring and the ways we are, or are not, coping. We spoke about Health Bridges and our work and the pandemic’s impact in Latin America and SS Africa. At one point, the conversation – a short exchange – turned to the topic of the day, what will be the new normal?I’ve had this conversation a lot lately. I’ve had it with my family, friends, co-workers, and acquittances. The one thing that seems to come up in all of the discussions is a desire not to go back to the way things were. Over and over again, I have heard people say some version of – let’s not lose the pandemic lessons in our rush to retrieve some semblance of normal.
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.
On January 27th, the Peruvian government announced a new tiered approach to increased inmovilizaciones sociales obligatorias throughout the country. The new measures (see graphics above) will take effect on Sunday, 31 January and are scheduled to last until 14 February. What these measures will mean for the areas designated as “extreme level” is a return to many of the quarantine restrictions of early 2020. We are working with our team on the ground to appropriately plan with the communities and people we serve to have access to the food, medications, and resources they will need throughout the expanded quarantine. We will keep you posted to changes and updates.
The U.S. inaugurated a new president, and Perú finds itself struggling to come to terms with a second wave of COVID infections. In spite of a forecasted second wave of SARS-CoV-2 infections for past 3-4 months, Perú is in the midst of rapidly escalating cases and a faltering healthcare infrastructure. Starting on Tuesday, 19 January the union representing all the physicians working at EsSalud run hospitals and clinics are around Perú, announced that doctors will be going on a hunger strike to protest the lack of government investment in responding to the pandemic. Perú, like a number of other Latin American countries, were devastated by the first wave of the virus in early 2020. The second wave is forecasted to have equally damaging impact on communities and healthcare infrastructure. With much of the world moving toward the first phase of vaccination, Perú lags behind due to a number of complex issues. The Perú government is currently in negotiations to purchase 1 million doses from the Chinese pharmaceutical company, SinoPharm. Its hard to imagine these 1-million does will have much impact in a county of over 32-million with with expanding social, economic and infrastructure challenges.
I’ve been wrestling with writing this blog post. Wrestling because the last thing I ever want to do is misrepresent a child or harm their dignity. I am very sensitive to objectifying the lives of the children we are called to serve. This, however, is a story that must be told.
In many parts of the developing and middle income world, the impact from the pandemic has been completely devastating. It has prematurely ended lives, disrupted economies and forever altered societies. This is particularly true for families who – even before the great challenges of COVID – were barely finding the services and supports they needed.
Families living in the experience of poverty with a substance use disorder or mental health condition. Families living day-to-day with limited access to opportunity. Families without support. Many of these families now find themselves thrust into home schooling, scrapping together a meager income through day labor work, and struggling to feed and care for their children.
Through this breakdown – we are witnessing an increase in the number of abandoned children. We’re receiving increased requests to place children in our two Casa Girasoles homes. We’re seeing an increase in children experiencing abuse and violence. We are witnessing an unraveling of the social safety nets.
What now feels like a lifetime ago, January to be precise, I met a man in a small community in the high mountains outside of the Sacred Valley of Cusco. His case and life circumstances are complicated. I wrote a blog post about our encounter in February that captures a bit of the detail.
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