Visited the Orphanage Today and Set up the Medical Clinic......

We made it back to Lima and had some problems getting through customs but finally got to the hotel on the southern part of the city called Miraflores and we are in a hostel about two blocks from the Pacific Ocean.

Today we took our bus about an hour and a half to the north of Lima to an orphanage where we'll be setting up the clinic for this week. The orphanage is the work of one man and is a large complex spread out over a fairly large area and we'll be working in a building that's only partially finished but is already a basic medical clinic so we already have some equipment to work with and the facilities are better than the school where we worked last year in Piaura. We have four dentists, two medical doctors, two nurses, two physician's assistants and two pharmacists. For the first time we have a OBGYN which is kind of a big deal since many of the patients who come in are expecting or have just had babies and it's not unheard of that one or two deliveries may be made this week.

Although we're working in the orphanage, we will be mostly treating the surrounding villagers and this is an extremely impoverished area--most of these patients have had no medical services since this group was last here. I'll be working in the dental area this year and don't know for sure what I'll be doing yet.

After we set up today we got to take a tour of the orphanage--they prefer to call it a "community." There are about 650 children here aged from a few days old to teenagers. All have been abandoned, orphaned, rejected, mistreated or outright abused. I felt like we were violating their privacy by touring their dorms and dining hall and taking photos but they all just loved having their pictures taken and all clamored to be held and hugged.

As you can see from the top photo I made a new friend fast. The nursery was especially touching--how small babies could be abandoned is beyond me but they seem to be well cared for here. The orphanage is dirt-poor but here seem to be plenty of volunteers to take care of the children and they all seem happy. I said it last year and still believe it.....Peruvian children are the most beautiful children I've ever seen but it's kind of gut-wrenching to see what some people can do to small children. As much as I'd like to be optimistic, these children are abandoned in an impoverished country that provides few if any services for children and I'm afraid the future doesn't bode well for many of these kids, especially the girls.

Tomorrow we head out early for the first day. It'll be hectic in the morning but by afternoon we should be starting to operate smoothly and it should be a very rewarding week.