.DB PERU
November 2007
We have just completed a very successful 2-week trip to the jungle the end of September and early October, which I want to share with you. We also have another trip planned early December. Since I will be traveling over the next few months, I will be delaying a year-end report, but would like to use this report to bring everyone up-to-date about our work on special projects. Since some people tell me that they have difficulty opening photos, I will be continuing to post photos on the web site. I beg your patience since I am slow using the web site software and am still in the learning phase.
We will be adding some Directors to the Board in January. If anyone is interested in serving in this capacity, please contact us. We will also be renewing our 501c3 status with the IRS in January – it has been 5 years already. Currently we are working on additional paperwork with the government of Peru for the NGO DB Peru (ONG) in Peru to change the slate of officers.
One of our greatest needs is in the area of fundraising. We would welcome any help or ideas you might have so that we may continue to work in the jungle.
And as always, we want to thank you for your interest, encouragement, and support with our work, and thank the volunteers who dedicate their time and money to help in our programs.
Diana Bowie, President
Renzo Peña, Vice President
JUNGLE TRIP SEPTEMBER 23 – OCTOBER 4, 2007
This trip stands out as a very special one. We had the pleasure and delight of having the company of Katie Seitz, M.D. and Amy Cook, M.D., both from Denver, CO, and Sally Dharmasaroj, R.N. from Bangkok, Thailand, who shared their talents, time and energy with us. We also had Gary Bowie, Melody Malloy and Ward Pace, all from Nashville, TN, join us for the first part of the trip. Our good friend and jungle guide, Raul Pettit from Iquitos, also came with us for a few days. As always Circo, our boatman, was with Renzo and me for the entire time – and who very well may be the most important person on the trip. Jessica Portocarrero, the nurse midwife from the Mazan clinic, came on her own time for 3 days and helped teach the midwife class.
The focus of this trip was medical treatment and evaluation in the villages, delivery of medicines, and a midwife class. In addition, we also visited the Hospital Apoyo in Iquitos with a donation of medicine, and were received with open arms and a tour of the nursery. We also investigated the cost and curriculum of several schools in Iquitos which provide medical technical training as pre-work for our scholarship project (See Special Projects below).
Medical Treatment and Evaluation - Over the course of 7 days in the jungle, we visited 8 villages as a medical team, seeing over 120 patients, most of which needed some kind of treatment/medicine. The work was done either in the school house or outside in the shade, with a setup of tables and chairs. It was hard, hot work in less than adequate conditions for examining patients. In addition, we had a good supply of medicines, but not always what was ideally needed for the patients. The doctors made due with the best that we had. We had a collection of medicines in 3 languages, some that we purchased in Peru, medicine that Amy and Katie brought from US, and medicine that Sally brought from Thailand. Katie’s medicines were donated by the St. Joseph Foundation in Denver - $174.
While Katie, Amy and Sally saw patients (all three spoke Spanish), I triaged the patients with a brief history, checked blood pressures and some blood sugars. Renzo did some interpreting and took photos. The medical problems consisted of what might be expected in any clinic – infections of all sorts, skin rashes, bronchitis, asthma, back pain, headaches, sciatica, arthritis, fever, stomach pain, toothaches, colds, coughs, worms, eye problems, etc. There was an outbreak of chicken pox in one village which worried me since they should have had vaccinations.
A few interesting cases were:
*A small child with a large abscess on her chest. Since our conditions were not too clean, we paid a local man to take this child in his little boat to the doctor in the Orellana clinic to get the abscess drained.
*One child with a food allergy that was causing rather nasty skin rashes - we referred her to Mazan for follow-up.
*One man had a diagnosed heart problem and was doing fine. We bought 2 months supply of medicine for him when we returned to Iquitos, which was sent on a boat to him the next day.
*Another child with skin rashes on her legs below the knee. Her legs were quite dirty so Amy started by washing them gently with soap, then applying antibiotic cream with dressings from the foot to knee on both legs. The rash stopped at the knee and we didn’t know the exact nature of the cause.
*A woman with fevers for 4 months who we hoped would go to Mazan for malaria testing.
We transported 4 patients and their families in our boat back to Iquitos – which made quite a full boat of 16 people. Each family was given enough money for their time in Iquitos and money for transport back to their villages.
One boy was Baby Roldan (see Special Projects below). Two children were going to see the orthopedic surgeon who was visiting Iquitos with the Centura Medical Team from Denver, CO. One was a 3 year old child, Jajaru, who was not walking yet. The other was 8 year old Glaser, who had fallen on a bottle one year ago and had healed with a limp.
The older man that we transported, Antonio, 68 years old, had developed Parkinson’s disease 3 years ago, but has had no treatment. We took him to the private Ana Stahl clinic and paid for his evaluation by the neurologist, his medicine, and left him with enough money for a follow-up visit in 30 days. He won our hearts over, with his sweet disposition. He showed up at the boat ready to go to the city with no shoes. Amy gave him her flip-flops, and Katie bought him some tennis shoes in the city. Later when Amy was reviewing her photos, she saw one of him in the village with shoes on. Why he didn’t have them to go to Iquitos, we don’t know, but he got a new pair of shoes out of the deal.
Footnote #1: Centura sent another medical team to the Napo River in November and followed up with a list of patients that I sent them. They shared their findings with me when I met with them this week. They too have a new list of patients for me to follow up with when we go in December. Although this isn’t ideal, it does make for a loose system of checking on people who might be having ongoing problems. Centura is new to the Napo River area, so we are going to try to coordinate our efforts for the following year. We are excited about the possibilities.
Footnote #2: The ophthalmologist who was going to do the free cataract surgeries has left Iquitos for another assignment and the charity is closed. We will continue to look for other surgeons to help with the people who we know need surgery – especially for the 11 patients with cataracts and the 3 with hernias.
Delivery of Medicine – We delivered a 3-4 month supply of medicines and supplies to 10 villages – approx. 2000 people. In 3 villages, I found a few out of date medicines in their medicine cabinets, so I removed them and took them to the hospital for disposal.
Due to our continuing problems with Customs and shipping from the US, for the first time we worked with the Minister of Health in obtaining low cost medicine. With money that Amy collected as donations, we purchased this amount of medicine for $435:
Tylenol suspension – 200 bottles
Ibuprofen suspension – 200 bottles
Tylenol – 2000 capsules
Ibuprofen – 2000 tablets
Nitrofuratoin – 3000 tablets (antibiotic)
Amoxicillin suspension – 200 bottles
Amoxicillin – 4000 tablets
Cortisone cream – 10 tubes
Antibiotic cream – 10 tubes
Metronidazole – 2000 tablets (antibiotic)
Ketoconazole – 100 tablets (antifungal)
Alcohol, iodine, gauze and tape
Midwife Class - Amy, Katie and Jessica conducted a 2-day seminar for the midwives in the Napo River area held in the village of San Alejandro. There were 16 people in attendance, half of them new to being a midwife. This was quite important because in the past, we have been concerned about having trained people available to attend the births. We did have one 13 year old boy who asked to attend because he wanted to be a “health promotor”. We were so impressed by his enthusiasm, and frankly, his fairly professional attitude, that we said of course he could attend if it was OK with the village. He did stay and kept up with the class.
We also had the advantage of having very seasoned midwives attend, who addressed the class about their experiences and shared their knowledge. Some had 20-30 years experience, which I would say qualifies them quite well.
This was our first attempt at conducting a seminar in a village, and not at the clinics. I was pleased with the response of the village, and I am sure that the midwives felt more at home in a village than in the town of Mazan. Most of them were able to return to their homes at night since they lived close by.
Before leaving for the jungle, Amy, Katie and I went on a quick shopping trip in Iquitos to assemble the supplies needed for the class, including a nice flexible baby doll. Then one evening at the lodge, Amy and Katie went about the task of building a vagina out of a cardboard box, tape and markers, although all we heard was a lot of laughter coming from their room. However they did a great job, and the makeshift teaching tool was quite effective in demonstrating the delivery of the baby. Katie would guide the baby and push it through the “vagina” as the midwives would practice the delivery of the baby, turning it at the right time. Then they practiced cutting the cord “of braided cord” and putting the baby to the breast.
Katie developed the curriculum, which covered the subjects of:
Diagnosis of pregnancy – measuring
Due date
Nutrition
Rest/Work/Weight carrying
Prenatal check-ups
Hygiene
No alcohol
Avoid kids with rashes
Pesticides/chemicals
Vitamins
Anemia
Bleeding
Preterm labor
Urinary tract infections
Sexually transmitted infections
Nausea/vomiting
Heartburn
Swelling
Discharge
Dysuria
Fever
Medicines
Preeclampsia
PPROM/PROM
Severe pain
Severe bleeding
Ectopic pregnancy
Preterm less than 3 months
Sally and I put together supply packages to be given to each midwife at the end of the class, consisting of a basin, sterile and non-sterile gloves, disposable umbilical clamps, iodine, alcohol, scissors, clamps, string to tie the cord, sterile and non-sterile pads, razors, measuring tape, suction bulb, sanitary pads, baby clothes, etc.
While Renzo assisted with taking photos and some Spanish interpreting, and I busied myself with tasks of refreshments, certificates, etc, Sally set about preparing meals for the group with 4 people from the village. They worked very hard with an open wood fire, fixing fresh chickens and rice with special Thai spices that Sally brought with her. Everyone loved the food.
The cost of this seminar was paid for with a grant from Miracles In Action - $800. Amy also contributed $145 from donations to the cost of the supplies given out to the midwives and used in the class.
We want to extend a special thank you to Katie Seitz, Amy Cook, Sally Dharmasaroj, Raul Pettit, Jessica Portocarrero, Gary Bowie, Melody Malloy, Ward Pace, and Circo for their help on this trip, and Karen Johnson for the use of her home for Sally.
We particularly want to thank the donors who help make the jungle mission a reality:
July 1, 2007 – November 15, 2007
First Christian Church – Geary OK - $2000
Cindi Anderson - $1000
Amy Walker - $400
Janelle Wissler - $500
Ida Mae Walker - $5
Gerry and Christie Bowie - $50
SPECIAL PROJECTS
All projects are open to donations
Ciudad de Los Niños – This orphanage is 1 hour outside of Lima with approx. 450 boys. This is a project of the Miracles In Action charity, where we have been involved with setting up an automotive repair shop to teach the boys how to repair and maintain cars. Renzo Peña has overseen this 4 month project, which has involved buying and installing equipment, setting up the garage, hiring a teacher, and keeping lines of communication open with the priests, Padre Carlos and Hermano Carlos, who oversee the home. The program is currently up and running, with a commitment from Miracles In Action to stay involved for a year to assure that the program will be successful. At this point I will stay with this project to manage the money and trouble-shoot any problems. Monies to date: $17,600.
Caritas Felices – This is a home for sexually abused girls that have been removed from their homes by the courts. It also is about an hour outside Lima and houses approx. 50-60 girls. The program is run by a nun, Hermana Rita, although there is no support from the Catholic Church and very little from the government of Peru. During a recent visit, we learned that the girls were being made fun of at school for living in this home of “marked” girls.
Gary Bowie and Ward Pace from Nashville made a commitment to build a four-room school on the premises. Renzo is overseeing the project, which started about a month ago. A contractor and 4 men were hired to complete the school in approx 3 months. Currently the land has been excavated, and iron rodding laid, with materials delivered and prepared for the cement flooring and blocks. We anticipate completion by February, ready for the girls when they start school again in March. Gary and Ward will visit the end of February for a dedication ceremony of the school. Commitment to date: $23,300.
Earthquake area – The August 15 earthquake of 8.0 magnitude left the areas approx 3-4 hours south of Lima in devastation. Many people responded to us with donations of cash, food, and clothing. Heart to Heart International sent $2500 earmarked for medicine and medical supplies, as well as 2 boxes with medicines and medical equipment, worth approx. $7,000.
So far, we have made 4 trips to this area by car, delivering food and hygiene products. We made contacts with the hospitals in Pisco and Chincha, as well as the smaller clinics in the area. Their needs are mainly for replacement equipment and supplies which were destroyed in the earthquake. They have enough doctors and medicines. On the last trip, we delivered enough instruments and medical supplies to operate a small clinic in Chincha Alta. They also gave us a list of other smaller clinics in a 60 mile radius so we will continue to deliver these kinds of supplies to a new clinic on every subsequent visit.
As with any disaster, the stories of the people tear at your heart strings, and rarely are there easy answers in rebuilding lives. The settlement where we have delivered most of the food, Tambo de Moro, has approx 400 people from a village that was close to the ocean. This land was covered with sea water for many weeks, making it inhabitable and unable to support the growth of food. The entire village relocated several miles away in makeshift shacks, but now the owner wants them off his land, as he wants to sell it. Where they will go and what they will do, I do not know.
Cash donations of $7,025 – Remaining $3,765
Amazon Women Sewing Machine Project – With a $600 grant from Miracles In Action and the fundraising work of Donna Tish, we have purchased 20 Singer sewing machines for the 3 year program to teach sewing skills to women in Orellana, a jungle village in the Amazon. The machines are both pedal and electric – Orellana being one of the few villages with electricity, approx 5 hours in the evening. The government of Peru employs the teacher, but the program has no sewing machines. Donna would like to give each woman her own machine to use while in the program. And then if she graduates, the woman will be able to keep the machine. If a woman does not finish, then the machine will go back into the program. Donna feels that this incentive will help the women be successful in the school and allow them to continue their newly-acquired skills after graduation.
Currently the machines are in air cargo, being shipped to Iquitos. Together with Donna, we will be delivering the machines on our next jungle trip early December.
Cash donations of $3,205 – Remaining $539
Norma Louise Stainsby Memorial Scholarship Fund – My dear aunt Norma recently died and the family has decided to develop a scholarship fund in her honor. Norma was a RN, who taught nursing and also shared her knowledge and skills in the Peace Corp in Africa.
There will be separate Advisory Board from DB Peru for this project, consisting of her nephew Larry Connell, her husband, Don Stainsby, M.D. and myself. We will start by sponsoring a promising young person from the jungle for medical technical training. This initiative will be communicated to the jungle villages on our December trip in order for them to prepare a list of applicants to be considered.
Cash donations and commitment - $1,450
Baby Roldan – Baby Roldan is now 2 years old. He is the child from the village of Centro Unido needing cardiac surgery from a congenital birth defect. Through help from donations earlier this year, we brought Roldan to Lima for evaluation in April. He was asked to return to his home to await availability of the hospital. We are still waiting. On our September jungle trip, we took him back to Hospital Regional in Iquitos for reevaluation, and they sent him home again to wait. Last week a medical team from Centura Health System in Denver visited Centro Unido and looked in on Roldan at my request. The doctor found that he is compensating with his clubbing of fingers, and wondered why he hadn’t had surgery yet. The answer is that we must work through the health system of Peru for the payment of this surgery. We may find someone to do this surgery, but there remains the cost of the hospital and supplies. So we will continue to monitor him and take him to Iquitos for reevaluation each visit.
He did start to walk 2 months ago, although he is still very little and not active.
Cash donations - $1,730 – Remaining $557 (If this money is not used for Baby Roldan, then the donors will be contacted for refunds)
Dental Project – In anticipation of doing our ongoing dental classes for the children – adults too – we have started collecting toothbrushes again with Mari Villavicencio and Pam Probst. In addition to toothbrushes, we have asked for the chewable tablets used to stain areas in the mouth where tooth brushing has missed. I felt this might change the teaching program for the children by having them brush their teeth, then chew the tablets to see where they are missing, then brush again. Knowing children, they will probably love this activity and it will also help them learn how to brush more effectively. If anyone can help with collecting the tablets, we would appreciate it. They can simply be sent to DB Peru, 822 Neuse Ave, Fort Myers, FL 33931.
We would like to have 1000 tablets.
Radio Project – Through the fundraising efforts by Peg Meyer, she has collected enough money to buy another radio, solar panel, antenna and battery to be installed in another village. This will be our 4th radio to be installed in the lower Napo River region. We will target one of the more remote villages, and discuss proper housing for the equipment with the village leaders on our trip in December. We will target installation for the spring trip. Cash donation commitment - $1,700.
Villa Martha – This home is also an orphanage, about one hour outside Lima, run by the most delightful man named Roberto. This Miracles In Action project was dedicated to building a bakery at the home for the children to learn to bake. Our assistance was needed only to receive the money, deliver it to Roberto and collect receipts. The bakery was just completed and the program up and running with photos of the children making bread. Cash donation - $4,600. This project is complete.
