Our first few days

August 15, 2010:

Our first official day started when we jumped into a Toyota truck with all our stuff and headed towards Campo Verde.

We had no idea who would be picking us up. So I told Rachel that maybe the best thing to do was stand by the entrance with our carts full of luggage. Maybe then we would stand out as lost volunteers. It worked. Doctor Matthew asked us if we were volunteers, we said yes and off we went. As we sped past motorcycles and moto-carros Dr. Matthew honked to let others know he was coming through. So I think ha ha. Heading to our destination my mind was filled with 1,000 questions. Will we get to shower or be able to sleep (we were beyond exhausted). Are there other volunteers already here? When do we start working? And so on…

The funny thing is that it was in that truck on my way to Kilometro 38 (home base)that it hit me. Holy cow, I was going to be far from home for 9 months in a world so unlike mine. I was speechless. All I could to contain myself from bursting into tears was remind myself why I had chosen to do this. I want to serve God in such a manner that can never be forgotten. I want to learn from others and see things through their eyes. I want to have an experience of a lifetime.

For what seemed like a long time I could only observe the cyclists and pedestrians on their ways in total darkness. I was shocked at the fact of all the people traveling on the side of the road with no light except for the brief seconds of headlights passing by. Dr. Matthew broke the silence by asking us what our positions would be. We told him and so the friendship began. He gave us a brief description of our duties and many encouraging words. It was awesome to know that he believed in us from the get-go.

As we arrived we were greeted by a wonderful surprise. At my door was an energetic and scrawny mutt. His name I later found out is Centurion. We were taken to our house and chatted for a little with one of the volunteers. When we got into our room we unpacked our therma-rests and conked out. Five hours later we woke up and showered, and headed to our neighbors (the other two girl volunteers) for breakfast. They made us fantastic omelets with beans and bread. Through out the day we cleaned our house, unpacked, took pictures and video, and napped. Later that afternoon we were able to meet and bond with the children here. Their names are: Jared (a girl), Juliana, Lucas, Alex, and John Pierre. Then I celebrated my first baby shower with everyone here and was a lot of fun.

Overall, we met some really nice volunteers (Cindy and Bernie), made ourselves at homes, and bonded with the people of Kilometro 38. I still don’t have expectations for what’s coming next, but I’m super excited to find out. I just pray that God will keep me excited even through the tough times.

August 16, 2010:

So today we got the chance to go into town and check things out. Our good friend Bernie gave us a tour of the bakery, food market, plaza, and the internet place. The depressing part about the internet was that it was EXTREMELY slow, oh well. We then went back to home base and had lunch. After eating Cindy talked to us about our new project – kilometro 21. It’s a small community consisting of about 20 families. This community is literally sitting on a pile of trash. They chose to live in this dump because it’s easier for them to collect trash to recycle. Looking at the pictures was so shocking. We plan to visit this site on Wednesday. So I hope to blog more about it later on. Cindy also showed us the pharmacy and we started our first mission. Inventory. Let me tell you, counting meds and keeping record of it is not as easy as it sounds. We worked on the antibiotics alone for three hours. We still have a ways to go, but I guess we will be here for nine months to figure out the most efficient way to do it.

We finished our evening with some massages and pedicure. It was very nice J Tomorrow we head out to Pucallpa to run errands, so I’m very excited about it!

August 17, 2010:

Pucallpa!! Busy, packed, and so much to see. Thanks to our friend Cindy, we were able to get a small tour of different things through out the city. We went to the pharmacy, Los Andes (a grocery store with American products), the Peruvian ABC, an awesome vegetarian restaurant, and so much more. These first few days have been great! We’re mainly working on familiarizing ourselves with where everything is at, what is expected in a day, how the pharmacy goes, and getting to know the locals and the staff. It’s a little bit overwhelming, but I’m sure when we get the groove of things it’ll be much better. Right now, I can’t wait for the rest of the volunteers to arrive. Cause right now it’s just me and Rachel along with the other two volunteers who will be leaving shortly. I’m super EXCITED to meet the rest of the team!