Blog from Arequipa through the eyes of Dorothy Zerbe

Written by Dorothy April 15, 2010
 
I'll be leaving for Peru tomorrow (Friday) - we're driving down to Chicago to stay in an airport hotel so it's quicker to make our plane on Saturday morning.  The first week I'm there will be with Health Bridges International, working at a Catholic mission set up in Alto Cayma, Arequipa (way south of Lima).  This is the mountainous region of Peru, and I'll be about 8000 feet higher than we are here!   The mission does health work among the poor, so I'm guessing it's kind of like the free clinic but more basic.  I finally met most of the Affinity team going, 2 weeks ago, after emailing with them for months.  I like them all - really good people.  After that week I'll be ascending even higher to stay in Cuzco to acclimate for a couple of days, and then one day in Machu Picchu at about 12,000 feet!  This part of the trip is just for fun, so hopefully I'll keep it fun and not get altitude sickness or any other conditions we hear so much about /:
 
Then I'll be going to Ayacucho which is between Lima and Arequipa.  This is near where World Vision has one of its bases, and here I'll meet the little girl I've been sponsoring for about 3 years.  After meeting her and her family, W.V.  is bringing 20 kids together and I'm going to "teach" them about taking care of their bodies.  W.V. asked me to address in particular parasitic disease.  This brought me to a website I found on parasites, and the pictures are gruesome, so enter if you dare.
 
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/most-horrific-parasitic-worms/10497
 
I knew these things were bad, but this website really opens up my eyes!  And they're a real problem for millions of people.   So I'm going to cover a simple class (with an interpreter!) by having the kids draw a body, and we'll talk about head-to-toe body care.   Wearing shoes should help with worm prevention.  And, as always, hand-washing is imperative.
 
Several friends here in town donated enough stuff so that each kid is getting a toothbrush with cover, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, packet of tissue, SPF 15 lip balm, waterless handwash, and seed paper to plant to grow herbs, all in a zip-loc bag.   They'll each receive a sticker so that they can put their names on their bags, and I'm taking sharpies so they can write their names on their individual toothbrush covers. 
 
More later, as it happens.


Dorothy Zerbe
To hear "A Long Way To Go" songs, go to: http://cdbaby.com/cd/dorothyzerbe
To hear "Rooted and Free" songs, go to: http://cdbaby.com/cd/dorothyzerbe2
To go to Dorothy's myspace site, go to: http://www.myspace.com/dorothyzerbesongs
 

---

The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with Hotmail. Get busy.