Safe Drinking Water, Fortress of Callao, and Transporting Llamas

28 January 2018

Since arriving, we have worked on various clean water projects for poor communities that used to get their water out of polluted streams and rivers. However, we have recently come across a new challenge that goes beyond simply providing water - how to make it safe.

Clean Water vs. Safe Water

The wells, pumps, and tanks we have supplied have made life easier for many poor communities where previously they got their water from dirty streams. In other places, people use to get their water by buckets out of holes in the ground they had dug themselves. It is hard to believe how many people around the world still live in conditions where getting water is a daily chore.

Monsefu, Peru. At the ceremony for our donation of a new well with pump house and tank installed on the tower to give water pressure. For generations, this poor farming community had pulled their water by buckets out of the ground from a hole they had dug with shovels.

Our donated wells have made life much better for those people that have received them. However, residents are told they should still boil their water before drinking. Most communities where we install wells are in remote agricultural areas with lots of animals. Besides, these communities only have outhouses which further contaminate the ground water. Thus, there is lots of coliform and E. coli bacteria in the ground water. Boiling is required to make the water safe.

This illustration from the Center for Affordable Water shows the problem that many of these communities face when fecal bacteria from humans and animals reaches a community's drinking-water source. 

Recently, a few of these communities have asked for the ability to chlorinate their water to make it safe to drink without boiling. That sounds like an easy solution that is not too expensive. However, the problem of making the water safe is very complicated.

Typical small chlorination pumps we have looked at that are suitable for the wells we install. Cost is around $500 to $700.

With a chlorination pump, you just mix household bleach with water in a mixing tank, put a hose into the mixing tank with the bleach mixture, run the hose to the chlorination pump, and then put the output into the holding tank on the tower along with the water coming from the well. So simple! Not really when you consider the following:

• Who will mix the bleach with the water so the mixture is correct, all the time, for years to come? (Only poor farmers live in these communities).
• What happens if the mixture is too strong (too much chlorine can kill) or too weak (the bacteria remains alive)?
• How will they monitor the system to make sure the right levels of chlorine are maintained?
• How often will the system be monitored? Hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly?
• How long will it take to notice and react if the chlorination pump fails or if it runs out of chlorine?

These are some very difficult questions we are wrestling with on these clean-water projects.

On our Monsefu project this week, we hesitantly agreed to supply the chlorination pumps for 18 wells. However, we put the responsibility for training, maintaining, and monitoring the system into the hands of the Monsefu district government.

Residents are ecstatic about the possibility of not having to boil their water, but we remain cautious about the many risks involved. We even signed a contract addenda with the government in order to shift this risk and responsibility to them for ensuring the safe operation of the chlorination pumps. The government told us they have everything under control, but we remain a little worried.

This whole issue of clean vs. safe water is a major concern for us. Just giving a community a chlorine pump may not solve the problem if the other questions above are not answered.

Fortress Real Felipe in Callao

On Saturday, our day off, we journeyed across Lima to the district of Callao to visit a fortress built by the Spaniards in the 1700s. Fortaleza Real Felipe is a star-shaped fortress, the largest of its kind built by the Spanish outside of Spain.

The fortress, Fortaleza Real Felipe, built by the Spaniard to defend their colony of Peru.

Star forts, found throughout Europe, were very difficult to attack because of their shape. This fortress was attacked several times by foreign navies who wanted the riches found in Peru, but the fortress never fell.

Aerial view of the star-shaped fortress. Cannons placed on the top walls could defend the entire port and repel any land assault.

Peru was a treasure for the Spaniards. After conquering the Incas (and stealing their riches), they put the natives to work as slaves in the gold and silver mines. All the riches that were sent back to Spain during this period came through this fortress.

Real Felipe was like the Fort Knox of Peru, guarding the gold and silver until it could be loaded onto ships bound for Spain.

Real Felipe is an impressive fortress with its walls, towers, and cannons carefully preserved.

With its cannons still positioned to defend, Real Felipe looks like it is ready to be called back into action at any time. In fact, the Peruvian Army still has troops stationed at the fortress.

The district of Callao built right up to the fortress on all sides - an ancient fortress surround by a cosmopolitan city.

The most prominent part of the fortress is a 3-story circular tower called the King's Tower. This solid tower, built from rock brought in from a nearby island, is filled with maze-like passages. It has no windows and only one entrance with a draw bridge. It was the safest place in the entire fortress, good for securing treasures. It was later used as a prison where many perished from neglect.

King's Tower, the most fortified spot in the fortress.

The draw bridge is the only way into the King's Tower

If you were an enemy of the Spanish crown and got sentenced to time in the King's Tower, you went in this door, but you never came back out alive.

Interestingly, prior to the Peruvian War of independence, the local Peruvians gained control of the fortress. They fought off the Spanish forces from the fortress and eventually won their independence.

Lookout post at Fortaleza Real Felipe.

The fortress was an interesting look at more of the architectural treasures from the colonial Spanish period. This was a fun little adventure.

Port of Callao

After the seeing the fortress, we walked across the street to the harbor. The Port of Calloa is a nice retreat from the rest of Lima - beaches and fancy boats - what a great escape!

What a beautiful day at the port.

We hopped on a tour boat to look at the million-dollar yachts moored in the harbor and see all the sun worshipers on the beaches.

Our tour boat looked like something between a shark and a whale.

Fleets of fishing boats in the harbor bring tons of fish into Lima each day.

A dream yacht - it only costs $14 million. Ah, having that much money would canker my soul! Maybe we'll leave that temptation for someone else!

We floated by all the revelers and families on the dock and the beach at Callao. What a nice warm day for some fun in the sun.

..

Even the crabs came out of the ocean onto the rocks to catch some sun and warm up.

Callao has a reputation as being a dangerous place to visit (drugs, gangs, thieves). But our Saturday turned out to be a nice day at the fortress and port. Too bad it takes two hours to get to Callao from where we live or we would come back again.

What to do with your Llama in Lima

We occasionally see people in Lima with llamas showing them to the tourists. The question one asks is "What do you do with a llama in this big city at the end of the day?" 

Some people end up hauling their animals in unusual ways back home after a day in the tourist sights. I found some shots of people transporting their animals in taxis, buses, and on top of cars.

With a little coaxing, these folks got their llama into the baggage compartment of a bus.

The owner of this animal got it into the back of a hatchback taxi. She actually had two llamas to transport - the first one was already in the back when they shot the photo of this second one getting in.

But, if you can tie their legs and then strap them together, it seems like llamas actually enjoy the fresh air and scenery while riding 'up on top'.

What a fun way to travel! Lots of fresh air, sunshine, and fun with your fellow llamas on top of the car. Count carefully and you will note five on top and at least one inside.

And, again, anything is possible in Peru!

Earthquake Emergency Response, Satellite Phones, and National Archaeology Museum

21 January 2018

Last week's magnitude 7.1 earthquake a few hundred miles south of us was a major disaster. Thankfully, where it hit was not in a major population center. However, remote villages and homes were leveled and there was one fatality.

News shot of residents inspecting damage in Chala, Peru, after the 7.1 magnitude earthquake.

Emergency Response to the Earthquake

When disasters strike here in Peru, government officials often contact our church first for help because they know we can mobilize aid faster than any other organization. After last week's 7.1 magnitude earthquake, the government of Arequipa contacted us for help. Specifically, they needed 30,000 liters of water to be sent to the towns and villages affected.

For this particular disaster, we had the 30,000 liters of water on their way to the disaster site just 5 days after the earthquake.

Loading up a truckload of 30,000 liters of water for the earthquake victims - that's a lot of water.

Many hands were involved in this emergency request. First, we got approval from the Area Presidency. Next, our Welfare Department (which includes Humanitarian Services) created a purchase requisition, then our Purchasing Department had to locate vendors with the supplies on hand and locate transportation to make the shipment to this remote region. Finally, when everything was ready, the supplies were sent on their way to help the earthquake victims.

This is the truck filled with 30,000 liters of water that left Lima for the disaster zone on Friday, just 5 days after the earthquake.

The government of Arequipa took charge of distributing the water after it arrived on Saturday (yesterday). They worked with local governments to get the water to those that were left without power and water after the earthquake.

The purpose of all our disaster relief activities is to sustain life as soon as disaster occurs. This aid is a short-term help designed to get people through the most critical days after the disaster so they can get started on the rebuilding.

Coordinating Disasters with Satellite Telephones

Many disasters knock out power and cell phone communication. Therefore, we have 25 satellite telephones distributed among our leaders in the five countries we assist (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru). During extreme emergencies, satellite phones are the only way to communicate with the rest of the world.

Diagram of the Iridium Satellite network we use. The Iridium Network consists of 66 satellites in orbit 485 miles above the earth with ground speeds of 16,832 miles an hour. You can call anywhere on earth with these satellite phones.

Unfortunately, using satellite phones is a little tricky. Church leaders in the five countries in our area were trained in using their satellite phones a few years ago, but without constant use, it is easy to forget how they work. Part of my job lately has been developing a process so that everyone with a satellite phone is required to use it twice a year as part of a refresher training and system test.

Here is a shot of our small, hand-held satellite telephones - they connect with any smart phone to communicate with the rest of the world via satellite during a disaster. (You have to be outdoors with a clear view of the sky in order to talk through the satellite phones).

I've been working out several kinks in this critical satellite phone system. One bug I found is that we can't call the satellite phones directly from our office landline phones or our cell phones (the problem was we didn't have our phone contract setup properly for access to satellite phones). We are now working on the fix for this problem, but prior to my working with the system, no one knew this bug existed.

Ah, the Good Lord found a way to put my Engineering background to use even here in South America!

National Museum of Archaeology

Most people only know of the Inca Empire in Peru, but prior to the Incas, dozens of major civilizations existed over several thousands of years.  Literally millions of relics have been excavated (legally or not) since Europeans arrived five centuries ago. The largest repository for these relics in Peru is the National Museum of Archaeology in Lima. On Saturday (our day off) we spent a few hours wandering around these amazing relics of the past.

National Museum of Archaeology in Lima - Peru's largest museum of antiquities.

You could spend days in this museum seeing their extensive collection of relics, ceramics, tapestries, and mummies.

Reconstruction of the ruins from the Chavin de Huantar civilization high in the Andes.

Closeup of the monolith recovered from deep inside the temple pyramid at Chavin.

Decorative heads from the walls of the Chavin de Huantar ruins.

Indian cemeteries exist all over Peru. Mummies are constantly being recovered by archaeologists to study these ancient cultures. One part of the museum included a recreation of a mummy tomb discovered in southern Peru where 50 mummies were recovered from a cave. Each mummy was wrapped in multiple layers of cloth and bound up in bags.

Multiple mummies of the Paracas civilization on display in the reconstructed mummy cave. One is cut open to show how they buried the dead in an upright, sitting position. Each of the bags contains a mummy.

Moche civilization ceramics provide a glimpse into what the people may have looked like. The Moche became so skilled with ceramics that they made molds to help them mass-produce their pottery.

Typical Moche water pitcher. Most of these pitchers show men.

This is a very rare Moche water pitcher showing a woman rather than a man.

Other water pitchers included more traditional designs of animals and geometric shapes. Note how the spout on many of these pitchers also includes the loop handle to make it easy to carry.

Animals and geometric designs form the basis of much ancient Peruvian pottery.

Ceramics from other civilizations (such as Nazca, Paracas, Huari, etc.) are equally well executed but have very different styles. 

Nazca, Paracas, Huari and others have very different ceramic styles from the Moche. The variety of shapes and designs never ceases to amaze us.

One of the thousands of ancient pottery relics on display at the museum.

Most of these ancient civilizations buried their dead with gold jewelry. For hundreds of years, a favorite activity here in Peru has been to go out on the weekends and dig up Indian cemeteries looking for treasure. This type of looting activity has only become illegal in the last 80 years, although the grave robbing still goes on. When archaeologists can find an undisturbed tomb, it is a real treasure.

Occasional major finds are still happening in different areas around Peru as official excavations are still ongoing round the country. Here is a reconstruction of an ancient Moche emperor, complete with the gold vestments, crown, and amulets that were recovered recently from a previously undisturbed tomb.

Moche emperor in full golden regalia 

Finally, one part of the museum let us dress up in recreations of fabrics recovered from tombs. We felt just like the natives! (In the photo, the paper object Sandy held is called "Flat Stanley". We take pictures of him with various Peruvian scenes, then send the photos to our grandson, Miles, as part of a school project to explore the world.)

Dress up time in the museum.

Peru is such an interesting country, filled with more ruins of past civilizations than any other country in the world, except for Egypt. And yet, the only ruins most people know about are the Inca ruins at Machu Picchu. We are fortunate to have had the chance to see so many of these ancient cultures in our time here.

The Last Supper - Peruvian Style

We recently picked up this ceramic piece showing the Last Supper, done in a particularly Peruvian style. All of the apostles are dressed like local Peruvians of the Andes Mountains wearing their traditional chullo hats. It is always interesting to see how locals define various Biblical events to add a local context.

Peruvian view of the Last Supper

We have been in two cathedrals in Peru where they have large paintings of the Last Supper where the main course of the meal was cuy (guinea pig, a very traditional Andean meal). We're not so sure about the historic accuracy of cuy in the last supper!

Painting of the Last Supper in the Cusco Cathedral. Note the cuy (or guinea pig) as part of the meal.

So, this weekend marks the one-year point on our mission - only six months left to go. What new adventures and experiences will these final six months bring? We just press forward with the many projects we have in the works, hoping to complete as many as possible before we finish up and return to our home in July.

Helping Disabled Children and the Blind, plus the Latest Earthquake

14 January 2018

Some of our one-time donations can make a world of difference in the lives of thousands of people. We completed two of these projects this week with a donation of a hydrotherapy tub for a center that treats disabled and crippled children, along with canes and braille note writers for the blind.

Projects like these are designed to promote independence and self-reliance among people that might otherwise be neglected or forgotten.

Early Intervention Program - Therapy to Help Crippled Children

Some children born with birth defects can overcome those challenges if they get therapy during their earliest years. Rigid muscles from neurological conditions and non-functioning limbs resulting from diseases or problems caused by delivery at birth can be reduced or completely overcome if a child is treated in time.

Only three therapy centers exist in Lima that are available to the poor to provide this therapy. One of these early intervention centers, called Programa de Intervención Temprana (PRITE), asked for help.

Handicapped children and their mothers awaiting their weekly treatment at the PRITE. The PRITE treats 120 children per week.

The treatment involves physical therapy once a week in the PRITE, along with techniques they teach parents to perform at home. The therapy is often done in the water to loosen rigid muscles and joints. Unfortunately, the PRITE only had small tubs to put the children in, and they had to heat the water in a microwave oven. The tubs were never large enough and the water would get cold quickly.

BEFORE - Water treatment was in a tub. This baby had a paralyzed arm that came as a result of her delivery at birth.

BEFORE - Water was heated in a microwave.  This baby was being treated for a neurological condition.

The PRITE asked if we would consider helping them obtain a hydrotherapy tub and a water heater. As part of their commitment, they agreed that if we could make the donation, they would be in charge of the installation changes to their building (plumbing and electrical). Our Area Welfare Committee approved the project, and we moved forward with the purchase and donation.

New hydrotherapy tub and water heater now replaces the old tubs. Two therapists and two babies can use the equipment at the same time.

The new hydrotherapy tub allows the therapist and the baby to both be in at the same time. The mother of this child told us that last year before treatment, he was completely rigid. After a year of treatment, he is now quite mobile.

During the delivery ceremony, Peruvian congressman Kenji Fujimori came to participate. (Kenji had been involved in putting the PRITE in contact with us). Kenji took turns holding kids while their parents snapped photos.

Congressman Kenji Fujimori taking turns holding kids during the delivery ceremony while parents snapped photos. The treatment in the hydrotherapy tub continued in the background.

Many parents came up to us at the ceremony, thankful for this donation that will make therapy much easier. Several parents told us that they had no hope for their babies ever having a normal life before they started the therapy.

It is amazing to see the results that physical therapy can produce if started at an early age - most of those under treatment, if started early enough, had overcome significant challenges and had, in some cases, caught up with their peers.

Helping the Blind - the Gift of Freedom

We also completed a donation of 500 collapsible canes for the blind. A cane can make a world of difference for a blind person by allowing them the freedom to leave their home. (We held the delivery ceremony at the same time as the hydrotherapy tub at the PRITE).

This donation was made to the Confederation of Disabled Peruvians (Confederación Nacional de Personas con Discapacidad del Peru - CONFENADIP), who will supply these to other cities in Peru. We also gave 500 braille note writers to help the blind with the ability to take notes and record on paper.

Julio Guzman, president of CONFENADIP, spoke about how the donation of canes and braille writers would help blind people throughout Peru by giving the freedom of movement.

At the delivery ceremony - Kenji Fujimori and Moroni Torres, our Area Welfare Manager

We were able to make a symbolic donation of several canes and braille writers as part of the delivery ceremony. Congressman Kenji Fujimori got to participate, since he brought this project to our attention, also.

Kenji Fujimori helped with passing out our donation of collapsible canes during the ceremony.

(Note that Kenji showed up wearing a BYU T-shirt. He actually graduated from Kansas State University and attended Utah State University. He is not a Mormon and did not attend BYU, but he said he wore the BYU shirt a friend had given him as a show of support.)

The canes and braille writers will make a significant difference in the lives of many poor Peruvians who cannot afford these items.

This donation is only half done - we expect to complete the donation of an additional 680 more canes and braille writers in the next month.

In all, the donation of the hydrotherapy tub, along with the canes and braille writers, will affect the lives of many in the years to come.

Partners on these humanitarian projects - (R to L):
Leonor Choquehuanca, PRITE Director; Moroni Torres, Area Welfare Manager; Congressman Kenji Fujimori; Julio Guzman, President of CONFENADIP; and us.

Disaster of the Week - Earthquake

We have experienced three earthquakes since coming here - two have been in the range of 4.0 magnitude in the Lima area (they make you feel like your building has been hit by a truck several times). However, our third earthquake was a big one that woke us up this morning at 4:20 a.m.

Our closet doors were banging and the windows rattled. It seemed to last for a few minutes and woke us both up.

Earthquake - magnitude 7.1, epicenter south of Lima

This earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.1, was centered in an area a few hundred miles from here. One person is known dead so far, many are injured, and buildings have collapsed. We felt the affects of this earthquake here in Lima due to its magnitude.

News photo of damage from the earthquake.

Here in Peru, earthquakes are fairly common - we are on the 'ring of fire' that circles the Pacific Ocean with volcanoes and lots of earthquakes.

Locals refer to the earthquakes that shake buildings (but that don't level them) as "Temblores" or tremors, and they are frequently the topic of conversation around our office ("Did you feel that one last night?" "No, we were out driving around and missed it." "Oh, too bad!")

On the other hand, an earthquake like the one this morning that levels buildings is called a "Terremoto" and certainly gets everyone's attention. We are all aware that a really big quake could happen here at any time. We just pray we are in a safe building when it hits.

We haven't been called yet by the Peruvian government to help with this disaster, at least not yet. Who knows? Things may change by the time we get to our office on Monday morning. But still, we give thanks we are safe and able to move forward with the work we came here to do.

Farewell to Friends

Every few week, new senior missionaries arrive and other leave as they complete their service. We bid good bye this month to the Moores who had served as the mission presidents of the Missionary Training Center (called the Centro de Capacitacion Misional in Spanish). It is always a good excuse for all of us to get together for a dinner and celebration.

Bidding farewell to the Moores (center of photo). Sad to see them go, but we celebrate the completion of their mission.