4 June 2017
Our past week was spent on a major wheelchair event in Tumbes on the northern border with Ecuador. Sitting just 250 miles from the equator, this place was really hot and humid. However, all of our previous preparations paid off with a successful delivery of 140 wheelchairs and completion of training for 16 local evaluators and repair technicians to carry on the work after we leave.
Our purpose in Tumbes was two-fold: train the locals and deliver wheelchairs to those most in need.
Before the delivery of the wheelchairs, all recipients had been pre-qualified based on disability and economic need. They were also evaluated earlier to fit them to the correct chair.
The donation day, although extremely hot, sweaty, and exhausting with ceremonies and delivery events in the two cities of Tumbes and Zarumilla, was a very happy experience for us. It made all the sacrifice and efforts we have given feel worthwhile.
The primary reason we went to Tumbes was to conduct an evaluator / maintainer course prior to the delivery. The goal is to have a competent group in place here to keep this work going after we leave. We have had wheelchair deliveries here in the past, but this time was different because of the training course. Also, our partners from the National Rehabilitation Institute (INR) actually taught the course, using our materials. This was a win-win situation because it not only trained locals in how to do this work, but it also demonstrated increased capabilities to train and develop others on the part of our INR partner.
The second part of the course taught how to maintain and repair wheelchairs. We provided tools and supplies that students used to repair a dozen broken wheelchairs that the local group brought in for the course.
Everyone jumped in and had fun with the wheelchair repairs. The course was presented in the cultural hall of one of our churches in Tumbes (in an air-conditioned space, thank goodness).
When the wheelchairs arrived in Tumbes, we used our church cultural hall for the repair course and to store the wheelchairs until the delivery. Unfortunately, it was on the second floor. What that meant is that we had to carry all 140 wheelchairs up a flight of stairs to store them, then back down at the end of the week for the delivery. We were grateful to the young Mormon missionaries who carted them up the stairs for us to store, and then to the local health staff who hired movers at the end of the week to move them back out for the delivery.
And so at the end of the repair course, it was hard to tell the fixed wheelchairs from the new ones.
The delivery of chairs in Tumbes was a success, but just as important to us was leaving behind a trained group of evaluators and repair technicians who can keep this work alive, independent of us.
We spent from Saturday to Saturday in Tumbes. On our one afternoon we had off on the day we arrived, we took in as much of the city and sights as we could before the project got underway.
Typical of most Peruvian cities outside of Lima, Tumbes is filled with motor taxis that cost 2 soles (about $0.60) to get anywhere in town.
A quote from the Peruvian "Lonely Planet" guide book about Tumbes intrigued us: "As Peruvian dumps go, this place is in the top 10." We arrived expecting a horrible experience, but we were pleasantly surprised. What does this mean for us? It means that you can find amazing things anywhere, you just have to look a little harder in some spots.
Downtown Tumbes did not look like the dump we were expecting. Families and children, happy balloons for all, and a cool statue of a llama and condor. Seemed like a nice enough place with plenty of color.
Not far from our hotel was a 3-story statue of Christ. It was erected by the city and an Israeli delegation about 20 years ago. Very impressive since it was not a church that erected this.
When we got close, we realized that the statue was 3-dimensional and was completely covered in ceramic mosaic. How cool is that! In all our travels, we had never seen 3-dimensional mosaics like this. It wasn't the last, either, as some later shots will show.
We found a cheap taxi ($2.50 US total) to take us 10 miles to the coastal fishing village of Puerto Pizarro. This sleepy little village was filled with fishing boats returning with their catches of the day.
We rented a boat and a pilot for a 2-hour journey into the mangroves. Mangroves are special trees that can survive in a mixture of salt and fresh water and help turn coastline into land. Scores of islands were separated by canals. In some places, it felt like we were in a tunnel. Mangroves are common in Ecuadorian and Colombian coastal waters, but these are the only ones in Peru. The mangrove forests host an incredible diversity of birds and other wildlife.
Thousands of frigate birds choose only one of the many mangrove islands for their mating, returning year after year to the same place. Tens of thousands of the sea birds filled the trees - the females with their white heads, the males with their black heads and a large red throat pouch they inflate with air in hopes of attracting a mate. These birds live at sea for most of their lives except when returning to the same island yearly for mating.
Almost hunted to extinction in Peru, crocodiles are on a comeback in a government-sponsored enclave in the mangrove forest. For the past 20 years, the government has been breeding these endangered critters with the hope of releasing them some day when proper protections are firmly in place. This preserve houses hundreds and hundreds of these fearsome-looking reptiles. There tasty meat and precious hide makes them prime targets for pouching, unfortunately. We were glad we had a cement wall to protect us from being their next meal.
We finished our boat journey into the mangroves with a late afternoon shot from the foot bridge overlooking the fishing port. What a delightful place! This village was named after Francisco Pizarro who landed here first before traveling further south and marching his conquistadors into the heartland of Peru, where he later conquered the Incas.
The trip back to town was a little more interesting than the taxi ride to Puerto Pizarro in the first place (which only cost $2.50 for both of us for the 10-mile journey). There were no taxis in town after our boat trip to the mangrove forest, so we hopped on this little mini-van bus that cost us $0.50 each. From the shot, you can tell this vehicle had seen a lot of miles in its life. Sandy and I were the first ones to get on at this stop.
You never know here in Peru how many people might join you for a bus ride. Although we were the first ones onto the bus, after a one or two minute wait, a host of other locals decided this would be a good chance to show a couple of Americans how many this mini-van could really carry. When they finally stopped piling in, I counted almost 20 of us (including the driver), happily ambling down the road. We were very cozy, as shown here. The fishy-smell on the boots and clothing of the fisherman returning home added a special ambiance and closeness (along with the heat) to this journey that is hard to describe in words. It may be easier to describe in terms of nearly bringing tears to my eyes.
Back in Tumbes, not far from the hotel, we came across this interesting and colorful Catholic church right on the Plaza de Armas (the town square found in every Peruvian city).
On the other side of Plaza de Armas from the cathedral, the city built this incredible stage backdrop. It looked like the backdrop was painted until we got close and realized it was all covered with ceramic mosaic.
The theme of the mosaic was the joining of European and Native cultures and was called 'The Meeting of Two Worlds'. More than just a flat representation, it was a massive 3-dimensional sculpture covered in mosaic, similar to the Christ statue described earlier. This must have taken forever to create.
This is the head on the stage backdrop that looks down on all concert goers. It is a representation of the natives who greeted Francisco Pizarro and his band when they arrived here in the 1500s. With that kind of greeting, we would have gotten back on the boat and sailed for home!
After our final delivery in Zarumilla on Friday night, we were only a mile from the Ecuadorean border and decided to take a peak. The border is formed by a river that divides two neighboring cities. For a host of reasons, we didn't actually cross over into Ecuador (our foreign resident cards have not come in yet, mission rules preclude leaving the country without approval, and the fact that the border was a little frightening anyway), but we did stand on the bridge over the river in the no-man's land.
And so, at the end of an exhausting but exhilarating week, we are finally back in Lima, ready to return to the office and continue work on the other 25 projects that we currently have in progress. It is a joy to be here doing this important act of service, and, if there is one lament, it is that time is really flying for us here.
Our past week was spent on a major wheelchair event in Tumbes on the northern border with Ecuador. Sitting just 250 miles from the equator, this place was really hot and humid. However, all of our previous preparations paid off with a successful delivery of 140 wheelchairs and completion of training for 16 local evaluators and repair technicians to carry on the work after we leave.
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| Tumbes sits right on the border with Ecuador, 800 miles north Lima - a hot and sticky region on the coast. |
Our purpose in Tumbes was two-fold: train the locals and deliver wheelchairs to those most in need.
Wheelchair Donations
Friday was the day for the wheelchair donations in Tumbes and its neighboring city of Zarumilla, and we went to the ceremonies in both cities. The first donation ceremony was in Tumbes and included regional government and health officials and was an event filled with music and community celebration. We repeated the whole process again later that afternoon in Zarumilla.
Although we donated all of the wheelchairs, the regional government and local health organizations were responsible for transferring the entire shipment the 800 miles from Lima to Tumbes. The cost and effort they put into their part of the project demonstrated their commitment to making this a success. Rather than the wheelchairs just being a handout, community participation in the project led to increased capability and self-sufficiency on their part, a goal of all our humanitarian activities.
Although we donated all of the wheelchairs, the regional government and local health organizations were responsible for transferring the entire shipment the 800 miles from Lima to Tumbes. The cost and effort they put into their part of the project demonstrated their commitment to making this a success. Rather than the wheelchairs just being a handout, community participation in the project led to increased capability and self-sufficiency on their part, a goal of all our humanitarian activities.
On the day of the delivery, crowds gathered in the heat with anticipation, waiting for the ceremony to get underway.
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| Crowds gathering in Tumbes awaiting the donation ceremony. |
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| Wheelchairs lined up near the ceremony. A total of 140 were being donated at separate donation sites in the region. This is all part of the 1,100 wheelchairs the church is donating throughout Peru this year to very poor and disabled people. We have donated over 3,500 wheelchairs in Peru over the past 8 years. |
Once the ceremony got started (several hours late due to politicians awaiting the arrival of leaders from Lima), recipients were brought to the front, one by one, to receive their chair and get their photos taken on this happy day. As can be imagined, recipients of the wheelchairs were excited to finally get mobility. For a disabled person, receiving a wheelchair can be a life-changing experience by restoring dignity and mobility and easing burdens on families.
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| Delivery ceremony in Tumbes with us and a bunch of regional government leaders, health officials, and our partners from the National Rehabilitation Institute (INR) in Lima. |
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| After the ceremony, a few of the families at the Zarumilla ceremony wanted their pictures taken with us (something we try to minimize since the focus is on the donation, not on us) . One girl came up to us and said that without this donation, her family would never have received a wheelchair for her father who lost a leg in an accident. |
Before the delivery of the wheelchairs, all recipients had been pre-qualified based on disability and economic need. They were also evaluated earlier to fit them to the correct chair.
The disabled who received wheelchairs included stroke victims, accident victims, amputees, the elderly, and people suffering from a host of crippling congenital deformities.
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| This young man, so excited to have a wheelchair, suffered from the worst case of scoliosis we had ever witnessed. His father carried him to the delivery ceremony, equally excited by the prospect of now being able to wheel his son rather than carry him everywhere in his arms. |
Part of the donation ceremony included our giving 14 sets of tools and ratchets to be used by those we trained earlier in the week. These tools are immensely valuable in repairing chairs into the future and will provide employment opportunities in this poor region of the country.
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| Our local Peruvian church leader, Stake President Dasly Davis, speaking at the ceremony. He helped present some of the tool kits seen here that will be used to maintain and repair wheelchairs into the future (and hopefully provide employment opportunities). |
Several people who received wheelchairs handed over their old broken wheelchairs at the event. These broken wheelchairs, in many cases, can be refurbished with the tools and supplies we also donated and given to others in need.
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| Old and broken wheelchairs left at the event can now be repaired and made almost-new again to be used by others in need. |
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| During the evaluation earlier in the week, this young boy (suffering from very serious developmental disabilities) had the most incredible smile at the prospect of getting a wheelchair. He was being held by Jorge, one of our therapist partners from the National Rehabilitation Institute (INR). |
Training for the Future
The primary reason we went to Tumbes was to conduct an evaluator / maintainer course prior to the delivery. The goal is to have a competent group in place here to keep this work going after we leave. We have had wheelchair deliveries here in the past, but this time was different because of the training course. Also, our partners from the National Rehabilitation Institute (INR) actually taught the course, using our materials. This was a win-win situation because it not only trained locals in how to do this work, but it also demonstrated increased capabilities to train and develop others on the part of our INR partner.
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| Wheelchair recipients arrived days before the wheelchair handover to be evaluated by our students. |
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| Students evaluated actual patients, under the direction of our partners from the National Rehabilitation Institute (INR), to ensure the need for a wheelchair and also to ensure a chair was selected that fit the recipient correctly. |
The second part of the course taught how to maintain and repair wheelchairs. We provided tools and supplies that students used to repair a dozen broken wheelchairs that the local group brought in for the course.
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| Sad and broken wheelchairs that we repaired during the course. |
Everyone jumped in and had fun with the wheelchair repairs. The course was presented in the cultural hall of one of our churches in Tumbes (in an air-conditioned space, thank goodness).
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| Hands-on is the best way to learn. |
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| Everyone got to join in on the fun of turning something ugly and broken into something almost like new again. |
When the wheelchairs arrived in Tumbes, we used our church cultural hall for the repair course and to store the wheelchairs until the delivery. Unfortunately, it was on the second floor. What that meant is that we had to carry all 140 wheelchairs up a flight of stairs to store them, then back down at the end of the week for the delivery. We were grateful to the young Mormon missionaries who carted them up the stairs for us to store, and then to the local health staff who hired movers at the end of the week to move them back out for the delivery.
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| Repair course underway. Note the boxes at the back of the hall holding the 140 wheelchairs that we had to carry up the flight of stairs to store and then back down the stairs for the delivery. |
And so at the end of the repair course, it was hard to tell the fixed wheelchairs from the new ones.
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| A few replaced parts and some paint turned this beat-up wreck into something useful again. |
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| The class stood proudly behind the wheelchairs that they repaired - we had a hard time telling which chairs were new and which were repaired. This capability gives this group in Tumbes the ability to keep this work going long after we leave - a truly sustainable project. |
A Success Story in Tumbes
The delivery of chairs in Tumbes was a success, but just as important to us was leaving behind a trained group of evaluators and repair technicians who can keep this work alive, independent of us.
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| Trained group of evaluators and repair technicians who will carry on the work in Tumbes. |
A Little More of Tumbes
We spent from Saturday to Saturday in Tumbes. On our one afternoon we had off on the day we arrived, we took in as much of the city and sights as we could before the project got underway.
Typical of most Peruvian cities outside of Lima, Tumbes is filled with motor taxis that cost 2 soles (about $0.60) to get anywhere in town.
 |
| Tumbes - On a hot and sweaty day, riding in the motor taxis is a joyful, breezy (and loud and bumpy) experience. |
A quote from the Peruvian "Lonely Planet" guide book about Tumbes intrigued us: "As Peruvian dumps go, this place is in the top 10." We arrived expecting a horrible experience, but we were pleasantly surprised. What does this mean for us? It means that you can find amazing things anywhere, you just have to look a little harder in some spots.
Downtown Tumbes did not look like the dump we were expecting. Families and children, happy balloons for all, and a cool statue of a llama and condor. Seemed like a nice enough place with plenty of color.
 |
| Near the Plaza de Armas in Tumbes - a happy, family-friendly spot. |
Not far from our hotel was a 3-story statue of Christ. It was erected by the city and an Israeli delegation about 20 years ago. Very impressive since it was not a church that erected this.
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| Gigantic Christ Statue near our hotel. |
When we got close, we realized that the statue was 3-dimensional and was completely covered in ceramic mosaic. How cool is that! In all our travels, we had never seen 3-dimensional mosaics like this. It wasn't the last, either, as some later shots will show.
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| Up close - a 3-dimensional mosaic |
We found a cheap taxi ($2.50 US total) to take us 10 miles to the coastal fishing village of Puerto Pizarro. This sleepy little village was filled with fishing boats returning with their catches of the day.
 |
| Sleepy fishing village of Puerto Pizzaro |
We rented a boat and a pilot for a 2-hour journey into the mangroves. Mangroves are special trees that can survive in a mixture of salt and fresh water and help turn coastline into land. Scores of islands were separated by canals. In some places, it felt like we were in a tunnel. Mangroves are common in Ecuadorian and Colombian coastal waters, but these are the only ones in Peru. The mangrove forests host an incredible diversity of birds and other wildlife.
 |
| Tunnel of Mangrove Trees |
Thousands of frigate birds choose only one of the many mangrove islands for their mating, returning year after year to the same place. Tens of thousands of the sea birds filled the trees - the females with their white heads, the males with their black heads and a large red throat pouch they inflate with air in hopes of attracting a mate. These birds live at sea for most of their lives except when returning to the same island yearly for mating.
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| Some of the thousands of the Frigates on Bird Island - females with white heads, males with black head and a red inflatable neck pouch designed to entice the females. |
Almost hunted to extinction in Peru, crocodiles are on a comeback in a government-sponsored enclave in the mangrove forest. For the past 20 years, the government has been breeding these endangered critters with the hope of releasing them some day when proper protections are firmly in place. This preserve houses hundreds and hundreds of these fearsome-looking reptiles. There tasty meat and precious hide makes them prime targets for pouching, unfortunately. We were glad we had a cement wall to protect us from being their next meal.
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| Peruvian Crocodiles on the comeback in the 'Cocodrilo Park' |
We finished our boat journey into the mangroves with a late afternoon shot from the foot bridge overlooking the fishing port. What a delightful place! This village was named after Francisco Pizarro who landed here first before traveling further south and marching his conquistadors into the heartland of Peru, where he later conquered the Incas.
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| Parting shot from Puerto Pizarro |
The trip back to town was a little more interesting than the taxi ride to Puerto Pizarro in the first place (which only cost $2.50 for both of us for the 10-mile journey). There were no taxis in town after our boat trip to the mangrove forest, so we hopped on this little mini-van bus that cost us $0.50 each. From the shot, you can tell this vehicle had seen a lot of miles in its life. Sandy and I were the first ones to get on at this stop.
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| Returning to Tumbes in the mini-van bus |
You never know here in Peru how many people might join you for a bus ride. Although we were the first ones onto the bus, after a one or two minute wait, a host of other locals decided this would be a good chance to show a couple of Americans how many this mini-van could really carry. When they finally stopped piling in, I counted almost 20 of us (including the driver), happily ambling down the road. We were very cozy, as shown here. The fishy-smell on the boots and clothing of the fisherman returning home added a special ambiance and closeness (along with the heat) to this journey that is hard to describe in words. It may be easier to describe in terms of nearly bringing tears to my eyes.
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| Packed into the mini-van bus; a potent travel experience - South American style |
Back in Tumbes, not far from the hotel, we came across this interesting and colorful Catholic church right on the Plaza de Armas (the town square found in every Peruvian city).
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| Cathedral in Tumbes |
On the other side of Plaza de Armas from the cathedral, the city built this incredible stage backdrop. It looked like the backdrop was painted until we got close and realized it was all covered with ceramic mosaic.
 |
| The 3-D Mosaic at Plaza de Armas Concert Venue in Tumbes |
The theme of the mosaic was the joining of European and Native cultures and was called 'The Meeting of Two Worlds'. More than just a flat representation, it was a massive 3-dimensional sculpture covered in mosaic, similar to the Christ statue described earlier. This must have taken forever to create.
 |
| Mosaic Closeup - The Meeting of Two Worlds |
This is the head on the stage backdrop that looks down on all concert goers. It is a representation of the natives who greeted Francisco Pizarro and his band when they arrived here in the 1500s. With that kind of greeting, we would have gotten back on the boat and sailed for home!
 |
| Fearful native head sculpture at the Plaza de Armas concert venue in tumbes |
After our final delivery in Zarumilla on Friday night, we were only a mile from the Ecuadorean border and decided to take a peak. The border is formed by a river that divides two neighboring cities. For a host of reasons, we didn't actually cross over into Ecuador (our foreign resident cards have not come in yet, mission rules preclude leaving the country without approval, and the fact that the border was a little frightening anyway), but we did stand on the bridge over the river in the no-man's land.
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| View into Ecuador from the "No Man's" land at the river separating the two countries. |
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| The sun was setting and the neighborhood on the Peruvian side of the border at Zarumilla was a little sketchy. Our taxi driver even got out to walk with us to keep us safe in this scary place. Time to get out of here and head for the safety of our hotel! |
And so, at the end of an exhausting but exhilarating week, we are finally back in Lima, ready to return to the office and continue work on the other 25 projects that we currently have in progress. It is a joy to be here doing this important act of service, and, if there is one lament, it is that time is really flying for us here.
I love this post! What a great blend of service, hard work, compassion, and culture! You mentioned the Peruvians love the color light blue, and I can see why from the pictures. It looks so good against their skin! I am so happy for those wheelchair recipients, and the people who have skills now to repair them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Melissa...the post shows how Senior missionaries touch many lives including their own. They get to know a country and the people as only those who live there can. And they let their lights shine so others can see the gospel in action. I am proud of how the donations of the saints are blessing lives in Peru as well as other areas of the world.
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