Amazon Vision Project, Therapy Tank, and Coca Leaves

8 October 2017

This week's projects included developing a vision project in the Amazon jungle, as well as a host of other projects in Lima.

Into the Amazon - New Jungle Vision Project

Dr. Mike Pingree flew in from Salt Lake City to develop a new vision project in the jungle city of Iquitos on the Amazon River, and I went along as his in-country contact. (Sandy was supposed to go with us, but after multiple delays on our flight the night before and after 8 hours stuck in the airport, our boss told Sandy she could go home.) I stayed at a hotel at the airport (after Sandy left) so I could take the 5 a.m. flight with Dr. Pingree (and we both got about 4 hours sleep).

The flight into Iquitos is really interesting - you fly over 19,000 ft. jagged mountain peaks in the Cordillera Blanca range of the Andes Mountains. Then suddenly you are flying over dense jungle vegetation before landing at 500 ft. elevation. The contrast is incredible.

Flying over the spectacular peaks of Cordillera Blanca in the Andes Mountains. Many of these peaks are above 19,000 ft. elevation.

Sunrise over the Amazon River right after passing over the Andes Mountains. The Amazon is over a mile wide in Iquitos and still has another 2,000 miles to flow before reaching the Atlantic Ocean.

Iquitos sits a thousand miles from Lima. It is closer to the border with Brazil than it is to Lima.

We had been invited to meet with local health officials and hospital administrators to develop a vision project for next year that will include the following:

• Donation of eye exams and glasses for up to 2,000 children.
• Donation of surgical equipment to the regional hospital to allow them to begin performing eye surgeries for the poor.
• A week-long visit by a U.S. ophthalmologist who will train Peruvian doctors in the latest cataract surgery techniques and then will assist in surgeries.

Without these donations, the poor in this region continue to suffer from a host of vision issues, including cataracts and blindness that could otherwise be corrected.

Dr. Mike Pingree and I met with the Iquitos hospital staff and other regional health leaders to plan the vision project for 2018.

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In the hospital ophthalmology department. They currently do not have the proper equipment to perform cataract surgeries. Our donations will help them be able to perform these surgeries that the poor currently have no access to.

Touring the surgical rooms in the hospital required dressing for surgery. Our goal is to enable the ophthalmology department to be able to perform eye surgeries which they have not been able to in the past. These surgeries are for poor people who have no other way of receiving help.

The Regional Hospital of Loreto in Iquitos is typical of where the poor are treated in the jungle. Most windows have no glass, only screens to keep out the mosquitoes.  In this jungle region of 500,000 residents, this is only source of medical care for the poor.

LDS Charities provides a vision project in different places around Peru each year, all supported through church member donations and coordinated by volunteer missionaries like us. The Iquitos project will take place in 2018 while the 2017 project in Tarapoto will wrap up in a month.

Iquitos is the world's largest city that cannot be reached by road - everything comes in by air or river boat due to the dense jungle. All around the perimeter of the city, houses are built on stilts to keep them above the water when the rivers are high in the wet season. It was dry season during our visit, so all the stilts were clearly visible.

Stilts keep homes near the river out of the water during the wet season. The rivers (including the nearby Amazon) can rise and fall more than 20 feet, depending on the season. 

Houses on stilts to keep above the river during rainy season.

Rustic homes that are typical along the river. There are no doors - everyone sleeps under mosquito nets. Note the little child in the doorway with . . .

. . .  no clothes, no door, and only a few planks of wood to protect from a nasty fall.

Iquitos is extremely steamy - I am dripping wet whenever I visit the jungle. Luckily, the best ice cream shop in the country is located in Iquitos. 'Shambo' makes their own ice cream daily onsite from jungle-fresh coconut, mango, passion fruit, pineapple, and a host of other fruits I had never heard of. It was a nice way to cool down before flying home.

The incredible ice cream from Shambo in Iquitos may be one of the best reasons to visit the jungle. I got passion fruit. Just thinking about it now makes my mouth water.

Rehabilitation for Poor and Crippled Children

We received a request to provide humanitarian help to a center here in Lima  that provides rehabilitation for poor children born with birth defects. Rehab therapists work with these children to help them overcome paralysis and other congenital defects while their bodies are still pliable before age 3.

Outside the children rehab center "PRITE San Martin de Porres" for the poor. They treat over 100 children per week in this center.

When the therapists work with the children, they sit them in a basin of warm water to loosen their muscles. Unfortunately, they have to warm the water in a microwave, and the therapists usually get soaked in the process of providing the therapy.

Current therapy tubs - they heat pitchers of water in a microwave, put the child in, and work their therapy. Everyone gets wet and the water cools down in no time. (Note that this child had a paralyzed right arm which they said should recover completely through therapy).

This project will include providing a water therapy tank with door and a water heater. The larger therapy tank will allow the staff to provide better care to these tiny ones. The center treats over 100 babies and small children each week, so this donation will have an immediate and positive effect on this health project.

Mothers with their handicapped children waiting for the next therapy session. The staff told us that a significant number of those with paralysis and spastic (or rigid) bodies can be rehabilitated, as long as they are treated before age 3.

Traffic Control

Traffic in Lima is a nightmare. We spend hours stuck in traffic. 

The city tries to help this situation by having people direct traffic in many areas around town (even through there are already traffic lights in these intersections). These traffic cops are either in the streets or, as shown here, they occupy little traffic stands that are elevated and protected from the sun. 

Directing traffic in Lima - on stands and protected from the sun.

The people directing traffic are sometimes the cause of the holdups because they are less precise than the lights that they pre-empt, thus backing up traffic in certain directions. But it is interesting to see how the city has put out this whole army of people who try to keep the city moving (with varying levels of success).

Coca Leaf

Coca leaves are readily available throughout most of the Andean nations of South America (especially Peru and Bolivia). People chew the leaves or use the leaves to make a tea to cure altitude sickness high in the Andes. Altitude sickness, more than just producing flu-like symptoms, can kill. Last month, our boss was at altitude and got so sick (including vomiting) that they had to take him to a health clinic for emergency treatment. He is now restricted from traveling to high altitude.

Throughout Peru, coca products are readily available everywhere - grocery stores, candy stores, airports, restaurants, etc. 

Coca tea - on the shelves at the grocery stores.

Unfortunately, coca leaf is used to make cocaine. It is therefore illegal to have coca leaves in most places around the world. However, drinking coca leaf tea or chewing it does not produce a high - you have to process a bushel of the leaves with nasty chemicals in order to extract enough to make cocaine.

Almost every Peruvian we know has used coca leaves, especially for combating the flu-like symptoms of altitude sickness. We have tried coca leaf, and we find it works much better for us than any of the prescription drugs we have tried. Within half an hour of taking the tea, the numb fingers and toes plus headache and nausea from altitude sickness have disappeared.

Chocolate bar with coca - easy to buy in Peru but don't try taking it out of the country.

International laws have been passed to require nations like Peru to completely stop selling coca leaves inside the country. However, using coca leaves is a tradition here in the Andes that has been around for millennia, so it is doubtful that anything will change in the country.

When I tell Peruvians that it is illegal to take any form of coca outside the country, they are shocked and cannot understand why.

On a recent delivery of humanitarian aid to a high-altitude location near Arequipa, we and the government officials with us stopped at a truck stop at 14,000 ft. elevation. We were all starting to feel the flu-like symptoms of altitude sickness. After one cup of coca leaf tea, and we were all ready to continue our journey.

A few leaves of coca in hot water will relieve a host of altitude-sickness symptoms.

No time for tea while traveling? Just take the handy coca candy (shown on the left). On the right, this little bag of coca leaves cost $0.30 USD and would make enough for 10 cups of tea. 

Sometimes we see coca leaf for sale in bulk. This would probably raise eyebrows if you were to transport the whole bag (shown here), especially since you would be suspected of having that amount of coca to manufacture into cocaine.

Coca leaves in the bulk section of a shop at Plaza Josfel near our apartment. Small amounts are perfectly acceptable throughout Peru, but having as much as shown in these bags could land you in trouble since you might be suspected of processing it into cocaine.

Small amounts of coca leaf for personal consumption are fine everywhere in the Peru. In fact, in the airport in Cusco, they set out a tray of coca leaves for travelers to pop in their mouth and chew, just to prevent altitude sickness. Every hotel we have visited in the mountains has a supply of coca leaves and coca tea in the lobby for travelers looking for a cure.

And so our humanitarian projects move forward. There is always more work than we can do on our own, so we depend on divine intervention to fill in the gaps we cannot complete. This is a good (if not exhausting) mission, and we are glad we have this unique opportunity to serve.