Back to the Jungle on Christmas Day, Operacion Sonrisa, and Peruvian Christmas Traditions

24 December 2017

Work marches on here in Peru with our humanitarian work. Even with the Christmas holidays upon us, we are still really busy. On Christmas day, we are flying into the jungle of Pucallpa to deliver eyeglasses to needy children. 

A Welcome Christmas Gift

We have been racing against a deadline to get a thousand eyeglasses to needy children in the jungle of Pucallpa before school gets out for the year on December 29. (We finished the exams in Pucallpa  just 2 weeks ago, and it has been a monumental job for our supplier to make the thousand eyeglasses and get them packaged and shipped).

Yesterday, our supplier confirmed they finished production of the thousand eyeglasses and got them sent by air cargo to Pucallpa. We were excited this actually happened just in time.

Air waybill confirmation of the shipment of the eyeglasses to the jungle.

Now, we get to travel to Pucallpa on Christmas day in order to pickup the air cargo shipment and get it to the local health leaders on December 26. That will give us all just enough time to complete the delivery formalities and finish the distribution before schools get out for the 3-month summer break.

What a relief to know we are close to the end of this project. It was started 3 years ago and has required lots of coordination for us, our Purchasing department, our contracted optometrists and manufacturer, and the regional health leaders in the jungle region of Ucayali/Pucallpa.

And, besides the joy of bringing this project to an end and helping so many kids, this will be a first for us - spending Christmas day in the jungle.  

Fixing Cleft Lips and Palettes - Operacion Sonrisa 

Every year we work with Operacion Sonrisa (better known as Operation Smile) on their surgical  campaigns around Peru. We just finished helping with one of their recent campaigns in Lima and high in the Andes Mountains of Puno to fix cleft lips and palettes for children and give them the chance for a normal life.

Operation Smile volunteer doctors and nurses - ready to fix cleft lips and palettes here in Peru. 

More than 160 volunteer doctors, nurses, and others work with this organization to correct cleft lips and cleft palettes for children. They give freely of their time to help. However, Operacion Sonrisa always needs donations of medical supplies and medicines in order to make these campaigns happen.

We ended up donating hundreds of supplies for this current campaign (anesthesia, antibiotics, surgical instruments, etc.) that are required for these kinds of surgeries. Church volunteers also showed up to help with the logistics of registering and moving families around on the days of the surgeries.

Photo from last year's campaign in Puno. Cleft surgeries give children a chance for a normal life.

It warms our hearts to work with partners like Operation Smile to change lives of those who would never be able to afford these surgeries on their own.

Intense Year of Service

Most nights we come home from the humanitarian office exhausted. We stagger home after work and say, "We survived another day!" Based on that, I made a "Certificate of Survival". Alex Principe, our area welfare specialist, saw the certificate and thought it was funny. He even signed the certificate and posed for the photo of the 'award ceremony'.

We have survived 11 months of very, very intense humanitarian work. Hurray!

Certificate of Survival. Translation: "For having endured with the patience of Job the daily trials of the Department of Welfare".

We like our mission, but the intensity of the work is often a challenge. However, I know we have enough strength to face the remaining 7 months!

Ready for Christmas

We are far from family and friends this year, but that hasn't dampened our Christmas spirits. We put up a tree (one of three we found in our apartment left behind by former missionaries), and we can contact our children and grandchildren whenever we want on the IPAD-Mini or on our cell-phone apps that let us easily stay in touch through the holidays.

Our Christmas Tree in the apartment in Peru. It may be hot outside, but it is Christmas inside our home.

Chatting with the grandkids via the IPAD-Mini during a pre-Christmas family get-together. Technology has made our separation much easier.

We have a bunch of other Americans around here (other volunteer senior missionaries) who love to get together to celebrate holidays. We got together with a group for food and Christmas caroling this past week as part of our monthly 'family home evening.'

About 20 other senior missionaries and us at the Christmas get-together family home evening.

Caroling on the streets of Lima after the family home evening with the other Americans.

(Note that other volunteer senior missionaries we work with serve in areas such as church legal affairs, area medical advisers, self-sufficiency leaders, and church and family history consultants.)

Christmas away from family and friends is not always easy, but we have made the best that we can with the great support we have here in Peru.

Beautiful Christmas Tree at Jockey Plaza Mall, Lima - A reminder that it is really Christmas here in Peru, even without the snow and cold.

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Merry Christmas from Sandy and Marshall

Christmas Panetone in Lima

Top on the list of holiday food in Peru is Panetone. This is a big Italian fruit bread that everyone eats at Christmastime in Peru. You may be too poor to afford a turkey or a ham, but as long as you get your Panetone, life is good.

Every store has shelves stocked with up to a dozen different brands. The bread is big - about the size of a soccer ball. Some come in plastic bags; the fancier Panetone comes in a box. Prices start around $3/loaf and go up to about $8/loaf for the really good stuff that comes in the box.

Our giant 2-pound Christmas loaf of Panetone and hot chocolate mixed with cinnamon - the most traditional of Peruvian Christmas foods.

Guinea Pig - the Other Christmas Treat

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better than the Panetone, you stumble across the 'other' Peruvian tradition - enjoying a delicious roasted guinea pig (called 'Cuy') for Christmas dinner. Cuy has been eaten for centuries by people in the Andes all the way from Colombia to Chile, but they are especially popular in Peru. You can buy Cuy in restaurants, or buy them live to raise and eat, or get them prepackaged in a grocery store.

I had to snap a shot of these critters packaged in shrink wrap in a local grocery store. All their hair is removed and they are de-gutted. How convenient!

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Prepackaged guinea pig (cuy) for Christmas dinner.

Peruvians always ask me if I have eaten Cuy. I tell them yes, but that it was both the first and last time. When they ask me why, I tell them I just can't bring myself to eating any more rodents. I call them 'rats without tails', and most locals laughingly agree with me, but they still love eating them.

Star Wars - Los Ultimos Jedi

Saturday night, we went to see the latest Star Wars movie - "Los Ultimos Jedi".

Los Ultimos Jedi

This movie came in two versions: either totally dubbed into Spanish or the English version with Spanish subtitles. We luckily found a theater showing the latter version. Otherwise, we would have come out of the movie saying, "Que la fuerza este contigo!" (May the force be with you).

Movies are cheap here in Peru.  The Star Wars movie tickets cost $6.50 each, and the giant food deal with a big refillable bucket of popcorn, two drinks, and an order of nachos cost about $10. What a deal!

So much junk to eat that we skipped dinner!

White Christmas

Even through we fly into the jungle on Christmas day, we still have the chance to see a White Christmas. As we fly from the coast to the jungle, we fly high over the Andes Mountains with many peaks over 19,000 ft. This is the scene I saw on one of our last trips as I looked out the window.

High over the Andes Mountains, not far from the equator. It snows at high altitude, even at the equator.

I am glad the cockpit flight instruments help the pilots keep us above these snowy cliffs of the Andes, White Christmas or naught!


So, tomorrow is Christmas, a special day celebrated throughout the world. And the fact that we have to travel to Pucallpa on that day is not a bad thing - it is a good thing because children in need will now be able to see clearly. We are grateful we have this chance to serve here in Peru.