Huacaybamba!

Photos
*We had to leave our home at 3:25 a.m. to catch our early morning flight out of Lima. This is the same type of Airplane we used to catch out of Wenatchee so we felt right at home.
*The view as we land in Huaraz
*Airport Parking Lot- pretty small airport so not a lot of cars here
*Little pig tied up to a pole in downtown Huaraz
*View from the airport in Huaraz.  Mt. Huascarán, 22,205 feet tall

*Rob uses his Boy Scout knot tying skills to tie a plastic bag which we put over our suitcase to protect it from the dust on the road

You know that when no Peruvian you talk to has any idea where a place is that it must be remote. Well, Huacaybamba fits that description. We have yet to find a Peruvian who has any idea where this place is. And the people who live there feel the same way. From education officials from the provincial government, to parents of students, to nurses, to teachers--it was interesting to hear the same sad refrain--"Nos han olvidado" (They have forgotten us.)

We had the opportunity to let these beautiful and humble people know that they are not forgotten to God. Even though none of them are members of our church, or for that matter have ever heard of it, we were able be there following through with some donations to their schools and health center that will make a positive difference in their lives now and into the future. More on that later.

So where exactly is Huacaybamba? When Michelle received a location signal from our Personal Locator Beacon that Rob has used to send our location, she commented, "Wow! You were totally in the middle of nowhere!" 

Monday, November 2, 2015

The 2:30am alarm Monday came way too early. We flew from Lima to Huaraz to begin our journey to Huacaybamba. The sun was just rising as we landed in Huaraz. Landing in Huaraz was similar to landing in Wenatchee as far as the geography was concerned. There were tall pines spread about the mountainsides and lots of golden grassland between. There were also some small shrubs and snow capped mountains in the distance. The aircraft was a familiar Dash 8 turboprop like the ones Horizon Air flew into Wenatchee for many years. However, the approach to landing was a bit different because the valley is narrow so it was more like landing in Cashmere.  

 The Highway to Huaycabamba

The six and a half hour drive to Huacaybamba was on good paved road until the crest of the Andes. We passed through a tunnel at 15,500 feet above sea level and the pavement pretty much ended there after less than two hours of driving. The dirt road was pretty rough and it went on for a long time. A very windy road and a very bouncy drive. Mary compared it to the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland, but it went on for four and a half hours! 

Photos

*Logs being cut up in the middle of the highway.

*View from the road reminds us of Southern Utah

*Many large busses and other large vehicles also use this road daily
*Rock cut out of the mountain is just enough for big busses and trucks to pass by. It is a sheer drop a long way down to the river off the edge of the road.

Huaycabamba

Photos
*There are many farm animals all over the mountain
*And many people walking along the road with their livestock
*A man walking along with a plow. It is Spring here and time to plant
*A farmer hooking up his plow
*Cuy - an important part of the Peruvian diet. This man was walking down the street with a dead cuy (guinea pig)  and asked me if I wanted to buy it. I told him no, but asked if I could take a photo of it instead. He happily agreed
*A view of the rooftops of Huacaybamba
*A lady walking along the road with her children
*A family walking up the steep hillside to another part of the community
*Health care workers at the Health Post with the Ultra Sound machine which was donated to them. They have been able to use it to detect problems in unborn babies early enough for them to be sent to the city to be treated. In the past, they couldn't tell if there were problems until birth and then it was too late many times to get the needed help since the Hospital is over 6 hours away on very bumpy roads.

*A beautiful view from the Health Post

*Dogs - every where in this town were dogs sleeping in the middle of the main road. I guess people just drive around them.

When we arrived at the Health Post in Quichirragra, which is 20 minutes from Huacaybamba, the provincial capital, the current president of the province, the newly elected president of the province, the mayor, and three other community leaders were waiting to meet with us for a formal ceremony thanking the church for the donation of medical equipment to the health post. The two presidents spoke as did the mayor and they were very appreciative of the fact that in this far removed province of Peru, they were neither alone, nor completely forgotten. Lunch had been prepared for us after our journey across the Andes Mountains. They were very gracious and it was an honor for us to be there representing the Church. 

Lidio, the acting head of the health post, explained how their citizens were benefitting from the new equipment and how it has improved their ability to diagnose patients so they can know when to send them to a larger health facility. They demonstrated the use of the equipment for us with a (consenting) pregnant woman from the village to demonstrate how it is used and what benefit it will bring. 

We shared with them that this donation from the church was made possible by the many contributions of church members and others worldwide—many of them only $1 or $2. Many donations come from people and countries that are poor themselves, but as they share with others they too are blessed as givers. 

The province of Huacaybamba has about 23,000 inhabitants and the capital where we are staying is at about 10,000 feet above sea level. We are staying at what we have been told is the best hotel in town (see photos—it set us back about $10 for the room) and are grateful to be able to be part of something so important for improving the health of this community. We learned during our visit that 47% of the children are anemic due to inadequate dietary nutrition and this area has one of the highest levels of poverty in Peru.

Our Hotel

Photos:
*Rob standing in the doorway of the bathroom
*Water heater for the shower. (this one just took the chill off the water)

Water in this village is on for only about an hour per day in each of the neighborhoods and at the little hotel, it is first thing in the morning. It came on just in time for a refreshing (cold) shower before we had to be leave the hotel.

Breakfast was fried eggs with fresh bread and ripe avocado in a nearby restaurant that appears to be on the top floor of the tallest building in this village (third floor). They are a very humble and quiet people and in a very simple village on the side of a mountain. The side streets are steep up and down and the main couple streets parallel the contour of the hillside.

The Schools

Photos  

*Students of Huallanca school

*The school in Huallanca

*The school playfield

*The boys and girls bathroom

*The holes in the ground where the toilets will be installed

*The parents and students of Huallanca Caseria (village)

*The view from the play field at Huallanca school

*Hermana Merrill with a cute primary grade student

*Beautiful Welcome sign for our visit

*The School Yard

*The new desks in one classroom

*The new desks in another older classroom. Traditional construction using clay over beams to form the ceiling of the classroom. The roof is simple corrugated metal, which must be really noisy in the rainy season.

*The view from Cullcuy.

We went to Huallanca Caseria (a village) to visit the school built by the parents for their 30 children to participate in a formal ceremony with them. We were joined by the specialist responsible for primary education in the province. Once the parents built the school, it was turned over to the provincial education authority and then instructional materials were purchased and teachers hired.  

The floor of the school is dirt, so the Church donated cement for the floor. The city provided gravel and sand that the parents needed to be able to mix with the cement powder and the parents had a work party that day to be able to make the cement for the floors of the schoolhouse. They had already put in the donated windows and doors and were excited to finally be able to finish the floors which needed to be done before being able to move in the new desks.  

They had the desks and chairs still wrapped in the shipping materials but unpacked several and set them up in front of the school so that we could see the children in their new desks. They also brought the donated computer and put it on one of the desks. Once the floor is poured they will string the electrical wire that was donated to be able to have light and power for the computer in their classrooms along with the desks and whiteboards.  

The roof of the school is just a few wooden timbers with corrugated metal sheeting. The parents hope in the future to be able to put a proper roof on the school. They had dug the toilets for the boys and girls, but had only been able to put up corrugated metal sheeting (calamina) for the walls and roof. The Church donated desks and chairs, two large whiteboards, a computer, two toilets (which will be installed later after the cement has been poured), electrical wire, three doors and two windows.  

We were fed a lunch as their honored guests. A local soup with chicken, potatoes, cilantro, and a coarse bread made there in the village. They also served seasoned cooked whole wheat which reminded me of breakfast as a child when my Mom would make whole wheat kernel cereal. We had recently eaten a sizable breakfast, not knowing when we might have our next meal, but there was a lot of food for us and we ate, knowing that they had made this meal as a gesture of gratitude for the donations from the Church.

We then made our way to the school in the village of Cullcuy, about another 1,500 feet in elevation above Quichirragra. The road was rough--really more of a track than a road. Because the roads are made mostly of clay, this village is almost inaccessible when the rains begin.

This village and school is larger and had more students than in Huallanca Caseria. When we arrived we were greeted by all the students and teachers who formed two lines on each side of the entry to the school, which had been decorated with an arch of fresh flowers as is the custom here when welcoming honored guests.  

A darling little girl came to us with a teacher and presented "Hermana Gringo" (Merrill) with a bouquet of fresh flowers. There was a welcome sign at the entry and when we were ushered into the first classroom there was a beautiful colored chalk thank-you note written on the blackboard.

The headmaster gave a speech thanking the Church, and us as its representatives, for the great gift we had given them that will help so many children now and into the future. They fed us another lunch as their honored guests. A similar soup plate with three types of potatoes, chicken, and a few other herbs—with of course, some delicious bread. We couldn’t eat it all because we were stuffed already, but we did put down as much as we could before bidding farewell to these humble people in the high Andes and beginning the rough ride back to Huaraz.

The ride home was as rough as the ride to Huacaybamba, but we knew what to expect. Preloading with motion sickness and altitude sickness medicines made it better. Night fell just as we were nearing the summit of the Andes. We arrived at Huaraz well after dark and the hotel there was very comfortable. It was a remarkable contrast to what we had experienced in Huacaybamba. We arose early for the 5:30 a.m. pickup to take us to the airport for the flight home to Lima. It was good to be home in Lima again!