Coordinating, Contracting, Documenting, and Planning

The last several weeks have seen us spend a lot of time in the Area Office with the routine, but ubiquitous tasks involved with successful project planning, implementation, and evaluation.

We have traveled a little as part of the follow-up evaluation for prior vision projects done by the Church throughout Peru in the last 13 years. The purpose of the follow-up is to evaluate the current model for vision projects and determine if there are ways to strengthen it and modify it to more effectively meet the needs of the areas and deepen the impact to bless the lives of the poor and needy.

Our first trip took us to Puno (elevation 12,500 feet) and Juliaca to evaluate the impact of the training and equipment donation that were part of that project. We stayed an extra day and took a tour of Lake Titicaca to the floating islands of Uros and also Taquile Island.  It was an interesting cultural experience.

Subsequently, we flew to Huanuco for a few hours to evaluate a similar vision project and had the chance to visit for some hours with Dr. Crisanta who offered great insights into how future projects could be strengthened. Huanuco is the city of eternal spring and it was a pleasant day when we visited. Unfortunately for Mary there were some insects at the airport that really liked the way she tasted and she was uncomfortable for some days thereafter. Huanuco is the home to the second oldest ruins that have been found in Peru and they believe there are older ones underneath that have yet to be excavated.

The ruins in Huánuco date to 2,000 B.C. and until a few years ago were the oldest known ruins in Peru.

We have spent a lot of time during the last few months refining contracts with three partners for wheelchairs and two maternal and newborn care training courses. This week we finally were able to get the three contracts signed and can now proceed with the projects. It is good to finally have those projects now moving forward again and we are looking forward to assisting with Helping Babies Breath and Helping Mothers Survive training in November. More to come on that later.

Last Thursday we helped coordinate the donation of surplus telephone equipment to the firefighters here in Lima. The national emergency communications center is headquartered here in Lima and they will use the donated phone system for a backup communications center in Piura, in the northern part of the country near the border with Ecuador. In this way, if there is a major disaster affecting Lima, they will still be able to coordinate the response with the communications center in Piura serving as the national headquarters. There was a brief ceremony to express gratitude for the donation and the formal signing of documents to make the donation official.