a shocking day

Today was another shocking, overwhelming day to say the least. I know that a few of you have travelled in underdeveloped countries before, and have seen some poverty. Since this is the first country I´ve been to like that, I have nothing to compare it to. I believe that until you have seen poverty with your own eyes, you cannot say that you know what poverty is. I think that to really ´know´ something, you have to have experienced it...and by experienced, I mean put your hands in the dirt, smelled it, seen it, and listened to the people living in it. One word, completely unbelievable. Today was my first day at the Centro de Salud de Nazarenas. I have never seen or imagined anything like it. I got a tour of the clinic, and then basically I could walk around helping whoever(doctors, nurses, surgeon, lab, etc.) I decided to stay with the doctor at the ´walk-in´ part of the clinic, because I figured I would get the most out of it. Let me describe the clinic: blood mixed with dirt and who knows what else on the floor, no clean water, hasn´t been sweeped in weeks maybe...they have NO clue what sanitation and cleanliness is! They barely sterilize anything for surgery, they don´t clean the eye and ear pieces after seeing patients, NOBODY wears gloves, NOBODY wears masks, they don´t change the sheet OR wash their hands after seeing a patient, no doors, no windows, there are bugs and who knows what other kinds of flies everywhere...etc, I can keep going and going, but you get the idea. So I spent 3 hours with the doctor today, and probably saw about 20 patients, mostly babies, pregnant women, and children. (they are the only ones who get any kind of help from the government...and having said that, only a fever and flu is covered). The doctor was amazing...thank God I can speak Spanish (well, at least at a level that I can have conversations with doctors about the patients!). The only drawback, is that I never really learned medical terminology in Spanish...but at least it all has a Latin root, so I understand almost all of the physiological and medical terms. (thanks to the intense physiology cramming sessions before finals last year!) But the doctor was great, the couple times I was completely lost, he drew me pictures! I guess he thought I had a lot more experience than I actually do, so at one point he threw me the stethoscope and said, ´take over, make a diagnosis!´ If any of you have volunteered in Canada, you know that the amount of liberty you have as a volunteer is extremely limitied, and is mostly restricted to observation. WELL, not here! I got to feel a pregnant woman´s stomach, to figure out how her baby was positioned. I got to hold kids, look down their throats, listen to their lungs. I palpated stomachs, listened to heart beats, took down patient vitals, one of the patients was sent off to be tested for tuberculosis, and another one for malaria...more than I would have thought I´d be doing after 3 weeks, let alone on the very first day. It was absolutely amazing. Now, let me tell you what kind of patients come to this clinics. Most of these people have never seen a 10 soles (5$) bill in their life. The houses they live in have no doors, no chairs, no tables, no windows... 9/10 adults are cannot read or even sign their own name (they fingerprint on documents!). They have their first child when they are 14 years old, and by the time they are 224, on average they have 6 kids. By the time they are 35, they lose all their teeth (because they have never seena toothbrush in their life). In terms of food: BREAKFAST: a glass or dirty water, LUNCH: 2 potatoes, DINNER: nothing. 1 teabag is for 8 people, for 3 DAYS! No wonder one of the first questions the Dr. asks is whether or not they have parasites or worms in their feces. It´s extremely common here. These families who are mostly work in agriculture, send their children as young as young as 3 years old down into the ´city´ to sell whatever they can. It takes 1 hour to walk there...and they are there from 7am-1am. Imagine a 5 year old walking home for 1 hour at 1am....So you get the idea, it´s hard to swallow. I´m learning SO much every day, it´s incredible. It makes you realized how obsessed we are with cleanliness, how ungrateful we can be, and how much we take things for granted. Despite everything I´ve said, these people have the warmest hearts, and the nicest smiles. It almost brings tears to my eyes.

a typical scene