Lots of work & lots of fun with our amazing March mission team

Have been on the road for a number of weeks now, and as usual lots of catching up to do! The March mission team arrived safe and sound and got straight to work….well, that is after some much deserved cake and celebrating. Savannah and Delaney had a birthday to remember, celebrating their 11th birthday on their first night in Puno, Peru. The March team was a smaller group, 8 individuals, and unique in that they were pretty much all one family. There was the Wager family, consisting of Dave the candyman (owner of the Idaho Candy Co.), Jill the dentist and their 3 children, Kade, Savannah, and Delaney. In addition, we were blessed to have Dave’s brother Gary, Jill’s partner in dentistry, John, and a wonderful physical therapist, Barb.

The group got off to a great start with a successful dental clinic at the Puno church. Kade got right to work as a dental assistant for Jill, while John teamed up with our wonderful local dentist, Paola, who continues to graciously volunteer her time to assist with our clinics.

After a long clinic day in Puno the group had a short night’s rest and the next morning we headed off to the island of Taquile, which sits in the middle of Lake Titicaca—about a 3 hour boat ride from Puno. The group enjoyed a quick lunch of the island’s EVERYDAY special, delicious grilled trout, and then went straight to work. That afternoon we held a 4 hour dental clinic, with a line of patients so long that many had to be asked to come back to our second clinic the following morning.

Barb also made good use of our patients’ time and taught some back care basics and some simple physical therapy techniques to those waiting in line to be seen by our dentists.

 Barb also became the quick favorite amongst the group, providing wonderful and much needed massages after our long days of clinics. Thinking that a physical therapist might just have to be a requirement for each of the following groups….

With a tightly packed schedule, the group had yet another brief night’s rest and we loaded up and headed off to Copacabana, Bolivia for two additional clinics. Our first clinic took place at a small village outside of Copacabana on Palm Sunday. The group was blessed to be able to take part in the church’s Palm Sunday services and even sang some English worship songs for the congregation. On the left you’ll see a picture of the three guys making a solid effort to sing a hymn in Aymara with Pastor Juan.

Following the service our crew got back to business and held yet another incredibly successful dental clinic. We were thrilled that Paola was even able to travel to Bolivia with the group…with no extra chair she resourcefully made use of one of the church pews to see her patients…and the technique worked…with no anesthesia at all this little guy zonked out leaving Paola at peace to fill his cavaties!

 At all of our prior clinics one of my primary roles was training patients waiting in line about dental health and how to properly take care of their teeth. At this clinic, however, we were blessed to have a number of our local healthcare promoters present. In turn, I decided to use the clinic as an opportunity to provide additional training for the healthcare promoters that were present. I trained a group of 6 of them on dental health, teeth brushing techniques, causes of cavaties, etc. and then supervised them as they each took turns teaching patients waiting in line all the information they learned. It was SUCH an awesome train the trainer experience and I was so impressed by what a great job they did teaching!

There were A LOT of kids present at the clinic, many who were waiting to be seen and many waiting as their parents were seen by the dentists. Both Savannah and Delaney did an excellent job of interacting with the kids and keeping them wholeheartedly entertained. The bubbles they had brought along were a HUGE hit!

Our second clinic outside of Copacabana the following day took place at the local elementary school. This provided us with the unique opportunity to teach a large class of 4 to 7 year olds about dental health and teeth brushing techniques. I was excited to have one of our healthcare promoters, Juan, teach the class about cavaties and the importance of good brushing habits.

Then we used a plaque revealing dye to do a teeth brushing demonstration with the entire class. They each had a toothbrush and tiny mirror and brushed and brushed and brushed until all their blue was gone. They were SOOOO darn cute…terrified at first, but then thought the blue stuff in their mouth was quite funny.

After their teeth brushing activity each of the children was seen by one of our dentists, wherein the sad reality smacked us in the face….already by just age 4 or 5 EVERY single child had between 5-15+ cavaties…most of which were already so advanced that they couldn’t even be filled. It is moments like these that we are saddened, yet ever so motivated to continue our work with education and prevention. Most of the children had never brushed before in their lives, and neither they nor their parents were aware of the damage that sugar, soda, and similar foods cause to your teeth. In turn, it’s a situation where a tiny bit of education goes such a very long way. In an effort to at least provide some additional protection to their poor little teeth, we also provided fluoride treatments to each of the kids.

With education as the focus of all of our clinics, I was so excited to have 4 more of our healthcare promoters at the second clinic to train on dental health. I was once again so encouraged by how well they picked up on all of the information I presented to them and how many excellent questions that had for me as well.

To the right is a picture of me with our three wonderful dentists and six of our local Bolivian healthcare promoters who received training on dental health.

Although it was supposed to be our dirty little secret…this was just too funny not to share. At our last clinic, packed in amongst our dental supplies was none other than a big box of Idaho Spud bars…a chocolate bar made by Dave’s company, Idaho Candy Co. (Yes, that’s right….the dentist is married to the candyman…a wonderful husband keeping his wife in business!) So before our last clinic we all treated ourselves to a yummy Idaho Spud bar….right before doing dental work and teaching about the harmful effects of sweets…..hipocrisy in its finest….we had an excellent giggle over it…and justified our actions by the fact that we DO have good brushing habits.  

Now I don’t want you to go thinking that this team was all work and no play….they absolutely knew how to have a great time! After a solid week of go, go, go and hard work it was time for the team to have a few days to just enjoy themselves.

The Wagers found the perfect souvenir for John…a one of a kind rainstick with real llama teeth!

The whole group, including myself, enjoyed the hammocks, swings, and tightrope in the beautiful yard of their Copacabana hostal–which has a wonderful view of the entire city and Lake Titicaca.

Our last night in Copacabana we all enjoyed watching a beautiful sunset over Lake Titicaca as we celebrated Bev and Scott’s 35th wedding anniversary!!! 35 years and still not only exploring, but working to make a real difference in the world…a truly wonderful and inspiring couple.

From Copacabana the team headed off to La Paz, Bolivia, where they visited the Methodist Church of Bolivia’s headquarters and were presented with medals and hats in thanks for their service.

We also visited one of the local schools, where the kids helped students from one of the English classes write letters to students back in Idaho. They will share the letters with their classmates back home in hopes of developing pen pal relationships for the English students in La Paz—very cool!

The group had a wonderful last couple of days in La Paz together and were blessed to spend some time with the Funk family (missionaries from the U.S. who have been serving in Bolivia for over 3 years)…their two boys were especially grateful for the opportunity to hang out with Kade!

I for one, simply could not find the words to express my gratitude to this mission team….each one of them was a genuine inspiration to me.  I just kept thinking….how blessed am I to not only be surrounded by amazing Peruvians and Bolivians, but then to also be in a position to meet and work alongside such truly wonderful individuals from my own country as well. I can’t thank them enough for the passion, love, and FUN that they shared with us during their time down here and am so grateful for the wonderful new friendships we developed.

For more pics from our work with the March mission team, click on the following link: http://whereintheworldiscammeo.shutterfly.com/1049.   Stay tuned for my next update with my incredible travels through Bolivia!