Bolivia-Part 1

July 09, 2013

Bolivia-Part 1

I know, I know...I've been back from Bolivia for several days now and there has been nothing on this blog. I had really good intentions, but let's be real, I'm a little lazy. Part of the problem was that I didn't even know where to begin. Trying to summarize an experience so far outside my everyday life in a blog post is so overwhelming I might as well be trying to give a cat a bath and then tie a cute little bow on it's neck (not an easy task).

Ok, enough of the whining and excuses; I will now attempt to effectively share the last few weeks with you. This might be a long post.

Any time you travel, I think there are expectations of how things will be, what you will do, what you will see, etc. I've traveled quite a bit so I always think I've learned the lesson that it is better to keep expectations to a minimum and just go with the flow. I have not learned that lesson. When I was asked to go on this trip I got really excited because this is the reason I became a nurse; to be able to show God's love to people all over the world by helping to meet their physical needs. The fact that I don't really speak Spanish did not appear to be a barrier in my mind at all...I had the power of nursing on my side! God quickly threw all my expectations and unrealistic ideas out the window and replaced them with something better. That said, I know everyone just wants to see pictures :)

Here's a picture of my sweet traveling companions. One of the greatest blessings was getting to know them better.

The day after we arrived, we partnered with two American doctors to have a clinic. My main job was to run the pharmacy although there was plenty of time to play with kiddos.

It was completely God's provision that allowed us to meet the two doctors. There was actually not really anything planned for us to do after that first clinic because the organization we went with was used to just having students, but the doctors had some other clinics planned and decided that having four RNs along could be pretty handy. We nurses are definitely the kind of people who need to be doing something, so we jumped at the opportunity to accompany them. The next day we met up with the doctors and their team from the states (who were not medical personnel), and set up a clinic in a squatters village. We helped screen the patients before the were seen by the physicians. At first we only had kids come, one of the locals that was with us said that the adults weren't coming because they were afraid we would cut them open. Thankfully we gained their trust and were able to see many people that day.

The last day we spent with our new friends was the best! We went to a school to do physicals. We happened to be there on the same day as they were celebrating the school's anniversary, so after we did physicals, the kids put on a program. It was so much fun to watch them perform traditional dances and see the excitement on their faces when the school brought out cake.