Friday, June 10, 2011

Day 8 We say bye-bye to our new friends

Hey all :)

Today was our last day with our new friends from Charleston, this mission team was amazing and approached every situation with positivity and determination! They were so much fun to work with :)



Megan and Ashely working of medicine directions for the clinic :)




Toby and Steven outside the church :)




Carrie, Megan and Tita with some local kids after everyone got their name tags :)

We got to sleep in till 8AM TODAY!!!! Praise lol, when Pam told us last night we almost started to dance we were so excited, we had breakfast and relaxed till around 10am and they we took the group around the El Jardin property touring the various building and explaining to them where the construction that begins next week :) will be taking place, AMF is adding another building. The upstairs will accommodate eight more mission team members and the first floor will serve as a pastor research center and library.

After our tour we vented down to the S.C.O.T.A. school, which is one of three schools Medical Missions started down here to help the special needs children, S.C.O.T.A. stands for Special Children Of the Amazon :) it's right around the corner from El Jardin, and the way the facility works in with the Peruvian government is quite interesting, the contract states that if Medical Missions will provide the facility, and manage their up keep then the government will provide the teachers :) The one we visited had three large classrooms and outdoor patio like space a full kitchen and a full bathroom with showers.

We were informed that most of the children who attend these schools are from the poorest of poor families in Iquitos, so as a service they are feed a large meal at school everyday and the also take a shower everyday at school, this school employs three full time teachers and three teachers aids. The school is currently serving 27 children, who are either deaf or blind, physically impaired or emotional disturbed. We visit the down syndrome classroom that was a group of nine year olds :) they were so sweet and the school was very bright and cheery, it was really amazing to meet the teachers and see how much they cared for their students. It was really amazing because they do some much without many of the support programs that we take for granted with the American Public education system, while we were there we learned that the Peruvian government has only recently started a pilot program for seeing eye dogs in this country, this was a little shocking to me. Especially when a walking stick alone would be practically useless in this city with it's uneven sidewalks and various holes in the ground.

They are apparently a couple of U.S. Churches that partner with the SCOTA schools and come down and do work with them and throw them a party :) I hope they be one of the teams I have the opportunity to work with while I'm down here for the next six weeks :) because these children have such joy, they are so amazing I hope I have the opportunity to spend more time with them!

After that we had lunch and head out for some lunch :) I had a some Hawaiian Pizza :) I just can't seem to get enough pineapple down here :) it's so good, then the group took an opportunity to do some last minute souvenir shopping, now were back at El Jardin resting a little before we have to take them to the airport :( it's very sad to see them leave because I've formed such a personal connection with so many of them over this past week, we've gotten to know one another and shared in an amazing experience together :) and there departure marks the completion of my first official week as an AMF intern :) which is kinda crazy and really scary, I've been looking forward to this experience for months and less than two months time it'll be over... It's kind os surreal actually

Alright now that I've taken you down the road of nostalgia after only one week imagine what I'll be like when my week here is over... Lol

Anyways were about to begin prepping to head to the airport so I've got to go :)

Stay tuned


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Location:Iquitos Peru

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