Lydia's Year in Peru: Wheelchair Project

Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday of last week were some of the best days of my life! It was Rotary Club San Borja Sur's annual Wheelchair Foundation project. 24 Texas Rotarians joined us for the week and went with us to all of the ceremonies. Our first day, we went to the National Military Hospital where we gave 150 wheelchairs to veterans and military families. That day was filled with ceremony mostly. As exchange students, our official duty there was to translate for the Texans to the Peruvians. I was on a team with Martha and Guy the first day. I had a speech from them to say to each person receiving a chair about how God is sending his love through the chair and through Rotary. Martha also asked me to ask the families if she could pray with them, and of course they all wanted to. They also gave out bibles to the families and patients. Their presence was such a warm one that lifted the needy up.

The president of Peru, Ollanta Humala, was supposed to make an appearance, but because of a last minute ordeal in Cusco, had to cancel. I was disappointed after getting so excited to meet him. The ceremony went on though, with a high ranking officer. They showed us 4 traditional Peruvian dances and there were a ton a speeches which pretty much all said the same thing.

The huge group of recipients with their new wheelchairs.

Day 2 was when we really got to give chairs to the poorest people. Manchay is a part of the district of Pachacamac, so we took a tour of the ruins in Pachacamac in the morning and then boarded the bus to the Central Square of Manchay. We had 63 chairs to give that day. For the second, easier half of the ceremony I was the general translator, and I also was with Martha and Guy again. I also helped some other groups since we were a little short of exchange students that day. The faith is very strong in Manchay, so almost everyone wanted to seek out the prayers of the gringos.

The extravagant town square stuck in with the poverty.

The cathedral in Manchay.

Our last day of service was Saturday when we went up to Ventanilla. We'd been there before for a medical clinic and for Christmas. We left the house early and got to the clinic just in time to be split into groups. This time I was with Beverly, the project leader from Texas, and her daughter Lauren. We were with the littlest kids with the hardest disabilities. In total Rotary and the Wheelchair Foundation gave away 150 chairs on Saturday as well.

I was the official ceremony translator for the third day, which was way harder than it looks! I did okay, but I would have liked to be perfect. I did get a ton of practice though, and that's good for me.