The Expedition Blog

Today we worked a long day with 10 children and youth from Ilo, a community on the coast down toward Chile. The group of families traveled four hours by bus to reach us this morning and we finished sometime after 8 PM tonight. Thankfully, our work space was organized and ready to go as we were able to set up the wheelchairs and our workshop last night in the auditorium here at Casa de Avila. We are staying here as well and it is great to have a commute of only a few meters between our rooms, the breakfast room and the place where we work! No more long bus rides in Lima traffic this week.

A busy Sunday afternoon setting up the work space at Casa de Avila

Sarria arrived in a 10 year old chair, given to her when she was 4. It was a poor fit, to say the least.

Sarria’s Story

I began the day working with Sarria, and by the end of the day she and her mother deserved an award for patience. Sarria’s mother really wanted better postural support for her daughter. This required a molded backrest because of her severe scoliosis, that had likely been aggravated by her outgrown and inadequate wheelchair. Aaron, Hilary, Brittany and I began by using some older foam-in-place seating kits left over from an earlier trip (2008). Never one to waste resources, I figured the chemical reaction might be slow but it was worth a try.  This approach  has worked on other occasions – but not today.  At first I thought we were in luck – we created a shape that supported Sarria well in her new tilt-in-space wheelchair. But over the next hour, why did she keep sagging to the side more and more? We added chunks of foam here and there several times until we felt satisfied and finally moved on to make a cover for the backrest. That was when we discovered how  soft the foam really was – as in, will this ever truly solidify? Time for a lunch break – maybe it will harden while we eat.

Many hours later, Sarria in her new wheelchair

But there was no such luck and after lunch we decided to start over, this time with a nice fresh foam-in-place kit. Again, a snafu – only part of the chemicals expanded into a foam shape around Sarria’s back, while the other half remained liquid in the bottom of the bag.  We threw out the whole mess and started over again, hoping the third try would be the charm – and it was.

As Sarria’s mother (who probably could have done it herself by then) watched we finally succeeded in creating a supportive backrest for her daughter.  Sarria sat well, looked great, and in another two hours she was ready to go, her mother was pleased and we were relieved by the final success of her seating

Yeili was full of spunk at the end of the day when she got her new wheels

Yeili’s Story

Yeili is a delightful 8 year old girl who waited almost all day for her turn to be fitted with a wheelchair. She showed a kind heart and a great sense of humor. Yeili had us laughing at the end of the day as she wheeled herself in circles while waiting to have her picture taken. And I felt touched when she volunteered “My back feels so good sitting in this chair”. We wish her the best as she continues in school and enjoys life with her family.

Tonight we all sat out in the beautiful courtyard and ate sandwiches with fresh avocado and delicious mangos – thanks to our energetic students who headed off to the square to go shopping for the supplies. Tomorrow will bring 16 children and youth from Puno and we will have more stories and photos to share.