Our Mission: Creating Partnerships With Impoverished Bolivian Communities that Improve Health and Increase Economic Well-Being.
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Mano a Mano Blog
Learning Firsthand about the Bolivian Healthcare System
August 24, 2010 11:44
Brian Steber is a doctor from the US who recently arrived in Bolivia to volunteer with Mano a Mano in Cochabamba. He sent the following note about his first month:
I just wanted to let the Mano a Mano USA staff know about my recent experiences with a torn Achilles tendon and how much the Mano a Mano Bolivia staff has helped me.
I ruptured my Right Achilles playing basketball in CA one week prior to coming to Bolivia but since I was still able to walk (sort of), I went into a state of surgical denial, hoping that it would somehow heal well enough to avoid surgery. After 3 weeks of hobbling around Cochabamba I showed Dr. Sergio Zegarra (Mano a Mano’s Medical Director in Bolivia) the divot in my Achilles and he immediately called his friend and fellow Mano a Mano volunteer Dr "Willy" Lara who is a local Orthopedic surgeon. He determined that I needed surgery which I underwent in a Cochabamban hospital this past Tuesday. Dr. Jose Velasquez (Executive Director of Mano a Mano Bolivia) drove me around last Saturday for my blood tests and Ultrasound and took me back to pick up the results.
The entire staff of MMB has been incredibly helpful to this Gringo doctor who came down to try to help out a bit but also learn more about the Bolivian healthcare system; seeing it this closely wasn't what I had envisioned however! The office loaned me the crutches I'm using as well as an immobilizer I used preoperatively. They sent me flowers and then took me home after my 2 nights in the hospital. Dr. Velasquez checks in on me several times a day. I am incredibly grateful for all the support I have received from this great group of people.
I have a long rehab road ahead of me and have decided to return to CA at least until I am out of the cast and ambulating without crutches. I hope to be back just prior to the Oct. Continuing Ed conference with Regions Hospital.
Sincerely,
Brian Steber
Mano a Mano Air partnering with SAR
August 09, 2010 14:50
As part of our aviation program, Mano a Mano partners with other non-profits in Bolivia who have a need for an airplane, which can mean anything from emergency food drops to practicing parachuting from a plane. SAR Bolivia recently rented one of the Mano a Mano planes to do just that (Watch a video of SAR jumping from the Mano a Mano plane).
SAR Bolivia at the Mano a Mano hangar in Cochabamba
SAR is a volunteer organization in Bolivia that assists in all kinds of search and rescue operations. Over the years Mano a Mano has assisted them by donating firefighting supplies and equipment collected by volunteers in the US and through our aviation program.
Responding to a forest fire in department of Cochabamba
Emergency Flights to Oromomo
June 23, 2010 11:10
Recently Mano a Mano Apoyo Aereo has been doing a lot of emergency flights to Oromomo, a small community in the jungles of Bolivia.
Oromomo community members gathering as Mano a Mano plane lands
Many of our recent flights have been to airlift patients with leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease spread by the bite of a sandfly (for more info on the disease check out the WHO website).
Skin lesion on leg of Oromomo child caused by leishmaniasis
As we come across this disease more and more frequently, we are looking into ways to help combat its spread. In addition to providing emergency airlifts to city hospitals for serious cases, Mano a Mano is developing a lecture to provide more information about leishmaniasis to the villagers as well as distributing screen tents to help combat this disease and malaria (please contact us if you are interested in donating tents).
Click here for more photos of recent flights to Oromomo.
Caterpillar Challenge Grant
June 16, 2010 14:12
The Caterpillar Foundation has given Mano a Mano a challenge grant - they will match any donations made by businesses (not individuals) through December 31, 2010 up to $225,000!
Help us take advantage of this tremendous opportunity, whether through workplace giving, having Mano a Mano meet with your company, or just spreading the word. Thanks Caterpillar Foundation!
Pictures and Video from Trip to Bolivia
June 16, 2010 13:59
Right now there are a group of avid mountain climbers who traveled to Bolivia to both climb mountains and to start the process of raising funds for a clinic in Chunavi, Bolivia. They have spent the past few days with Mano a Mano, visiting some of our projects and attending the dedication ceremony of our 3rd agricultural water reservoir in Choquechampi, Bolivia.
They have been taking a ton of great photos and video during their trip; here are links to a few of their albums:
Connect with Mano a Mano:
TESTIMONIALS
- We were living like animals in the jungle and Mano a Mano has opened the doors to the corral and set us free. Don Felipe, Mayor of El Palmar, upon completion of road project with Mano a Mano
- "Our water runs away and the corn produces little or dies of thirst. We know that an atajada (water reservoir) would hold rain water to channel to fields as our ancestors did. Please help us again. You know we have ganas (motivation) and will work every day if you bring your machines and build with us. Then we could feed our children and sell the rest in the city.” Local woman in Choquechampi, asking Mano a Mano for help
- "We have learned how to work with Mano a Mano and we know that Mano a Mano delivers...the road from Cochabamba to Sucre is sowed with Mano a Mano projects…Todo el camino entre Cochabamba y Sucre esta sembrado con proyectos de Mano a Mano..." Don Nicholas from Uchuchi
- “We are responsible to give teachers a place to live. But we can barely afford houses for our own families. Our teachers have been living in little sheds that should be for animals but we just didn’t have any other place for them, so they would come here for a week or two and then go back to Santa Cruz. Who would teach our children? We were so ashamed, but what could we do. After we built the clinic with Mano a Mano, we asked for help with housing for our teachers. Now we have eight teachers. They stay in our community and teach our children.” Local father in Campo Vibora
- "I heard from her (a nurse friend) that there is no problem in getting supplies to use in treating patients, that the personnel in the Cochabamba office are available by phone every day to help with difficult cases, and that doctors receive more training from Dr. Ortuño who is very supportive. In most clinics in Bolivia, you can’t get supplies, the building starts to fall apart and nobody responds; you are totally on your own. I have found everything that my friend said about Mano a Mano to be true and am very happy to be working in this clinic. I travel to Cochabamba to the office once each month and feel that I am part of a big family that is Mano a Mano." Dr. Carlos Moises Guevara Retarnozo, when asked why he had chosen to work in a Mano a Mano clinic in spite of its remote location.
- For several years, midwife Nora traveled the 90 miles from Cochabamba to her original home in Chullpa K’asa to deliver babies and bring medications. She approached Mano a Mano, asking them to talk with Chullpa K’asa villagers about building a clinic there. When Mano a Mano’s volunteer team first visited the village to discuss building a clinic, the town officials had already prepared agreements on what they would contribute. But a vocal, skeptical member scoffed,“You’re nothing but ch’amas!” (in Quechua - noisemakers who promise everything but do nothing). He had often heard politicians make promises to his community, never to be seen or heard from again. When plans took shape, cynicism gave way to enthusiasm. The villagers chipped in and hired the only truck in town to drive to Cochabamba to pick up bricks. They wanted real bricks, not adobe (mud bricks) which crumble. The truck returned home over the twisty, rocky roads - only 90 miles, but a grueling 6 hour trek over a 16,000 foot pass. When the loaded truck could not reach the construction site, villagers grabbed their burden cloths, filled them with bricks and sand, and carried the heavy loads the last 200 yards on their backs. When the Chullpa K’asa clinic opened, the skeptic spoke passionately of Mano a Mano’s staff and volunteers as the only group who keeps its promises. This leader continued by encouraging his compañeros to use clinic services, adding with conviction that “now our wives and children won’t die”.
- “After the ribbon-cutting I walked into the women’s bathroom along with a group of shy, giggly high school girls. They seemed to be standing back, waiting to see what I would do…so I turned on the water in the sink, splashed a bit on my face, then combed my hair in front of the mirror. They all watched me, fascinated, animated interchanges voicing their surprise and delight. Then each, in turn, retrieved a comb from her pocket, turned on the water and began to wet and comb her long, black hair. I fought back tears as they thanked me for this gift – because I was there and they needed to thank someone for the miracle of warm running water – a place in which they could get clean and feel good about themselves. I left the village sensing that their lives had just taken a major step forward.” Lou Petzoldt, Mano a Mano volunteer who participated in dedication of sanitation project
DONORS
Generous donors who have helped to save and improve the lives of people living in poverty.
Alternative Gifts International
Wagner Foundation
Sundance Family Foundation
Lennox Foundation
Irwin Andrew Porter Foundation
Lored Foundation
