Yesterday we had the awesome opportunity to go with Jeff and Julie Hines to Las Delicias (the delights) which they have targeted for a community transformation mission. The community is in a remote area just outside the city. They don't have any electricity or running water. In fact, because the community is on a very steep hill, the nearest water is in the river down below and so they would have to walk about 2 km uphill to carry the water back. What water they do bring back isn't clean either, so many of the kids have worms and other parasites; diarrhea being quite commonplace.

The project would include digging a well with a purification system to provide clean water, building a community center that would serve several purposing including public health education and preventative medical treatments, and possibly even a child care center that would allow single parents to go into town to earn money to support their families.

Below are some pictures to give you an idea of the lifestyles of the people who live there, a picture says a thousand words!


This is one of the families that Jeff and Julie are working with. The little girl in the pink dress (right) has severe malnutrition and will be taken to the doctor this week. In the meantime, bottles of medicine will hopefully help her gain some weight and fight off her infections.
This is the view of two of the houses that we visited.

This little boy was so thrilled to get his photo taken, he wanted to show off his toys and have their photos taken too!

Here, Julie is cleaning and bandaging some wounds. Some are old mosquito bites, scratched with dirty finger nails and never treated. Among his other wounds are a cut from a machete and some blisters on his feet (probably since he doesn't have shoes). The skin around the blisters is black and dead.

Notice also the boy in the white shirt. His belly is swollen with worms and malnutrition. He is fascinated with watching Julie, aside from her visits, he has never seen this type of medical treatment.

This is the inside of one of the homes. There is no running water or electricity, the microwave is broken and used for storage! Three people live here in this one little room.

This is the house next to the one above and here there are nine people living (a mother, father, and their 7 kids).

This shows how steep the hill is! Imagine hauling water up this! It's no wonder that they don't drink much water or have enough to bathe.

This adorable little boy is 5 years old. Having been very malnourished as a baby, his growth was severly stunted to the point that he looks like a 2-year old. He hated having the bath, and cried the whole time, but as soon as it was over, was very happy to be clean and dry! Notice the swelling on his belly too. His parents were given worm medicine, so hopefully he should be getting better soon!