What you manage to cram into your second fifty pound bag of luggage is really what our Bolivian mission is mostly about. Just how many antibiotic ointments, band aids, dressings, alcohol prep pads, hydro cortisone creams, antifungal meds, topical or oral reading glasses, all strengths of pain relievers for adult and children. (a deep breath) Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen, toothbrushes, multi vitamins for adult and children, oral antibiotics, PCN, Doxy, Augmentin, Cipro, Sulfa, Clindamycin oral antiparasitics, mebendazole, eye and ear antibiotics can one stuff into one suit case and not go over that magical 50 pound weight limit. If you do go over the preset weight limit your bag will cost you an extra hundred dollars to travel along with you. Along with the medical clinics that we will be holding in the small rural villages our team will also help educate the Mayan Indians on techniques of how to care for their own selves better. Somebody let out of the bag that I have hosted many teaching opportunities for children back here in the states... Naomi.
Though the many years in the fire department I have lead many teaching moments for children attending schools in our local area. The best event we ever put on in the fire department was our "Haunted Highways" display held a number of years ago during Halloween. Sometime I will have to sit down and try and tell the story behind Haunted Highways and thank everyone who made this event such a big success for our department. Recently I have helped create a team teaching event we put on for the kids in the grade schools around the Grants Pass School District. We try and indoctrinate them into being responsible, what you should or should not flush down the toilet techniques, while they are still young. God knows their parents will try and flush anything down the toilet. Be thankful I don't have pictures to prove my point.
My part in the Bolivian mission sounds like it might be changing or evolving a bit from what was originally planned. The real doctors and nurses going along will be treating the patients and I will be entertaining the kids who come to visit our clinic's. I hope the Spanish speaking translator they assign me is quick on their feet, has a good sense of humor and can figure out what I am trying to say when I go off with one of my "Hickersonism's" like... "you little Kibbler elves need to learn how to wash the lick-goob off your hands with soap and water". Or... "oh quit, you Fuddruckers, I have been hurt worse eating chicken". I actually have quite a bit of experience entertaining kids in foreign lands. When visiting Mexico a couple times I brought along a thousand pencils one time and many hundreds of crayons on another visit to give away to the small children that would peer over the seats in the very rural buses when seeing their first white American. The word would get out in the Mexican Plazas that I was giving away stuff and I would be mobbed by droves of excited kids. I would have to retreat to my motel room to restock for the onslaught of children that would meet me in the streets.
We are in the process of making several hundred color books and collecting color crayons to give to the children while they are waiting in line before they or their parents are treated in the medical clinics. I am now trying to decipher the Spanish story lines in the new color books so I can expand on the valuable lessons that we are trying to teach them.
This is where I am going to enlist my blog readers, my friends and my family to help me with my next adventure into Bolivia by donating some items on the medicine list above or color crayons. All your donations will be tax deductible since Project Helping Hands is non profit organization. For those of you who would like to just send me money I will put it to good use. To learn more about Project Helping Hands please check their website: http://projecthelpinghands.org/
I am going on the Bolivia Highlands "Uyuni Salt Flats" - March 2012 trip. If you choose to make a donation on their site, please designate it with my name (Bill Hickerson) so it gets credited to my trip expenses. Thank you for taking the time and showing support!! It’s going to be a exciting trip. I look forward to writing all about the journey. Thank you in advance.
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