SHOPPING SPREES & SHARING JOY

SHOPPING SPREES

We spent most of our week shopping. When we receive small one-item requests or there are items on a larger project that need to be purchased in person because our vendors do not carry them, we go shopping. This involves a lot of over-the-river and through-the-woods experiences to find the requested items with many unique sights along the way.

We also must check out a car which involves submitting a request to our leader in Argentina. He approves it and sends it to our buyer in Chile (who also manages the car fleet) and then we hope that a vehicle is available. We use the metro as much as possible but not when we go on a shopping trip.

First purchase- awnings for a hospital in a Santiago suburb 30 minutes south. At the onset of COVID 19 many hospital and clinic waiting rooms were moved outside the entrance of the buildings leaving patients exposed to the sun and rain. After we made the delivery, we met with hospital leaders to discuss a future project to donate medical equipment.

Then downtown to a shop with a unique storefront to buy a distillation machine for a Mapuche clinic so they can produce oils from the medicinal herbs they grow to use in arthritis workshops for the elderly. We will deliver this at the ceremony.

On to the mall to buy clarinets, part of the donation to the inner-city youth symphony. They were received with delight.

SUSTENANCE

We found sustenance during our two-day shopping spree.

Then 45 minutes north to a warehouse to buy an industrial wet/vac for a fire station. This required two trips. When we arrived on the first day, we were told that the office staff leaves at 4:00 even though the warehouse is open until 6:00. On the second attempt, we called to tell them we were on our way and were told that protocol at the warehouse is to give three hours’ notice for workers to retrieve items from the shelves. So, when we called at 2:00 p.m. they said they did not have time because they closed at 4:00 p.m. Customer service is just a bit different here. We begged and unhappily the warehouse staff retrieved the box in 20 minutes. We did not have the van on the second day, so, thankful the box fit in the car. Our office looks like a warehouse. Not pictured is the big box of seeds we have stored at our apartment because the seeds need to be stored in a cold environment and our apartment fits the bill!

CEREMONY

We ended the week at a beautiful ceremony at a CESFAM in the town of San Pedro, two hours southeast of Santiago. The San Pedro family health center is the gateway and first contact for health care for more than 20,000 people. San Pedro is a 100% rural area covering 800 square kilometers with very few resources. The health system includes one rural clinic, four rural posts, and two rural medical stations. Their referral hospital is 40 km away in Melipilla. The existing equipment is very old and in poor condition. The acquisition and replacement of equipment will allow these rural health posts to improve the healthcare they deliver. During the pandemic, the number of patients has risen from 9,500 to more than 12,500. The church donated GYN and podiatric diagnostic beds, footstools, monitors, scales, mayo stands, exam tables, and a generator. The donation of a generator is necessary at one of the posts because electricity is not reliable due to frequent power surges and blackouts.