How could you not want to see this. A couple of kids from our last time in Paraguay.



To the Left, pictures do not do justice to the Iguazu Falls, this is only one small section that can be seen.







There is so much that is great about Paraguay and so much that is not so great. The people are very laid back, kind and truly appreciative of the medical attention they receive. Paraguay is the poorest country in South America, only slightly poorer the Bolivia. The country is landlocked, has no true natural resources and other than the falls that are on the border with Brazil and Argentina does not really have any great scenery.

The country fought two very unsuccessful wars with its neighbors, one with Brazil, giving up a huge amount of its territory to the east and then with Bolivia, again giving up some of its territory, which Bolivia ended up giving back because it was so worthless. Now its largest export is energy produced from the Dam sitting between Paraguay and Brazil, which was built with money from Brazil so they got a very good deal, a deal that by the way was never approved by the Paraguayan Parliament but is thought to have put a very large amount in the pocket of the countries president at the time.

The country was under a dictatorship for over 50 years and had the dubious distinction of being named as the most corrupt country in the world (and that is saying something). Post World War II it was host to some very unsavory characters, the most notable being Joseph Mengele and a few other Nazi war criminals that would move between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The country is changing slowly and corruption although present is not as acceptable (out in the open) as it once was, contraband is not quite the business it used to be and they have clamped down on human smuggling.

So one might ask, why would someone go there. This country needs our help. They are trying to change their image, trying to become a more acceptable country among their peers and are trying to move into the 21st century. The Hospital we work with Centro Medico Bautista was established back in the early 50's by a couple of medical missionaries that had to get there via boat up the river from Buenos Aires Argentina, after having gone by boat to Argentina. A five week trip all together.

I'll get into the hospital and what it does and how it does it later, but suffice it to say that what it is able to do with its limited budget is truly amazing.

Once there I'll upload some recent pictures and let everyone know whats happening with the group.

But remember - it is what it is

Getting to Paraguay

I know my first post was way to long but its a start, i hope to get better as time goes by.

Getting to Paraguay has always been an adventure. For one, Paraguay is not a destination country. What this means is that Paraguay is not on a lot of peoples maps for tourist travel, business travel and really for those individuals going for the sheer pleasure of travel.

Don't get me wrong, I love Paraguay, the people that I have met and the attitude of the people at the hospital we work with is great. But, it is not for everyone. I'll give some Paraguay history on a later blog, i think it is somewhat fascinating.

One of the primary difficulties in getting to Asuncion is the fact that we have to travel using TAM airlines. If you have never had to use TAM, the Brazilian airline, you don't know what you have been missing. Knowing they are a monopoly makes them very indifferent to customer service or efficiency. They try to be professional, nice little uniforms, nice clean planes (at least the ones from Miami to Sao Paulo) however they are a nightmare when it comes to professionalism. We may complain a lot about US air travel now days, but to better appreciate what we have I dare anyone to use TAM. First of all their US agents have no authority to approve anything. As a group we try to get group mission rates, however you cannot call someone and discuss the price, itinerary or schedule. You send your request via e-mail (it used to be via fax) to the US agent, they forward it to Sao Paulo Brazil and then after a few days, 1 week or more. After you have successfully guessed the right combination you are given a written contract which more than likely is wrong *ours had the wrong dates approved so we are traveling a day earlier than planned.

The last time we traveled on TAM we were not told that our group was booked on two different flights on our second leg. Once we were in Sao Paulo, we found that half the group was booked one flight that was leaving about 1/2 hour before the second group, so some got there earlier than others. Some of us on one flight made a stop, a stop that was not even on the ticket we were issued or the itinerary, just to add to the excitement. We were flying along then the plane landed at Iguazu Falls, on the Brazil / Paraguay border, to pick up about 4 or 5 passengers. These planes are also not in the best shape either, they shake, vibrate, rattle and looked like they may have transported livestock at some point (but the flight attendants have nice uniforms).

We discovered quite by chance that our return flight from Asuncion to Sao Paulo had been discontinued, not cancelled, discontinued. If we had not gone by the local TAM office in Asuncion one day to get copies of our seating assignments we wouldn't have found out until the day of our flight. Keep in mind we had a group of 45 people and had to re-book everyone on a different flight. TAM had no intention of notifying us that the flight had been discontinued and that we would need to rebook on a different flight.

The adventure this time is really no different. We have received our confirmation and it had errors in it and we were told "oh its ok, they can fix that at the airport". Not quite satisfied with that answer we did request a corrected and confirmed itinerary, which they did issue. They are also going to issue everyone tickets, not that this guarantees anything, we could still get to the airport and find there are no seats available. The travel agent we used for this specializes in mission travel and send people all over the world and she has indicated that TAM is by far one of the most difficult airlines the work with.

Oh well, its all about the adventure. I'll let ya know how it goes.

It is what it is.

What the Heck!!!!

So this is blogging, not sure why a person would do this, some would say its the ego stroke, some might consider it just a form of expression, those that are more practical would consider it informative. I might be more of the later, just informative, especially when traveling, just to let people know what is happening on the "road" or in the air as it might be.

Over the next few months I will be traveling to various parts of the world on trips. Those trips are going to be to:
Paraguay, for a medical mission trip.
EA, during the Olympics no less, as a way to get to know the culture and the people of East Asia .
At the tail end of summer going into fall, to Kenya. The purpose is to work with children that have been orphaned, primarily due to AIDS. All of these trips are different yet so similar in purpose.

Trip to Paraguay
Paraguay, having been lucky enough to be involved in the planing and organization of the trip gives it a special place in my heart. Its a trip that I have made a number of times already so it has a familiarity about it and I feel very much at home traveling to Paraguay. The last trip, in 2006 was quite extraordinary in many ways. While there I was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure, not exactly what a person wants to hear, but on the bright side, the condition was diagnosed and I was able to make a pretty good recovery. Another member of the team was hospitalized on the second day and ended up having emergency surgery, bowl resection, and spent another week there at the hospital recovering after the team had left to come back to the US. On the other hand, we provided care to over 3800 patients during that week, the medical teams where amazing and the treatment provided discovered a range of conditions that probably would have remained undiagnosed and could have resulted in that patients death. All that participated saw Gods hand in the events that took place daily.

This years trip has a slightly different feel, it will have fewer people and will probably be more focused once we get there.


Trip to Kenya
Kenya has been a part of the Africa that everyone associates with safaris, but as a country with a pretty stable government for the last 40 years, it has been overshadowed by the plight of many of the other African nations that have struggled with famine, civil wars and numerous other difficulties it has remained somewhat quite. The bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi brought it to the forefront however after a year or so that even dropped back to the shadows once the world trade centers fell. However there is a problem that has emerged in all African countries that even Kenya could not escape, AIDS. This disease has decimated the populations of so many African nations. Africa is thought to be the origin of the virus by many, although this has never been proven fact, just scientific conjecture, but none can deny that the disease, regardless of its origin has had a devastating effect on Africa. One of the results of this disease are the thousands of children that are left orphaned as a result of both parents dying of AIDS. We as a society have turned a somewhat blind eye on these kids who, through no fault of their own have been left in many cases to fend for themselves. Last year as part of a vision trip on behalf of my church we were able to go to Kenya and meet some of these kids. It was determined that while many church organizations don't want to have anything to do with AIDS and the negative connotations it has within traditional church circles we could not stand idly by and do nothing. We are going to try and do something, if nothing else just let these kids know that someone does care about them, it seems like so little yet I hope it can mean something. We are taking a group of individuals that will get to spend some time getting to know these kids, getting to learn from them about life and maybe just maybe make an impact on them.

Well that's it for now, as each trip nears and as each trip occurs and as each trip is behind me, I'll write some stuff about it, maybe it will only mean something to me, maybe someone else might be inspired to go themselves or maybe it won't amount to a hill of beans but as i have always been popular of saying and you will see it a lot.

IT IS WHAT IT IS !

Later to all,

norm