College. College. College. College. College. College. College. College. High School. High School. One of two high schoolers; I can’t wait for this trip to be over.

As soon as I got off the plane that brought my other high school friend and I to Lima, the hot humid air struck me, and my first thought was, “What did I sign up for?” After hours and hours of waiting at the airport for my shuttle, I was finally brought to my hostel where I would be staying for the week. When I walked into the hostel, everyone else who had already arrived for this mission trip was reviewing the plan for the week. I glanced over their shoulder and read, “Build a house and staircase, set up mobile clinics in Cono Sur.”

I quickly grabbed the itinerary for the week and dashed upstairs to my room to plan for the week. While I was just reviewing the schedule, five college girls burst into my room laughing, shouting, and looking like they were just having so much fun with each other. I only had one friend and at that moment, I prayed that one friend would be enough to make this week at least tolerable.

The next morning at 6AM, we quickly got ready, ate, and filed onto the buses to head to the destination where we would be building the house. After an hour when we reached the district in the city of Lima called Cono Sur, I walked off the bus, turned around, and was shocked. This district was just small carboard and wooden houses being built in every empty space possible, even at the very top of the mountain which meant going up and down hundreds of stairs just to get to the road. I even remember seeing graveyards that had these “houses” where graves used to be, but families dug out the grave and built on top of it so they could have a place to live. Cono Sur was one of the most crowded places I have ever been to; in my mind, I compared it to Johns Creek. Here, we live in large houses and apartments and have easy access to food with a Publix basically every other road as well as electricity and water. In Cono Sur, they had nothing. No water. No electricity. Nothing.

After this “reality check,” I rushed back to the group to meet the family for whom we would build the house. It was a single mother, Soledad, and her twelve-year old son. Apparently, the organization met Soledad when she showed up to one of the free clinics. Realizing how hard her life must be, being a single parent and sick in this district, the organization decided to help her in every way, by paying for her medical care and building her a house that could last long and wouldn’t break at the slightest bit of rain. After the introduction, we were all so motivated to work we ran down the 112 stairs to get to the main road and got all of the supplies we needed.
We quickly began mixing cement for the floors, carrying and placing the cinderblock, and trying to finish as much of the house we could before another volunteer group would take our spot the next week. This was the first real bonding experience for the group. We all had one goal. The same goal. Finish Soledad’s house and help her in every way we can. While creating floors from the cement we made, my friend, two college students, and I began talking and soon became friends. Finally! I never thought I would be having fun, but I was surrounded by funny people doing something so heartfelt and motivating. 

After eleven hours we slowly filed back onto the bus, not wanting to leave until we finished. I took one last glance before I got on the bus. We may have all been drenched in sweat, having the distinct sweat odor everyone in Lima could smell, but at least we had finished creating one story of the house and half of the staircase. What a day!

The next day was our first mobile clinic day. We got to the site, quickly unloaded our supplies, and began setting up for the hundreds of patients waiting in our line. My first station was tooth brushing. We basically had to teach the kids how to brush their teeth, which seems like it would be very easy, except we had to talk completely in Spanish to these stubborn kids who did not want anyone touching their teeth. It was hard in the beginning, but ended up being so much fun. We had a blast playing with these kids and trying to find clever way into tricking them into letting us teach them how to brush their teeth. We rotated specialties and stations many times for the next ten hours and then finally filed onto the bus. For the bus ride home, every single person was asleep. We were exhausted from the 253 patients we saw that day, but it was most definitely worth it. Our mobile clinic helped all these people get medical care and medicines in just one day.

This day after was a special day. My birthday. As soon as I opened my eyes, there these big balloons that said “Feliz Cumpleanos” everywhere near me. My roommates had surprised me with these balloons and mini gifts. This day started off way different that how I thought it would go in the beginning of the trip. When we had begun our mobile clinic for the day, I had the most fun I ever experienced. My first station that day was triage, where I just took people’s blood pressure, temperature, height, and weight. I got to meet so many excited families and people that were just so happy they would finally receive medical attention. After being in triage for the first 108 people, I switched over to our OBGYN station. In Lima, especially Cono Sur, breast and cervical cancer was one of the most impactful cancers since it was never caught early or properly treated. After shadowing our OBGYN, I had another reality check. These women, and just everyone here, only have this one day to get all the medicines they might need for any diseases, infections, or anything they might have in the future.

After I got on the bus, as we did yesterday, everyone quickly fell asleep. Exhausted. But happy. Later that night for dinner, the organization had surprised me with a cake. This day could not get any better: waking up to balloons and present from all of my friends, helping all these people at our mobile clinic, and now a cake? Everyone sang “Feliz Cumpleanos” in their off-pitch out-of-tune voices, and I just couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. Everything about this moment was perfect. The cake was a traditional, rich chocolate cake that smelled like heaven and tasted even better. I felt so blessed that I was surrounded by all of these people I could now call my friends.

Later that week, on Friday, was the last day of our trip and the day to finish Soledad’s house. We all rushed up the stairs, grabbed cement and paintbrushes, and tried to do as much as we could. After twelve hours, with the help of local architects and carpenters, people from the organization, and neighboring families, we had finished the house. A two-story, white beauty. In Peru, it is tradition to inaugurate a new house by breaking a champagne bottle similarly to how one would break a piñata. When deciding on who should break the bottle, the group voted my high school friend and I to have the honor. We climbed to the top of stairs with the hammer in our hand. I stopped and looked around Cono Sur; I had a totally different feeling that I had that very first day. I was happy knowing we helped over 500 people living in these carboard houses and that we had built this lovely woman and her son a house. I realized that over the course of this week, I got a first-hand experience how people live without what I take for granted, met amazing and kind people, and felt something I had never felt before: complete contentment. Thank you, Cono Sur.

“On the count of three, break the champagne bottle. One! Two! Three!”