Over 3,000 miles away from Austin, Texas, a team of 16 Westwood MEDLIFE Club members began their journey up the mountains in the outskirts of Lima, Peru, determined to enhance their medical knowledge and support low-income communities. From Saturday, March 14, to Sunday, March 22, the club volunteers attended to 152 patients in Ate and Villa María del Triunfo, two economically challenged districts of Lima, while shadowing local doctors to deepen their clinical understanding during the weeklong Service Learning Trip (SLT).

Westwood MEDLIFE Club, founded last summer, is a chapter of MEDLIFE, an international nongovernmental organization (NGO) that interacts closely with impoverished communities in Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Tanzania to improve access to basic necessities such as education, development, and health. Since 2004, MEDLIFE has provided unconditional support with the goal of leaving a sustainable impact on these small communities.

“We’ve had a huge impact [on the Peruvian communities],” MEDLIFE trip leader Alfredo Bendezú said. “These communities are usually abandoned by the government or have little services, [but] MEDLIFE is trying to make these gaps narrower and narrower, so hopefully someday the government sees us and helps these people. We’re in a country where medicine, health, education, [and] housing is a right. Sometimes, the communities don’t know how to look for these rights from the government, so MEDLIFE is there to help them get what they deserve.”

On the first day of the service learning trip, Mr. Bendezú and two other trip leaders, Ms. Lili Chihua and Mr. Rubit Romero, took students to visit Lugar de la Memoria, or The Place of Memory, Tolerance, and Social Inclusion (LUM), which is a museum dedicated to the internal conflict of Peru from 1980 to 2000. Learning about the suffering during the conflict allowed volunteers to gain a deeper understanding of the backstory behind Lima’s impoverished districts. 

“When you go to a new country [for anything], it’s important to know [their] past,” English teacher and Westwood MEDLIFE Club sponsor Susan Stolar said. “Even the terrible civil wars they had, it’s important to [understand how these communities came to be]. It gives you a more well-rounded [perspective] of Peru.”

On Monday, March 16, the trip leaders took the MEDLIFErs on a “reality tour” aimed to equip students with a deeper understanding of challenges faced by low-income communities. Many of the asentamientos humanos, or informal human settlements, were located high in the mountains. The journey up the mountains — whether walking or driving — was an obstacle for the group.

“Driving up the mountain was definitely scary for [first timers],” Westwood MEDLIFE Club President Amanda Tang ‘27 said. “The roads are narrow and not paved at all, so the van would tilt [side to side]. Huge trucks would pass by us, leaving [only] two inches of space between [our vehicles]. The bumpy ride [was] a great way to see the changes between districts, though. [Our group] stayed in [Miraflores District], which provided more services, but as we drove out, [the number of services provided decreased], and you could see there was more litter, less greenery, [and older] looking buildings.”

Mr. Bendezú led the team in setting up their first mobile clinic in VMT the following day. The MEDLIFErs ensured each station was ready for medical professionals prior to patients’ arrival. Students were randomly assigned to two different healthcare stations per mobile clinic, allowing them to shadow nurses, pharmacists, general doctors, and dentists.

“[I was] at the dental station [for the first clinic],” Sara Boudni ‘29 said. “I had to write down [where] the cavities were [in each patient], and I realized that there are actual levels to [oral hygiene]. I would freak out if I had [even] one cavity, so [it hit me hard] to watch people not able to get the healthcare [that many of us have]. I [learned to] really cherish what I have.”

The MEDLIFErs set up another clinic in a small elementary school in Ate’s Huaycán community the next day. The significantly greater number of patients, kept the MEDLIFErs busy, especially as enthusiastic children ran around the area.

“People welcomed us with flags, banners, and cheers,” Tang said. “Kids were asking for autographs from all the volunteers while [going through] their [stations]. Seeing [them] all made it more exciting to be there. There were so many people who came to the clinic on the second day [that] they had to close down the triage station early because we didn’t have enough resources to support all of them [at the moment].”

For the fourth day of the SLT, the MEDLIFErs returned to the Huaycán community for community-bonding activities. They briefly stopped at the kindergarten next door and engaged in a game of musical chairs. Afterward, the MEDLIFErs headed back to the elementary school and competed in rounds of volleyball and soccer with the older kids.

“When the Westwood students were playing [musical chairs] with the kids, the kids were holding their hands,” Ms. Stolar said. “There was just pure joy everywhere. [Everyone was] having fun, and [when the music stopped,] the kids would sit in the students’ laps and some of them would throw their arms around them. It was just very sweet.”

On Friday, the MEDLIFErs woke up early for their most labor-intensive day of the week: renovating the school. Local Peruvians and a few MEDLIFErs prepared soil, pots, and water buckets to plant new trees around the elementary school. The rest of the group carried buckets of bright blue paint to repaint the faded walls.

To celebrate their hard work, MEDLIFE provided the students with a full day excursion to the Ballestas Islands and the Huacachina Oasis on Saturday, the final day of the SLT. The group left their rooms at 3 a.m., taking a bus to the coastal town of Paracas in Ica to enjoy a boat tour around the islands. Students saw species such as penguins and sea lions, inhabiting the rocky shores. Later, the group enjoyed a buggy ride across the sand dunes and finished the day with lunch at a traditional Peruvian restaurant.

“I loved the excursion day,” Misha Baxamoosa ‘28 said. “Ica was the first desert I have ever been to, so it was really fun going sandboarding and riding in the buggies. This SLT was so fun and I would love to do it again. It was [a] life-changing [experience] as I made new friends, met new people, and helped so many patients out. I learned so much about Peru and medical disparities in different countries. I would highly recommend joining MEDLIFE.”