• CPR and Basic First Aid were taught 3 of the days in Jamundi and in Cali.
• Advanced Cardiac Life Support was taught 1 day to the hospital in Jamundi.
• Two LifePak 10s were donated to the Jamundi Hospital and the doc in the ER was overjoyed!  Yeah....they got lessons on how to use it too.
• The EMS class covered everything from splinting, to bleeding control, the vital signs, H1N1, medical emergencies, patient extrication, and they spent a day or so at the drill ground running the "Rehab" area. 
• Students: CPR & First Aid covered around 100 or so people.
• Students: EMS 30 participants 
• Students: 90 in the fire classes.
• Fire & Rescue saw a lot of "white eyes that were the size of saucers" over a 5 day period.  Almost unequivocally, they all seemed to agree they had no idea what to expect and that this was the largest event that they had ever seen.  Most of them had never participated in live fire training, let alone maybe ever been to a fire....or pulled hose...or actually done search and rescue while breathing with SCBAs, etc. 
• We took an 8,000 square foot "ex-slaughter house" and used just about every inch that we could find.  There might be maybe 2 square feet of unstained walls in the place.  They saw and fought everything from a small "room and contents" fire to multiple floor commercial fires.  Sure, we had to toss in a few vehicle fires, complete with victims....just to spice it up a bit.  Yeah...it was a good day for sure as the best learning is hands on learning.
• We followed safety precautions to the "T".  In fact, it annoyed some people, but there was too much at stake to take any risks. 
• Considering the weather was in the low 90s for a day or so, they learned how valuable it is to hydrate.  In fact...over-hydration is considered a great thing!
• Without a doubt....they all had a great time!

1. While pumping the 30,000 gallon tanks full of water on Saturday, the M3 (the Mack) caught fire.  Yeah...it was exciting to see water flowing into the tank only to have it suddenly stop, which we thought was odd.  Then we noticed a plume of smoke in the direction of the M3.  Upon arrival, we saw 4 bomberos laying underneath with a CO2 fire extinguisher.  Let us just say that is never a good sight.  The M3 was fixed about 6 hours later and the problem went away!
2. The buses and transportation will not always be on time!  Go with the flow! 
3. In the last four training academies it never rained while we are in Colombia.  Which is why it rained for about 12 hours straight, complete with thunder and lightening on our 2nd day of class.  It rained so much that our "drill building" filled up with about 6" of water on the 1st floor.  We are still trying to get the water out as their portable pump was not able to be started and they worked on it all day.
4. We are supposed to have 6 translators for the fire/rescue class.  So far, we had 1 yesterday.  Lot's of practice communicating with our hands, examples, pictures and as many learn Spanish.  Good thing we can fly by the seat of the pants!
5. Speaking of Spanish, several found typing on a Spanish keyboard (to send emails at the end of the day home etc) a new challenge as the "accent keys" are in different locations than the US/UK layout.  Example: The character above the 2 key is actually this.....".  One Fire Volunteer said, Yeah, it makes my normally bad typing even more exciting!

  As class has ended I have set out to meet with some contacts from past trips as well as new one's.  Have have in the last 3 days meet with 6 hospitals, 3 clinics, a pharmaceutical company and the in country Medical Teams International worker. Today at Lunch a producer from one of Cambodia's night time drama series approached me about being on the show for at least one season playing the part of "A hot shot American businessman".  I politely turned him down.
 
  When I meet with the Medical Teams International worker he pitched an idea about taking on another village to work on medical training as well as a hygiene plan for the village.  As time is short I will not be going out to visit the village and scope out a potential plan, but will bring the idea back to the OESP board in the States.
 
  There are only 7 out of 24 people in our group still here. Only a few went straight home many others went on S.E. Asian tours.  Tomorrow I plan on heading back out to the police academy to drop off supplies, meet one more time with HOPE hospital and meet once again with the dispatch centers to learn why there are three emergency numbers: 117 is Police 118 is Fire and 119 is medical aid.
 
  We did go to two apartment fires yesterday one in the morning and one in the late afternoon.  Both were put out rapidly and the firefighters decided to turn the hoses on Paul and I after they put out the afternoon fire.  This felt great as it was 95 degrees and we were wearing bunker gear. 

   It's been a terrific time of equipping people with new equipment, skills and confidence.  The middle of this week, I'll have returned to the United States.

All the best,

Gary for OESP.net

World Vision
 
There are many organizations that attend to assisting people around the world.  Personally, my family and I have chosen to sponsor two children through world vision.  My sponsored child resides in Cambodia.

This morning a representative from World Vision picked me up at the hotel and drove me out to Kampong Speu Province and into a series of 4 different villages.  They gave me a brief overview of World Vision Cambodia and we set ground rules for being in the villages.  Then I meet with Sokhy a 8 year old boy that I have been sponsoring through World Vision.  This was our first meeting and I was very excited to see him. 

Sokhy starts school this year so I bought him school supplies to last his entire first year.  I also got him a soccer ball all for about $12.  Sokhy together with his father and interpreter sat down and talked for about 2 hours, went and had lunch at an outdoor village restaurant and then he took his supplies and soccer ball and went back to his village.    On a personal level, I found it difficult talking to Sokhy's father as he wanted to know what life was like in the U.S. I tried to downplay it as much as possible so that he did not feel bad about his living conditions or country.  Additionally material things do not equate to happiness, safety, peace or a sense of belonging or success.  But still, many Cambodians dream of a life even in the poorest of U.S. areas.  I'm very glad to sponsor Sokhy as he starts school and thankful that while his parents live very simply, their family unit is in tact.

The World Vision Staff and I then drove to the remote villages where I played games with children in those villages and sampled different foods that they eat, tried to climb a coconut tree (and failed much to the villagers delight), and learned how they make palm sugar from the palm trees.  The villages in this area are communal, so they have what is called a rice bank and a vegetable bank.  They have one large farm and all the villagers have a job on that farm or running the food banks or fixing things in the village.  I did not meet one person who had been more that 10 miles from their village.  As they say "this is the life that the gods chose for us this is where we belong".

The staff then drove me back to Phnom Penh.  I felt profoundly grateful to see first hand what a small monthly committment can do in the lives of children in developing countries.  You can make a different through OESP, World Vision or other reputable organizations. You have one life, do can do something.

Thanks for reading,

Gary
for OESP.net

Sunday March 1st
 
Today we traveled to a very remote part of Cambodia.  Not only were we off the paved road but we were off of the dirt roads as well.  We visited five villages  that can only be reached by hiking in or taking a motorcycle.  Before leaving the Capital city we stocked up on bread, soccer balls and volleyballs with nets.  We also brought medicine and medical supplies.  We purchased cooking pots and pans as well as large woks. We bought children's clothing and stuffed animals.  The day before Sos (OESP founder) had purchased food and had it sent to the main village where the villagers cooked it and served it to us when we arrived.  On this trip we looked at the fresh water wells that were put into place by OESP and AFIRE volunteers over the last year to ensure they are still in good working order. 

We made arrangements for two families with great need to have wells drilled this week.  Sos made the arrangements for drillers to come out.  On the wells they place the names of those who donated the money for them. They are pretty inexpensive to put in ($130.00u.s) for all the equipment cement and a stone that gives the name of the donating party. For instance one will say Gary and Benita Howe OESP U.S.A. another one that will be placed will say Kent Covenant Church USA.   Both wells will be used by families with needs. Both have boys with neurological problems due to a parasite found in the standing water used for drinking and cooking.  These boys nearly died.  Both families are expecting another child, one at the end of March and one in mid May and each have 3 other children. 

The wells will be drilled Tuesday morning and by tuesday afternoon, these families will have fresh, running water for the first time...ever.  Over the last 3 years OESP and AFIRE have placed over 150 wells in 8 different cambodian villages and will be placing another 20 this week. One at a elementary school has a broken well. This school serves 30 children from the villages and this week they get a new well.
 
We also gave out soccer and volleyballs with nets that were already being played with 5 minutes after giving them out and children waiting in line for their turn to play volleyball. Children also received clothing and parents got cooking utensils and medication.  I did medical check-ups on many and Sos handed out medications to those in need. We got back to our hotel extremely tired late at night. and look forward to our first day of teaching early tomorrow morning.

Gary & the OESP team

OESP will depart Seattle on the night of February 25 and arrive in Cambodia on Friday the 27th.  We will meet up with a group from Australia and team up to teach fire suppression and EMS.  I look forward to updating this blog and post pictures of our classes and adventures while in Cambodia.

Saturday 

This morning we had a quick breakfast with Commandante Sierra and the rest of the gang as we went over this year’s “game plan”.  We’ll have a couple of assistants in each class this year, which should make things a little easier in terms of coordination. 

After breakfast, we made our way out to the local mall for some quick shopping. The fun event was that we had a choice.  We could take the bus, take a cab, or walk.  Per David, “it’s not that far, only 6 blocks”.  None of us remembered it being that close…but if they “say it’s that close”…why not walk?  About 8 hours and 23 minutes later….we arrived at the mall.  Okay…it wasn’t that far…but it wasn’t 6 blocks either!  Yes…we took the taxi back into town.

Around 1400 (2pm), we left for a little city called Robles to help them dedicate a new fire engine.  Of course….we didn’t really leave at 1400 as it was more like 1500 as nothing really starts on time.  The 30 minute trip lasted around 3 hours.  Unfortunately, the fire engine that we were riding on, the M-4, developed some mechanical difficulties.  As we left town, the engine was smoking so bad and with so much black smoke…that many honestly thought it was on fire!  Alas, it was only some engine difficulty that it has yet to recover from and is still out of service.  But the thick, nasty, pressurized black smoke was certainly impressive to watch!!  So we sat along the side of the road, in the pouring (literally) rain, waiting for the replacement engine to come pick us up.  Yes…we were all “soaked to the bone” and remained that way until we returned home.

We arrived in Robles, having traveled through a couple of other little towns and were promptly met by a throng of excited citizens.   They had been anxiously awaiting the arrival of their new engine, M-11.  M-11 received a nice dedication ceremony and was promptly put into service.

After making our way back to Jamundi, we met up briefly with the bombers from Bolivia.  They had a long plane ride and it was great to see them.