Partners
Our Partners and Supporters
The Peruvian Government has welcomed these initiatives, and is giving us full access to their facilities. The US Embassy has also provided invaluable assistance through the USAID, Peace Corp and the Naval Medical Laboratories in Lima.
In 2008, we were granted recognition by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax exempt 501(c)3 organization. This is indeed a milestone, as it allows for all donations to PCF to be tax-deductible.
We are gratified to have the support of Rotary Clubs in the US and in Peru that have joined in fundraising efforts on the behalf of the PCF. Many business organizations and educational institutions have donated equipment (microscopes, slides, stains and other medical consumables). We are also hoping that in the near future many other business, civic, religious organizations and charitable foundations will also join in the effort.
In addition to the $100,000.00 in microscopes and other medical equipment donated to us thus far, we are hoping to raise at least $100,000.00 for the purchase and operation of a 4WD vehicle (absolutely essential for travel along the steep and narrow earth tracks that snake along the mountain ridges). We hope to install a computerized digital microscope system that has already been donated to us, in that vehicle.
We will be working with local health professionals to improve the delivery of health care to an estimated 100,000 villagers spread out along the steep and rugged mountainsides of the Andean Mountain Range in central Peru. Much of the terrain is very steep and treacherous, with rocks and loose soil and little vegetation, other than the cultivated patches of land, and some small bushes.
The villagers live in small clusters in small unheated adobe huts, strung out along the sandy mountain trails. Wheat, maize (corn) and assorted vegetables are the main crops cultivated by these villagers, who subsit on a mere 60 cent (US) per day.
Small children (their parents working in the fields) run around barefoot along the narrow streets, among mounds of refuse. Raw sewage issues forth from virtually every dwelling, and animals, ranging from chickens and ducks, to pigs, goats, sheep, cattle, donkeys, to cats and dogs, jostle for space with the children and vehicular traffic on the street.
Flies are everywhere, and in pools of stagant water, mosquito larvae can often be found.
Most of the villagers are Catholic, albeit nominally. Many believe that if they fall ill, it is because they have not contributed sufficiently to the local Catholic church, and that the illness is some form of retribution from God.