Hospitals Of Hope

by Amy Van Proosdy

This last summer, I, along with five other students from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, spent nine weeks volunteering at Hospitales de Esperanza (Hospitals of Hope) in the poverty-stricken city of Cochabamba, Bolivia. It is hard to put in words the extent my life was changed because of the experiences and interactions I had in Bolivia. It was exciting, challenging, moving, demanding, and honestly, overwhelming at times from being exposed the large amounts of need. But seeing how joyful they were despite the intense pain they were in, or their gratitude for a seemingly-insignificant service, made every second I was there, and every ounce of effort I put in, completely worth it.

Each week our team spent time in the hospital, either recording patient’s vitals, shadowing the doctors, sharing our testimonies with patients in the waiting room, or performing other tasks to help out the hospital staff. Along with our time at the hospital, we also traveled around to people in the community that were confined to their homes, didn’t have a mode of transportation, or were uninsured, and provided them with free medical screenings. These days were very long and tiring since sometimes over a hundred people attended, ranging from children to elderly. It was my duty to take the patient’s vital signs. The blood pressure cuff I used would often fall apart, and it was difficult to hear out of the old, inexpensive stethoscope I used. But God graciously filled me with a heart of patience, love, and service for His children – both young and old - of Bolivia.

I went to Bolivia expecting to serve as many people, and in whatever ways, that God would allow me. But honestly, I think that the people there had more of an impact on my life than I had on theirs. They showed me what it really means to trust in the Lord’s provision and to love one another; not just to go through the motions, but to genuinely and incessantly trust, love, and live as God calls us to.