The image of the aguayo as a transporter of life is a powerful one, reaching beyond the aesthetic to the functional, spiritual and cultural. We had seen aguayos carefully folded on hospital nightstands where Quechuan patients, garbed in a hospital gowns, awaited not only surgery, but information on the status of their health, specifically on the detection of cancer and its treatment. Marcela challenged us to identify what we now carry in our own aguayos: what the week in Sucre, Bolivia, in a cancer hospital, has given us to hold.

A five-women team departs this Saturday for Sucre, Bolivia, to work alongside OB-GYN surgeons at the Chuquisaca Cancer Institute (ICO). The primary goal of our visit is to advance training in laparoscopic surgical techniques for gynecologic pathologies.

Our Gynecologic Surgery Mission Trip shows how women are moving from a dominant role in the home to dominance in the healthcare field. First-time missioner, Gabby Serratos, RN, shares her impressions.

Our mission team received a very warm welcome from the hospital staff in Sucre, and was inspired by the story of love and commitment that brought about this new publich hospital where we are partnering this week.

Our busy fall mission season continues as four missioners begin their journey to the south-central Bolivian city of Sucre, in the department of Chuquisaca.

Many missioners find that their memories of Bolivia remain vivid after they return to work and life in the United States. Following her fourth Gynecologic Surgery Mission Trip, Dr. Janet Tomezsko offered these reflections.

There are many challenges to offering advanced care to those living in poverty, but this case from our Gynecologic Surgery Mission Trip shows how hope springs from such challenges when we work together, accompanying each other through difficult circumstances. 

Accompaniment, sharing in the joys and sorrows of someone's life and acting with love to help them live to their full potential, is the central work of mission. It is also the central work of many of the Bolivian women we are meeting this week on our Gynecologic Surgery Mission Trip. 

Six Solidarity Bridge missioners depart on a weeklong Gynecologic Surgery Mission Trip with an ambitious goal: to restore and improve the quality of life for women who lack access to vital treatment.

“My mother deserves to have good health,” one of her daughters commented. A son added, “She has suffered a lot over the years, but she is strong and independent. She knew the mission was the answer --- and she moved ahead.”

 During this week in which we celebrate both International Women’s Day and San Juan de Dios, our mission recognizes the importance of female patients voicing their needs to seek medical care, without fear of shame. Most of all, we celebrate the power of women contributing to a higher standard of care -- and living longer and happier lives.