February 2, 2012

• Peru 2012

  Home again after a week of many experiences in the plateau and mountain region of southern Peru in a town called Arequipa.  It is the 2nd largest city in Peru, working with medical missions with Medical Ministry International. The city is called the “White City”, or Ciudad Blanca.  This is because of the many buildings built with a white volcanic rock that is plentiful around here.  We had a combination team of dentists, optometry, and medicine and usually saw from 150 plus patients a day.  I liked this trip a lot, because we had 2 doctors and a PA, and between all of us, we only needed to see 35 a piece, which is really like a normal day back home.  So it wasn’t that hectic and we could take some time with the patients, and see what was really bothering them.  Many complaints of musculoskeletal problems, which is easy to figure, since many of the ones we were ministering to spend long hours in the fields or other manual labor.  A good number of the people were Quechua Indian, and came dressed in their highland attire–wide brimmed hats for the ladies, with multiple colorful dresses in layers, as well as several sets of leggings to keep the legs warm.  I think staying warm is a priority for them, even though in general, it doesn’t freeze in Arequipa.  Probably if you get a bit higher in altitude.  Arequipa is at 8200 feet, so it is somewhere in the middle.  The older ladies spoke only Quechua, and so needed a translator into Spanish and then into English.  So that made it interesting in general.  I enjoyed getting back into a spanish culture again, that is for sure.

  Some memories–
     A 101 year old lady coming to the clinic with a painful neck..She wanted to see the eye doctor too, so she was carried upstairs to the eye doctors with a chair.  I helped out with that project..She was later ministered to by one of the team, who recognized her as the lady that had been her source of “breast feeding” when her own mother did not have enough milk.  She was able to get this lady of 101 (who was sharp as a tack) to accept Christ before she left the clinic..How appropriate that the lady who gave her “physical life” became the recipient of “eternal life”.

      Seeing the largest fig I have ever seen in the market on Friday, and buying it.  It was big as a peach or an apple and dark…I ate it on the spot, despite dire warnings.  Of course, I got the obligatory travelers diarrhea the following day, but I am going to say it was worth it!  It was the best fig I have ever had!  Did have a slight accident that necessitated changing pants on the way home, but that is another story!

       Waiting in airports!  On the way down, had a 6 hour layover in Miami, a 12 hour layover in Lima due to a canceled flight, and then on the way back, a 5 hour layover in Lima, and another 6 hour layover in Miami.  I feel like I spent a lot of time in airports! And Miami has seats that are impossible to lie in, and keeps the airport at close to 60 degrees, so that was interesting trying to get some sleep and keep warm at the same time.

      The Beauty of Peru!  We flew into Arequipa after dark, and the following day was Sunday, which was a bit cloudy.  I saw the mountains around the city, which is at 8200 feet, and they were certainly beautiful, and higher than any mountains in the Eastern United States.  But the next day dawned nice and clear, and just behind those mountains, soaring to the heavens were the snow-capped volcanoes.   I have never seen mountains that high–the highest peaks at about 19,872 that we were seeing.  I was in awe, and I think every day after that we could see them in the morning, usually gone by the afternoon…

      Many God moments!  We actually joined with another team in Peru called Heaven Sent Ministry, led by a 25 year old girl, and her co-leader was 24 years old…And yet, I learned so much from them…Good times of worship and devotional Bible Study each day, usually in am, and pm.  The team had someone designated full time to play with the children who came to the clinic, and they had Bible lessons, and games, and crafts every day.  It was such a joy to see the children playing and singing.  According to the pastor working with us, over 100 people came to know the Lord in the week we were there…
   
      Living in the house where we stayed was a lady named Juliana.  She has had a rough life, but has established a ministry to the poor and underprivileged, with a feeding program at her church for the poor.  On the way to the clinic in Pedrogal on Wednesday–a distance of some 3 hours away..we came across an accident where there had been a fatality.  A small child covered in a blanket was dead on the street..A bus had hit a small taxi.  We found out later that the child and his family were one of the families in Juliana’s church.  A sister was also critically injured, and was not expected to make it.   So we were able to minister to her during a very difficult time…Continue to pray for this situation

      The gratefulness of the people…many Gracias were heard during the week.  Everybody was so grateful — even if at times you had nothing to offer…

      Luggage denied entrance to the country by the Peruvians..  We brought 2 suitcases of ministry stuff, one full of eyeglasses and the other full of medicines.  The customs people wanted to charge us duty on them, even though they were donated items.  I was there at the counter, and he quoted the price “cuarenta dolares”, which is 40 dollars.  And I thought, well, that isn’t too bad, I will just pay it, but then when I handed the 40 dollars, he said, no cien cuarenta, which means 140 dollars.  Well that seemed excessive, so I refused.  At the time, I had no translator, as Jim had gone to get some help getting this through customs.  So we left the bags in customs, fully expecting the matter to be resolved when they had the non weekend staff working.   It never was.  We picked up those same bags in Lima, and under the watchful eye of the customs official, who made sure we checked them back on the plane, and brought them back with us.  Anyone need a lot of medicine???

       Diseases I didn’t see–civilized diseases….  Nobody smokes, everybody gets a good bit of exercise in walking, and they don’t have modern medicine.  So I saw no scars on the back from back surgery, no scars on the chest from heart surgery, not many with diabetes or high blood pressure, no ear infections, no clogged up ears with wax–they don’t have q-tips, the source of that; No requests for Viagra (thank the Lord, since we did not have any).  We did see a lot of parasite infections, and diarrhea, as the water is not pure, and many children that ‘No quiere comer’. (They don’t want to eat).  They do have some access to sweets and cokes, and like children anywhere, that depresses the appetite.  It is hard to get them to see that, but I think I succeeded in a small way.

      I could go on and on, but those are some of the memories that I have of the time together…I am thankful for safe travel, and the way that God directed our paths.  I went with a friend from Atmore, Jim Weber, who was very necessary as a translator, as we were short of translators, but other than that, I knew no one on the teams we worked with.  But after a week, it seemed like everyone had been together forever, and I have to say that we functioned very well together as a team….
    Here are some pictures of our time down there

  Jim Weber strikes an unusual pose

  
  Back Yard of the Davis’ household, beautiful bouganvillea

  
  MORE BOUGANVILLEA

  
  Church service Sunday am at Cafe Berea

  
  Terraced fields behind our house, irrigated by ditches built by the INCA Indians
  

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