Edingburg – Curahuasi: Only 10,000 km apart
Friday, May 24: There is a lot at stake today. I drive north along the east coast to Edingburg. A couple who are friends have arranged the lecture at short notice, but no one knows who will even make it to the church hall that evening. I’m sitting on hot coals in my seat behind the wheel. A delegation from the health authorities will appear in faraway Peru today. The country’s hospitals have to reapply for their license every three years. We have been waiting five months for our case to be processed. And with bureaucrats, you never know which new laws could suddenly jeopardize a good work.
As I approach my destination at 110 km/h, I ask God for help and protection for Diospi Suyana in South America. I actually pray the same prayer in many variations: “God, please give us your help!” My wife Tina and Dr. Zeier are to present the work with a Power Point presentation. But nobody knows whether the authorities will really come. They are not there at 9 a.m. and not at 10 a.m. either.
29 listeners gather in the church hall. The images fly across the screen. As an elderly gentleman aptly remarked afterwards, you even forgot to cough, the story was so exciting!” Now comes the obligatory round of questions. And I am already talking about the risks and fears that a work as large as Diospi Suyana entails: “Right now”, I say, “a commission from the state is sitting in my office in Curahuasi and we hope that no hurdles will arise during the assessment!”
A young couple is standing in front of me. Dr. Tom Harley is a doctor from Glaskow. His wife Alessandra works as a nutritionist. “I heard about Diospi Suyana as a medical student. A few days ago, we “accidentally” heard about her lecture in Edingburg. We would be interested in working for Diospi Suyana!” And it gets better and better. “My wife was born in Peru and I now also speak Spanish at a B2 level!”
Shortly before midnight, my wife tells me about the rest of the day via WhatsApp. The experts from Abancay were probably satisfied on the whole. As one official even remarked, her own mother was treated well and successfully at the mission hospital. Personal experience counts more than paragraphs, even for a state functionary.
What a dream, we might be able to get our license renewal as early as June/July. And maybe the Harleys will come to Curahuasi this year – for three years and highly motivated. That would be the icing on the cake. /KDJ
