The Aymara woman is interviewed in her own language
at
. Her children took the 82-year-old by bus from the department of Puno to Curahuasi. The trip there took 14 hours, and the three of them will have to endure another 14-hour bus ride back after their visit to the Diospi Suyana Hospital. A 28-hour bus trip for a doctor’s appointment at the mission hospital. That really says it all.
The Aymara woman speaks only the language of her people. 2.2 million people in Peru, Bolivia, and northern Chile belong to this ancient language group. Her son and daughter-in-law are there to serve as translators. The small tour group must have been very surprised yesterday afternoon when Dr. Daniel Ringli conducted the conversation in their native language.
Admittedly, the Swiss missionary doctor is a rare exception. He learned Spanish, Quechua, and Aymara so he could understand his patients as well as possible. Of course, with this incredible dedication, the multilingual Swiss doctor is expressing his respect for his impoverished patients. We mere mortals can only tip our hats to him.
Why is our Swiss colleague actually the only one who has mastered the language barriers of Quechua and Aymara? One can only speculate. It was probably the nutritious chocolate from the Alpine republic that helped form a few thousand extra synapses during brain development. If we German and American missionary doctors had been given more products from Sprüngli, Lindt, and Toblerone during the first five years of our childhood, we surely could communicate in Aymara just as well as Daniel. But perhaps we can still make up for lost time. We should therefore pack the next large shipping container to the brim with these treats. It would be worth a try. /KDJ
