Three generations of missionary doctors
The journey from London to Sheffield is a good 280km. But for me the distance was immaterial, since I desperately wanted to give a talk on Diospi Suyana in Wycliffe Church on Monday night, as a confidence-building measure. A couple of weeks ago Dr Oliver O’Neill had emailed me. The young paediatrician and his wife Zoe, a motivated physiotherapist, are toying with the idea of working at Diospi Suyana. It was a lovely evening in their kitchen followed by a long talk in their living room.
Dr Clive Peat sat in the first row. The Englishman had spent nine years working as a missionary doctor at the “Clinica Urcos”. Sadly the legendary missionary hospital, which was located south of Cusco, closed its doors over 30 years ago. Now her majesty’s faithful subject is enjoying his retirement. But as the pictures of Diospi Suyana whizzed over the projector screen his eyes shone as in days gone by.
Dr Peat was a missionary doctor, I am one and Dr O’Neill wants to become one. Oliver and Zoe would be the first long-term English missionaries at the missionary hospital in Curahuasi. If they came to South America, every effort would have been worth it. /KDJ
