Hayk´a wawayki kan? Ashka!

This is a typical conversation during a medical service trip to a Quechua mountain village. One of these trips took place last Saturday. Between 6 and 10 is a frequent answer to our question. Often times we follow up by asking whether they are referring to all of their children or only the ones alive.

In order to save the mountain villagers the long strenuous trip to Curahuasi, a team of highly motivated Diospi Suyana staffers travelled to Piscaya, a village of supposedly 100 inhabitants. Nevertheless, we ended up treating 116 patients. It seemed as if the news of our arrival had traveled to the village nearby ahead of time.

To reach Piscaya, we had to cover an elevation of about 2000 meters, finally reaching an altitude of 4000 meters. Fortunately, we got there without any car problems, and even though the road was extremely curvy, none of us got sick.

For lunch the grateful villagers served as a huge pot of potatoes and home-made cheese. Afterwards they showed us their town: the town square and church, a small store, a volleyball and soccer field. The tour was quite brief and we returned to work.

When all our patients were treated, we packed up our equipment, and Michael Friedemann and Christian Oswald brought the Diospi Suyana team back to Curahuasi – save and sound.

 

A report by Dr. Heike Lindacher. Photos by Carolin Klett.

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