Turismo Shalom fills a gap in the market
I am in a hurry to get home. I jump into a taxi waiting at the hospital’s main entrance and my journey begins. For the 2km journey the taxi driver charges me 2.5 Soles – the equivalent of 60cents. The journey time of five minutes suffices for me to hear the “Turismo Shalom’s“ story.
Twenty Curahuasi residents founded this taxi company. Having obtained a license from the Transport Ministry in Abancay they are now responsible for the taxi-stop “Hospital Diospi Suyana”. Of course any and every taxi company can bring its customers to the missionary hospital, but being “manager of a taxi-stop” is like owning a gold mine.
“Can we paint Diospi Suyana’s logo on our cars?” the driver asks me with a hopeful look in his eyes. I decline: “Compared to your company Diospi Suyana’s Hospital, Colegio and Media Centre do not work for a profit!”
No one will ever know how many people are employed in the hotel or restaurant industry because of the Hospital Diospi Suyana, not to mention the many taxis en route to Curahuasi. On Monday morning 800 patients were waiting outside the hospital. At home I read the current statistics provided by our IT department. Since its foundation 287,000 patients have been treated in the hospital and every year that figure grows.
