Resources are running short
In the so-called Third World the battle for water is raging. Once the glaciers in the Andes have melted things will come to a head in several village communities. You find the same situation where expanding deserts threaten farmland. The facts just listed are common knowledge, but do you also know that insulin is a precious resource? As elsewhere its distribution is unfair: 30% of the world’s population uses 70% of the available insulin. For the remainder people worldwide compete.
For several years now Diospi Suyana has received insulin from the initiative: “Insulin for life” whose motto is: “no durable insulin on the rubbish dump”. Project head, Heidrun Schmidt-Schmiedebach, and her colleagues collect insulin in a storage facility in Rastatt – it is the only one in the whole of Germany! Patients send insulin that they no longer need to this address. Of course the insulin cannot be past its use-by-date.
Dr Martina John visited the office of the diligent ladies on Friday having a thank you from Diospi Suyana in her luggage. Countless Quechua-Indians have learnt how to control their diabetes through diet, medications and insulin-pens. The missionary doctor invited Heidrun Schmidt-Schmiedebach to come to Curahuasi. There she will be able to see for herself how her support helps patients to manage their illness.
A big thank you to the team in Rastatt. In future we will continue to desperately need their insulin donations.
