Highlights and nail-biters II
On 22nd July Lilian Paredes, Peru’s First Lady, welcomed missionary doctors John to her house in Chogur, located in the heart of Cajamarcas State (see above picture). The Johns had taken two domestic flights after which a four-wheel-drive took them 7 hours through the mountains. The wife of the Head of State embraced the visionaries of Diospi Suyana and expressed her heartfelt gratitude. Pastor Oscar Soarez (2nd from the right), the former President of the National Protestant Council, was the kind mastermind of this meeting.
In the second half of 2021 three further respirators went into operation at the missionary hospital’s intensive care station; the Aumund Foundation had donated these three new high-tech-machines to Diospi Suyana.
To mark the 200th anniversary of the founding of the State of Peru the Diospi-Suyana-School broadcast a virtual celebration via Facebook.
Pupils were invited to dedicate a poem, a dance, a song or an artwork to their fatherland. Their contributions were chosen and edited by school-pastor Wilson Lipa and the three moderators Kati Espinoza, Jaris Hurtado and Raquel Álvarez. The event was broadcast live from the school’s dining room. Especially moving were the elementary school students who sang on a field or had specially decorated their simple houses. The pupils from the senior school approached the topic with talk shows or video clips.
From 4th August Diospi Suyana’s 9 frequencies are united under the roof of the organisation “Asociación Civil Religiosa Diospi Suyana”. For legal reasons we first had to buy the radio frequencies under a private name/ an intermediate organisation. The reason: only Peruvian citizens are allowed to own a radio-/TV-station in Peru.
In laborious work we were able to prove, using the German Media Law, that Peruvians are allowed to own radio stations in Germany. Thus the government applied the principle of reciprocity and made an exception for Diospi Suyana.
Therefore the organisation “Asociación Civil Religiosa Diospi Suyana” owns a hospital, a school, the building of the children’s club, a guesthouse in Lima and a Media Centre with 9 radio- and TV-frequencies.
Saturday evening 8th August. After a long preparation phase our aerial tower broadcasts our programme from a mountain into Abancay Province. Roughly 0.1mio more people thus live in our antennae’s catchment area.
In many South American countries the magazine “ConTacto” is distributed to the youth. The topic for the month of August was life’s dreams. “Do you believe that the biggest dreams can become a reality despite going against all prognoses and probabilities?” asks the author. On page three she gives the answer herself as she tells of her experiences at Diospi Suyana.
Finally, after 531 days in-school teaching recommenced at the Colegio Diospi Suyana. Our colegio was the first in Apurímac State that, with the permission of the Ministry of Education, was allowed to welcome pupils again.
Since 23rd August some pupils are in the classrooms while the rest of the pupils take part online. Even in the kindergarten handicrafts and puzzles are being done and laughter can be heard. Everyone’s joy (teachers, pupils and parents) could be felt clearly.
The Colegio Diospi Suyana pays tribute to the Book of Books. It is always worthwhile putting on a festival for the classic of world literature. During the Peruvian “Month of the Bible” the pupils of our colegio came up with ways to creatively express the meaning of the bestseller: the programme was made up of poems, songs and short theatrical plays. 80 children from the kindergarten wearing animal costumes reminded the audience of the ancient story of Noah’s Ark.
When we were planning the last event of one of Diospi Suyana 2021 presentation tours on 26th September 6p.m. none of us had the German election in mind. Who would sit in a church at the same time as the first projected elections results were made public and thus miss the most exciting part of the election party? Hardly anybody.
But Rebekka Gärtner, hailing from Baden Württemberg, had the last word. She knew Peru relatively well having spent a longer time working there as a volunteer. And at some point she came across the three books about Diospi Suyana. “We will organise an evening service with Diospi Suyana, irrespective of the elections,” she said on the telephone, “We will just have to advertise more!” Rebekka faith was to be proved right.
That evening the audience of 110 listened sitting on tenterhooks on their chairs in the Michaelskirche in Sulz am Eck as they heard every phase of how our work came into being. Full concentration and a breathless hush held sway.
Since 30th October 122,000 people living in Canchis Province can tune into Diospi Suyana’s radio programme. To reach this goal we have had to overcome several hurdles in the past 24 months.
If you know his story, it is hard to believe that Leonardo is still alive. In July 2020 in his hometown of Puerto Maldonado a needle was injected into his bottom for unknown reasons. Since the needle was unclean an abscess formed. The diabetic noticed how the inflammation speedily spread through his left leg. When Dr Thomas Tielmann finally operated on him several days later he was suffering from a life-threatening gas fire infection. In the muscle compartments of his upper and lower leg pus was not only destroying the tissue, but was causing serious blood-poisoning (sepsis). For weeks he fought against death lying on our intensive care ward. Even highest doses of norepinephrine could not keep his blood pressure at normal levels.
Then, end of July came the sad moment when the final hopes were vanishing. Dr Tielmann passed on the information to a prayer chain and many members of staff folded their hands. Inexplicably his clinical picture improved over the next hours. He was not out of the woods yet: Leonardo needed to survive 13 more operations until the inflammation was fully healed.
Middle of November orthopaedic-technician Daniel Müller made a high femoral prosthesis for him. Physiotherapist Helen Högn is teaching Leonardo how to walk again. This is a huge milestone for the young man whose life hung by a mere thread.
On 19th November Diospi Suyana received a prize recognizing what our work does for the disabled and marginalised of Peruvian society. Dr Jens Haßfeld accepted the award from the hands of the First Lady in the Peruvian Congress (Parliament).
On the one hand SWR’s TV-report on 25th November realistically described the difficulties that our volunteer staff have to deal with. On the other it also showed the huge blessing that the missionary hospital Diospi Suyana and the Colegio Diospi Suyana have on Southern Peru.
On 1st December Diospi Suyana officially received a new emergency generator with a value of USD20,000 from the company Luvegi. It was the first time in the company’s 41-year history that such a donation in kind was made. Ursula H, a visitor to our website, covered the outstanding costs (16% of the total amount).
Equipment (among which three new dental chairs from the company Sirona) worth USD0.15mio was packed into Container#75 on 17th December. Once again CMA sponsored the sea-transport to South America.
On 16th December the members of staff thanked God for the birth of his son 2,000 years ago. During the traditional year review it once again became clear in which wonderful ways the Almighty blessed our mission in 2021. /KDJ
