Progress and Highlights III
More than one million readers were able to obtain detailed information about Diospi Suyana in August and September. The Sächsische Zeitung and the Rheinpfalz placed Diospi Suyana in their jacket editions. The Ärzte Zeitung dedicated
six pages to the initiators of our missionary work. It was one of the biggest reports in the press so far. Dr. Thomas Meissner wrote: “Even for secularistic thinking people it is obvious that their faith has moved a mountain in the Andean highlands…. For the Johns, the answer is obvious: With God’s help alone!”
In the summer of 2018, a man died from the serious consequences of a car accident. A group of darkies animated the widow to accuse Diospi Suyana of involuntary manslaughter. The legal opinions certified that the medical team had followed all applicable international standards. Two prosecutors put the case to rest, but the other side appealed several times. At the end of September, a judge gave 38 pages of reasons for ending the case. After four years, it finally became official: there had simply never been any negligent conduct.
The wedding of Marco and Selene on September 24 was a real highlight in the Diospi Suyana circles. Marco Acuña works at the Hospital Diospi Suyana as a hospital pastor and has done so for six years. His beautiful wife Selene cares for many of our patients as a psychologist. Pastor Acuña owes the fact that this social highlight could take place in this way to a thick book.
For years, Marco lived as a drug addict on the streets of Abancay, the capital of Apurimac State. He was constantly looking for thin paper to roll his joints. One day, a book with over 1,000 pages falls into his hands. The leaves are thin and therefore the perfect solution for 1,000 marijuana cigarettes. He rips out the last five pages and rolls five joints. Simply super. Supply is therefore ensured for a long time. As he tears out the sixth page from the back, he starts reading the front. It said, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth!”
Marco tells. “I sat in the meadows outside the city for weeks. This book spoke to me and totally changed my life!” To make a long story short. The Bible freed him from drug addiction. He then studied Protestant theology and is permanently employed with us as a hospital chaplain.
Late that evening, he operated on a patient for a ruptured appendix. That’s what we call doing your duty! For several hours during the night, he himself received emergency treatment for acute renal colic – without waking the patients on the ward with his screams. We call that exemplary bravery! So when surgeon Lukas Steffen came into the early morning meeting, we all saw his true character. The saline solution through the vein made the well-behaved Swiss man perk up again. He then went directly to the operating room to perform four surgeries.
How fortunate that our missionaries are not unionized. Otherwise we would now be in the middle of a warning strike by the workforce. /KDJ
Doris Manco and team have invested a lot of work and they were allowed to harvest the fruits. The 24-hour day of prayer from 23. until September 24 was an unforgettable highlight for all involved. Even the president of the Protestant Council of Churches (CONEP) came to Curahuasi with his wife and stayed in the radio studio for many hours. Cirila Quispe impressed us the most. The 76-year-old lady traveled alone from Abancay to be live at the microphone. A total of 34 FM frequencies – including three secular ones – participated in the campaign. The theme: We pray for Peru!
Early October: The Quechua Indian from the state of Cusco knew exactly that things were bad for him. For days his right leg was ice cold. The pain increased steadily and he could no longer walk. It took only a few minutes and the doctors at Hospital Diospi Suyana made the correct diagnosis: the right iliac and leg artery was blocked. The reason? A blood clot had clogged the vessel after leaving the aorta. A leg without blood flow dies after a few hours and must be amputated unless the artery can be reopened.
Unfortunately, the blood clots could not be removed, but vascular surgeon Dr. Thomas Tielmann found another solution. Through a bypass, he was able to divert blood from the aorta to the right leg arteries. Afterwards, the leg was warm, pink, supplied with blood and mobile.
At the end of October our website was offline for 70 long hours. We will probably never know who in the world is trying to harm our work. But of course we are in prominent company. The German Bundestag has already been hacked, as has the Pentagon in the USA. It is quite obvious that “www.diospi-suyana.org” has acquired a real meaning even for hackers. What an honor.
Friday afternoon 5:10 pm. It gets pleasantly quiet at the Diospi Suyana Hospital. However, four patients are still waiting for their gurneys in the emergency room. Throughout the day, nurse Henriette Söll worked as a team with Dr. Martina John. “We’ve been quite busy,” says the young native of Baden-Württemberg, laughing, “over 30 patients were treated by us today!”
Henriette has been living in Peru for a year. After completing her language schooling, she enthusiastically entered the clinic’s daily routine. Emergency department, intensive care unit and endoscopy. In these areas, she swirls and there she gives her best. How does it actually happen that such a talented nurse leaves the daily routine of the Augsburg University Hospital to practice her profession in the Andes of South America?
Flashback: In 2016 and 2018, she made two extended trips through Asia. Her stops were Thailand, Laos, the Philippines, India, East Timor and Indonesia. In these countries, she saw human need abound at every turn. And one question kept running through her mind, “Why am I so blessed and so many others have to suffer?” Henriette found the answer for herself and wrote the following lines to Diospi Suyana in the summer of 2020:
“For some time now, I have become aware that medical care should not be reserved only for first-world countries. I am convinced that we can only strive for a more just world according to God’s ideas if everyone makes himself available according to his own possibilities. That, I think, is the mission of all of us…!”
Whoever puts such statements on paper is, of course, right at home at Hospital Diospi Suyana. A woman who sees, thinks and acts!
Hundreds of enthusiastic parents and friends of Diospi Suyana School visited the school’s showrooms on October 21. What 17 student groups had put together in the days before was indeed remarkable. Everyone participated, from 1st grade to 11th grade.
The content of the topics covered was quite diverse. There were natural science projects (hummingbirds, hot air balloons, car propulsion) but also some social outreach that benefited many poor residents of local mountain villages. Theater, art and play culture for young and old set free ideas that fired the imagination. Of course, it was also about the high culture of the Incas, regional geography and exotic food.
The exposition convincingly showed how entertaining and educational school can be. A thank you to the directors Matthias Rehder, Jonathan Rosenkranz and Nicolás Sierra and the entire staff.
The first Diospi Suyana Youth Festival is scheduled to take place at the end of April 2023. – Before I start the car to dive into the Madrid traffic bustle, I quickly read a summary* about my interviewee. Enrique Pavón (36) has become known in wide circles in Latin America under the name Kike Pavón. After all, his songs have been reproduced over 200 million times on digital platforms. And 600,000 follow his trail on social media.
Time is running out at the cafe. “So we now have exactly 47 minutes left!”, I say. Sr. Pavón nods. I start and the pictures fly across my laptop. At the end I show photos of an amphitheater, a tent city for a few thousand young people and stage lighting from GLP (German Light Product). “You absolutely have to be there. What are your terms?”
Kike has many sympathies for the whole thing. “I will try to come. My band will then join us from Bogota!” Four weeks later, he sent a short WhatsApp saying, “You can count on me!”
Even a layman could see that little Dyland was not well. The three-year-old had been suffering from bloody diarrhea, vomiting and fever for days. Pediatrician Dr. Simon Then fortunately found the correct diagnosis: a case of typhoid fever. Thanks to the treatment, the Quechua child soon felt much better. By year-end 2022, 483,000 patients have already been treated at Mission Hospital.
The traffic jam near Brussels was terrible, but the meeting in Renaix, Belgium, took place after all with some delay. Present were the CEO of Europe’s largest tent distributor Glenn Verborgh, export director Christoph Schäfer, manager Mike Denys and of course Robert van Iterson from Outbreak in southern Germany. Once again, Dr. Klaus John – who had just arrived from Peru – told the story of Diospi Suyana.
World of Tents (Autentic) supports the project of Diospi Suyana in a very extreme way. 177 new (!) large tents will be donated for Diospi Suyana’s future youth festivals.
The tents are now the foundation for our youth festivals for the next few years. Robert van Iterson – himself a convinced Christian – had received the missionary doctor at the end of August – between door and door in Munich and then arranged the meeting in Belgium. In the end, everything fell into place. The financial commitment was not easy for the Autentic people to cope with (to be honest, it did hurt a bit), but after hearing the incredible “thriller” from Diospi Suyana, they were naturally challenged. The support from World of Tents is one of the largest in-kind donations Diospi Suyana has ever received. We are convinced that God has again directed this coup. Christians know that God’s blessing is totally real. You have to have experienced him to understand that.
Around 4 p.m. on Nov. 4, our Orthopedic Center filled up. Christian Haupt and Daniel Müller had invited to the fifth anniversary. The premises made the very best impression. Clean, tidy and lots of high-tech. The visitors saw probably the most innovative orthopedic workshop that exists in Peru. When Daniel Müller was asked where the patients came from, he answered: “Probably from all 25 states of the country. Even from the capital Lima!”
The construction and equipping of this facility was inspired by the slogan “the best medicine for the poorest”. Certainly over 100 quality prostheses have been used here to get patients back on their feet or to provide them with functional arms. A rare success story.
Of course, the equipment that is in the rooms and has become a blessing for poor patients impresses. But the employees count even more. Civil engineer Udo Klemenz erected the building in 2017. Daniel Müller was present at the conception of the center five years ago. And Christian Haupt, as a master of his craft, has great plans for the future.
Saturday, December 4: 1200 children, many adults and about 100 employees. A mammoth logistical task that was only accomplished with a large contingent of employees. Under the theme “Jesus, the best gift”, 100 children each were led through a parkour with 12 stops. At all stations the boys and girls could hear, see or even actively play something. The event of three and a half hours became an unforgettable experience for the participants from four to fourteen. The following statement sums it up: It was full and great!
Bright blue sky, the snowy mountains in the background and concentrated creativity. Everyone who was there quickly guessed how much love and hard work went into the preparations.
At the end of a long afternoon, the children were happy and satisfied, the staff exhausted and voiceless, and the background noise back to normal. As the sun sank behind the mountain range, everyone had understood that the birth of Jesus Christ marked the most important turning point in the history of the world.
December 11: It is a firm South American tradition for students to have a big party to say goodbye to the lower and upper grades (Primaria and Sekundaria). As Colegio Diospi Suyana looks back on nine years of operation in December 2022, the students of the primaria had thus gone through the entire kindergarten period (three years) and the lower school (six years).
The theme of this year’s promoción was “Bigalke”. Christian and Verena Bigalke have led Diospi Suyana for eight years and made it flourish. In December 2021, her commitment to Diospi Suyana ended. It is right that we express due thanks to the people who have achieved significant things.
We are very happy that our Colegio is growing and has now become a recognized institution in Curahuasi. We hope that the student body will exceed “500” for the first time in 2023. Since the Bigalkes’ departure, the school has been under the leadership of Matthias Rehder (general director); Niklas Sierras (administration); and Jonathan Rosenkranz (educational director).
In 2022, Diospi Suyana was able to acquire a total of four additional FM frequencies. Once all of our 12 plants are transmitting, 50% of all residents of the southern states of Cusco, Puno, Madre de Dios, Apurimac, and Ayacucho will live within the catchment area of our towers. Interestingly, over 90% of our patients come from precisely these regions.
Diospi Suyana continues to experience solid growth. Our work areas of hospital, school, media center and children’s clubs can be wonderfully interlinked. We are convinced that in the future important impulses for the youth of South Peru will come from our planned festivals.
We thank our donors for their support. The tireless commitment of our employees commands our respect. But as the year draws to a close, we are looking up. In the New Testament, Paul writes, “But God is able to do much more than we can ever ask of him or even imagine. So great is his power that works in us!” This sentence has proven true again and again in the fascinating history of Diospi Suyana. Therefore, we thank God for His faithfulness and goodness. /KDJ
