Wide circles

Small trigger

“Remember us?” After our lecture in an Evangelical Free Church congregation in Lörrach, a couple with a son stood before me. I exclaim, “Kaltenbach!” and a movie unrolls in my head. Experiences of years gone by come alive. We shake hands warmly and are already in the middle of a conversation. “Then….”

It started sometime in 2004 with a phone call from Pastor Günter Born from Lörrach: “Unfortunately, we can’t support you regularly, but we’ll be happy to point out your work in the pedestrian zone!”

The Christians around Pastor Born actually created publicity. And not in short supply. Through this campaign, Dorothea Kaltenbach and her husband Valentin learned about Diospi Suyana from several sides at once. At the end of September 2004, they transferred a proud sum of money for the construction of a hospital in Peru.

I was eager to meet these generous donors in person, so I gave the Kaltenbach family a private talk in their living room one Saturday morning.

Let’s make it short: Dorothea Kaltenbach organized a benefit event for Diospi Suyana in the Protestant Church at Christmas 2004. The Johns gave a presentation to the packed church hall and said, “Thank you!” – Now it was Mr. Kaltenbach’s turn again – at that time owner of the Kaltenbach company. He invited me to his Rotary Club. This event was also to have consequences.

It wasn’t long before the Kaltenbachs sponsored the equipment for the hospital workshop and sent two of their people to Peru to set up the machines. The transport was organized by the company Streck from southern Germany and the shipping company Hapag Lloyd, of course at zero cost.

The whole affair was accompanied as a serial story in two southern German newspapers. Partly full-page and of course in the jacket edition.

Valentin Kaltenbach developed new ideas to promote the good cause in South America. His call opened the door for me with the head of the Sandoz Group. As a result, the Sandoz Group financed the construction of our intensive care unit and additionally donated medicines in the five-digit range.

Over the course of the following months, the “little campaign” by the Lörrach Baptists resulted in donations worth 187,000 euros.

In 1973 Manfred Siebald translated a song by the American Kurt Frederic Kaiser. The text of the first two stanzas aptly describes the above development in favor of Diospi Suyana.