Medical Clinic at Kusi

Well my last work team was quite different than all of the other work teams that I have hosted this year. Most teams that come to Peru with Scripture Union come to help with building construction and sometimes to run a type of vacation Bible school for the boys at the different homes. My last group, however, was focused on medicine. Scripture Union's site called Kusi is located about 9 hours north of the city by bus, and the scope of the site goes far beyond just the ministry to abandoned children. On our property we also have a camp site, a primary school, and municipal building for offices and conferences, and a few apartments that are near completion to be rented out as part of our income generating projects. There are also plans to build a chapel, a shoe shop, a small artisan factory/shop, a bakery, and perhaps a hostel as well. The next big project at Kusi, though, is a medical post for the local community. That is where the medical team comes into the picture.

Before beginning the project, Scripture Union needed some sort of data to assess the needs of the local community. We wouldn't want to build a medical post if there really was no need. Monday through Friday of last week we held a free clinic at Kusi for anyone who wanted to come. When all was said and done, we attended to around 700 different patients during the week. In addition to the medical clinic, the group had also worked to develop a survey that we could conduct to assess the needs of the community.

I am obviously not a doctor, and for those of you who know me, you know that I really do not have a stomach for anything that has to do with blood and needles. I worked for the week mostly as a translator. Sometimes I translated between doctors and patients, and at other times I translated the survey to patients while they were waiting in line to be seen.

Two parts of the week really stand out to me. Firstly, as I was taking in the surveys I was really reminded of the needs of people in rural areas of Peru such as this. Virtually no house had a real bathroom. Most people in the area only studied through primary school, and many people even less than that. A fair amount of people couldn't even sign their own names to give consent to their participation in the survey. Instead, that would color all over their index fingers with a ball point pen so that they could finger print instead of sign. The people mostly work in the fields of the wealthy land owners, and that work is seasonal at best. Most men averaged about three work days per week earning between 15 and 25 soles per day (that is somewhere between $5 to $8 for the entire day's work). Virtually all of the families living in these communities qualify for the state funded medical insurance, but almost none of them are insured. They are not educated, and some didn't seem to have even heard of any type of medical insurance. Even if they are insured, receiving medical care means walking down to the nearest hospital. In many cases the walk is more than an hour long for a person who is in good health.

The second part of the week that really stood out to me happened on the very last day of our clinic in Kusi. I was translating for a doctor, and our next patient was a 26 year old girl. As we began to ask her why she had come to the clinic she was obviously a little bit uncomfortable. As the doctor asked some more questions, the girl just burst into tears. When she was 7 years old she had been raped by a neighbor, and then the same thing happened again about one year ago. She had some significant medical problems that came as a result of her story, but the deepest scar was the emotional one. Neither myself, nor the doctor attending to this girl was well qualified to give her the counseling that she needed, but as soon as Rosa (the house mother for the boys at Kusi) heard about the situation, she dropped everything to come and sit and talk with this girl. I really believe that God used Rosa on that day. She herself was still recovering from a very large operation, and she wasn't supposed to leave the house or do any type of work. But she insisted on talking with this girl. They talked for a good half an hour. They opened the Bible together, and Rosa invited the girl to come to church with them. I am so thankful that someone was there to talk to this girl and share all of God's promises even in the midst of some really deep pain.

My understanding is that this type of abuse and domestic violence is far too common in the mountain communities in Peru. In fact, the youngest girl to ever become a mother comes from a place not too far from Kusi. She was about eight years old. There is so much need in the area that it can be overwhelming at times. I would ask that you remember these people in your prayers, and that you pray for Scripture Union's work there in Kusi as well. Pray that God would grant wisdom as we begin to move forward with the medical clinic. Pray for the future patients of our clinic--that we would be able to minister to them both physically and spiritually. We live in a world with so much need. I am thankful to be able to rest in the fact that we serve a good God who is bigger than all of the needs!