Well, with Monday
marking half way through my time here in Peru, I thought I'd better
reflect on the last 3 months, and what the next 3 might bring. The
first question I must tackle is why I haven't posted on this blog in
a while, over a month in fact. It's not as if I haven't got plenty of
stories, but I think I've reached the point where my life and “work”
here have, at least in part, stopped being new and strange to me;
this is what my life is now. Well, it's either that or I'm incredibly
lazy, make up your own minds.
This being said, the
work I'm doing here with Dr Cooper still excites and interests me a
great deal. The double-edged sword of it is the changeability, which
is due to a combination of the work and the culture; I often find
myself in the position of not knowing what I'll be doing tomorrow,
and even then it's likely to change in some way. This is infuriating
and exciting in equal measure. I experienced a prime example of this
the other day, when we were due to go out to the south of Lima to
check up on a few children who needed extra attention. After we
reached the church, it transpired that we were actually going to be
working at another site, an unfinished church building further up in
the hills, which we duly took a taxi to. Here we stayed for a while.
I watered the plants, Townsend saw the patients. We were then told
that there was a girl who needed to be seen, but couldn't physically
get out of the house. All of us there (myself, the doctor, the
pastor, and various other volunteers) proceeded to walk up the
(surprisingly steep) hill to this particular house, which could
actually only be reached by climbing down a ladder.
I have to say that the
situation in the house was not an easy one to see, it being basically
being a two room shack. The girl we had come to see has cerebral
palsy, and can't leave the house, or even move about of her own
accord. As a result, she is left alone, in the same spot, during the
day when her single mother has to go out to work. Not wishing to
intrude, I stayed by the door, but could hear the girl screaming.
Then, as is fairly common for the medical ministry here, we were
thrown a curveball. Two other children were there in the house
(cousins, I believe), and they were both lying in a double bed in the
main room when we arrived, happily watching television. Now the
pastor (Father Aurelio) noticed that one of them, a girl of about 4,
was fairly ill. He called Townsend back through, who had gone
straight to the other girl, the source of the shouting and screaming,
to take a look. Townsend examined the girl and realised that she
needed to go to hospital as soon as possible. To use his words: “At
the very least it's pneumonia.”
By the time someone
had explained this, and it's urgency to the sick girl's mother, it
had gotten dark outside. We emerged from the house into a darkness
punctuated by the moon and the electric lights of the houses that
cover the hillsides: strangely beautiful. I hope that's given you a
snapshot into what work is like here, though I have to say that was
an extreme day.
My church life is
going on well. I worship at a spanish-speaking anglican church, not
dissimilar in practice to Christ Church. The anglican church here in
Peru is relatively small, but incredibly friendly and although I can
never quite understand all of the sermon, I enjoy it immensely. I
also help out with the youth group, which is small but growing, as
much as I can.
I'm glad to say that I
don't spend all my free time at home, and have a number of friends
here: mostly (but by no means exclusively) ex-pats. I can often be
found at the Coopers' playing Settlers of Catan or MarioKart, though
I have to say my experience of Peruvian history has been limited,
despite the number of museums and archaeological sites in the city.
Hopefully that will change soon.
So, all in all, I'm
enjoying my time here. I would be lying if I said I haven't missed
home at times, or struggled with language or health, but those things
can all be overcome with perseverance and prayer. I am massively
grateful to all those praying for me at home, I know I'd be in
trouble without you all.
Which leads me nicely
to my prayer requests:
- Firstly, against complacency. Now that I am half way, I know my mind will be drawn even more to going home, but I still have 3 months of work to do.
- Also, for the various short-term teams coming into Peru in the next few weeks and months. We will be working with at least two.
- Finally, that I would continue enjoy myself.
God bless and much love
B
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