Monthly Archives: October 2013

Please pray for the Construction of Diospi Suyana’s School

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This school is very important to us!  Please pray that it will be built, that it will grow and all the kids can attend.  From the Diospi Suyana Hospital website.

The last five months of construction time fall in the rainy period

The last support of the top floor stage area is being concreted
Foundation work of house 7
The sides of the stage are being stripped
Plastering works on the outside of house 1
Formwork at the ceiling of the changing room tract
Southern view of the changing room tract
The mould of the porch roof is being set
Concreting of a foundation beam

A building update on Diospi Suyana School under construction

Dear Friends of Diospi Suyana, After a full week of dry weather with temperatures around 30° C at lunchtime it has turned cold and rainy today – no sign of sunshine anywhere. The rainy period is approaching.  Screed work on the first floor of the administrative building has been completed; next will be the ground floor. External plastering at this building is also making good progress.  On the top floor of the sports hall all supports in the stage area have been concreted and masonry work is going well. However, the toughest jobs are still ahead of us when it comes to working in lofty heights. Still, I am confident that we’ll be able to get those jobs under our belt.  The ceiling above the changing room area is being encased.  More effort is required here since this section of the building is skewed.  As regards the kindergarten house, foundation works have been moving ahead at a slower pace this week due to capacity constraints. Individual fundaments, however, and part of the foundation beams have been concreted since.  The building team wishes everyone a relaxing weekend.

Johannes und Udo

Medical campaign – Diospi Suyana

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Two weekends ago we took a trip up into a local Quechua village with a medical campaign.  The truth of these trips is that you are limited in what you can do medically, but the purpose is to support the local church.  The trip reinforces the gospel message that the church is trying to proclaim to its community.  By demonstrating that we care, we hopefully demonstrate the God cares.  For us doctors (or maybe just for me) it can be repetitive because the complaints are always similar or frustrating because we feel like we need one more piece of information that we cannot get because we do not have a lab or x-ray.  Yet we do it because it is part of the message of the gospel.  And thank God we get to be a part of that.  From the Diospi Suyana Hospital website.

A Trip To The Quechua Village Huerta Alta
On their way to Huerta Alta
On the right, Jessica Toews, the organizer of the trip, on the left nurse Damaris Hassfeld.
Quechua villagers waiting in line.
Claudia Nickel taking a patient’s blood pressure.
The dental department.
Quechua women cooked a yummy lunch.
Pediatrician Dr. Martina John talking to a patient.
Dentist Dr. Marlene Luckow working on a patient.
A big hit: cool sunglasses
The church turned movie theater.

Volunteering on the weekend

After receiving an invitation from the Huerta Alta church community, 40 Diospi Suyana staffers, including missionary kids, boarded various vehicles and made their way up to the village of Huerta Alta. The trip was quite exhausting but not even the numerous bumps in the road could take a way from the excitement.  An old barn served as an OR, The farm machinery made room for five examination, separated by a few portable privacy walls. Ob/Gyn Katharina Leeb had her examination room in another building. Our three dentists had ample room  on the second floor of a big building. Our two assistants Rina and Joanna patiently explained the best tooth brushing techniques to their audience. All in all, our doctors and nurses saw about 140 patients.  For lunch, our team was served a yummy chicken soup, Quinoa and vegetables.  Gabi Wall was in charge of the kids’ program, while Christian Oswald showed a movie about “Jesus” inside the church building. But, for the Quechua kids, the highlight were the sunglasses the team handed out.  Mission trips to Quechua villages require major preparation, including logistics. Many thanks to Jessica Toews for all her help during the prep phase. The result: many thankful patients and brave volunteers with many new cultural experiences under their belt. Photos to the right by Lisa Isaac.

From David Caire

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Usually my parents write the blog posts, but I figured they are probably running out of ideas.  So I am here to pretty much make one up.  The average day in the life of a kid in the Caire family is like this.

Looking good in shades!

Looking good in shades!

6AM:  Wake up to pretty mountains, put your robe on and head downstairs.  Pan comun toast is for breakfast.

7AM:  Dad helps David get dressed because he has a cast on his arm.

7:30AM:  We start heading down the mountain for school.  Annie gets nervous.  Sarah tells her Dad for the last time that she does not want to go to school.

8AM:  Arrive at school.  There is the Formacion where you have to stand straight, then loose, and then straight again.  Firmas, descansio, atencion!  The teacher gives a lecture to the kids, and then they head to their classroom, praying to Mary.  Other kids pray to Mary, not us.  The teacher comes in and we mostly do boring schoolwork until recess.

9:30AM:  Recess.  The teacher inspects our lunch, and then we eat it.  Most of the kids do not even bring their lunch.  Now Peter and I will play games while the other kids finish work that is required for Peruvians.  Then we only have American bills, and we find a new shop that will accept them, and buy three cheap packs of cookies and a Coca-Cola.

10AM:  The other kids get out to recess and we play soccer.

11AM:  Some of the kids beg the teacher to watch a movie.  No more work for today!  The teacher will agree one hour later, but in the meantime we have sort of like a gym class or PE.

12PM:  We watch a cheesy, bad quality movie for about an hour.  Usually I end up drawing, because some of the kids will get really close together and kind of smush each other.  Last time I got squished by somebody with a tank top.  He had a booger type thing on his arm.

1PM:  We get out of school and start walking home, but then we see El Loco.  El Loco is a 60 year old man with schizophrenia.  So we have to be very careful when we walk by him, which delays our time a little bit.  We get to the hospital, and Mom and Dad walk with us the rest of the way home.

1:45PM:  Home sweet home!  We eat a snack since we had lunch pretty early, and start playing with Inca.  Inca is our dog.  Inca is a very calm dog, and he barely ever barks.  I have only heard him bark once.  After awhile Peter decides to go up and play a computer game.

3PM:  Our Peruvian friends who live on the other side of town knock on our door.  They usually come in pretty big groups.  This time there are a few kids I do not know, and so Jorge and Carlos, the ones who always come, introduce me to them.  Then we end up playing tag, soccer, or Incans verus Spaniards.  And one day we even buried treasure, and we are still working on the booby traps.

4PM:  Usually they leave at about this time, and Jorge, Carlos, and Italo stay longer.  Usually the girls might join in at about this point.

5PM:  Mom needs to prepare dinner and asks them to leave.

5:45PM:  After the kids play Minecraft a little while, Dad comes home.

6PM:  Dinner is ready pretty much 15 minutes after Dad comes home.

7PM:  Inca starts to sleep, so there is not much to do, so all the kids go up to read.  Of course they were forced to.

7:30PM:  We start getting ready for bed, but I don’t think we usually end up going to bed at 8PM.  I think I am just ending this a little bit earlier than normal.  Mom reads Beezus and Ramona to the girls.  I am reading Jack London’s “Tales of the North”.  Peter is reading “Harry Potter”.

8PM:  My nice down comforter and bed is waiting for me.  I crawl into it, and go to bed. Zzzz.

Rich Mullins

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RichMullinsI love Rich Mullins.  In my life there has probably not been another musician I have listened to more, although since he died in the 90s, he probably will not forever hold that distinction.  Whenever life is a little hard or stressful I listen to one of his albums for a little comfort and a reminder of who we are in regard to who God is.  I am always happy when I have something new to read in regard to his life or career.  So I was happy and I want to share this article from Christianity Today that interviews Reed Arvin, his producer, about his time working with Rich.  Alvin talks about Rich, saying “. . . to sit around the piano while he played and sang by himself, this was beautiful. And we did that sometimes, just for the pleasure of it.”  Artists have a great God given gift, and when they use it for his glory it can make such a difference in the lives of people they will never know and have never met.  I thank God for Rich Mullins.  Read the article at The Legacy of Rich Mullin’s Ragamuffin Band.

Adventure is Out There

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Annie taking pictures. She wants a camera for Christmas. I am sure the views have inspired her.

Annie taking pictures. She wants a camera for Christmas. I am sure the views have inspired her.

Annie and I decided to climb up to some cornfields way above our house a couple weekends ago.  The hike was hard, but the view was great.  Annie likes to quote the movie “UP!” by repeatedly saying “Adventure is out there!”  I cannot agree more.

Curahuasi

Curahuasi

From Pets To Plates: Why More People Are Eating Guinea Pigs

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With the recent post or two about guinea pigs (cuy), I thought I would repost one from the past.  I did a little research while we were in Costa Rica on how to be have a cuy ranch.

From Pets To Plates: Why More People Are Eating Guinea Pigs : The Salt : NPR.

Guinea pigs at a farm for the animals in Puno, Peru, where they're considered a delicacy.

Guinea pigs at a farm for the animals in Puno, Peru, where they’re considered a delicacy.

I love that NPR had an article about guinea pigs.  I am eager to try one, as during my two trips to Peru I have never had the opportunity.  I always thought they would taste like chicken, since every unusual meat seems to have that taste.  The article indicates otherwise.  Some descriptions of the taste seem not so good, others more interesting.  According to the article, to feed our family of six I will need two males and 20 females.  With that number, I have a sustainable herd of guinea pigs.  However, it is not clear to me how often I can eat a pig – is it sustainable if I have one every day or just one a week?  Also, how much land do I need to maintain the herd?  I think before I get started I am going to have to do a little more research.  (I just discovered through the Tree of Life website that the guinea pig female reaches sexual maturity at 2 months of age, and the male at 3 months of age – however Wikipedia states that males reach sexual maturity at three weeks and females at four weeks.  Also it appears the average litter is 3 pubs, but the largest on record is 17.  I bet that was on large mama guinea pig!).  Are there any livestock experts out there who can give me tips on guinea pig husbandry?