Our friend Ryan has once again used his skills to bring to life through multimedia a bit of what our job here is like. Please take two minutes to watch this video that he created as Dr. Martina John, one of the founders of the hospital, describes a hard story from the past week. Dr. John is a very good doctor, and I would trust anyone in my family with her. I feel privileged to work with her and to learn from her.
Diospi Suyana Hospital
From the “new” Diospi Suyana Hospital website . . .
The Diospi Suyana Hospital
Our mission hospital opened its doors to the public on October 22, 2007. Since then, our doctors and nurses have served more than 120,000 patients. The superb reputation of the hospital is founded on its modern equipment, inexpensive prices, and last but not least on the friendly care by our staff members. In the morning, long lines of patients crowd at the main entrance. Our patients come from all 25 states of Peru. It is not rare to have four patients from four different states in one single room. Most of our visitors are needy Quechua people as is obvious by looking into our waiting room. The great majority of Peruvians have heard about Diospi Suyana through some 30 TV reports and countless articles in the press. The mass media of Peru have named Diospi Suyana “the Hospital built on Faith”. There are 3 principal reasons why we think that this expression is well chosen.
1. Diospi Suyana is a modern high-tech hospital serving the Quechua Indians of the Peruvian Andes. It offers a standard of care on par with western medicine anywhere. This “miracle” project was made possible through answered prayers and a chain of individual events. The story reads like a suspense novel, fascinating to both Christians and non-Christians alike. As pioneers of this work, we saw God at work in the establishment of Diospi Suyana with our own eyes. For this reason, the book detailing the work of Diospi Suyana is titled “Seeing God! The miraculous story of the Diospi Suyana Hospital.” Many readers can’t put the book down once they start, reading the book in a single night. The 6th edition was published by BrunnenVerlag in 2013. The first English edition will come out in September of 2014 by Lion Hudson.
2. Jesus Christ himself was dedicated to healing the sick and bringing relief to the poor. His disciples follow his example and Diospi Suyana is leading the way – just like the founders of the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Christian Blind Mission, World Vision, and countless others who were and are dedicated Christians. Our commitment to serve the poorest of the poor in Peru is due to our desire to follow the “Great Samaritan,” not solely for humanitarian purposes.
3. Even though Diospi Suyana practices medicine on a daily basis, we know that the ultimate solution to end human suffering is not found in prescribing medications, nor in procedural interventions, nor even in life-saving surgeries. Sooner or later, we will all die one day. The key question is “What comes after death?” Jesus Christ promised that anyone who believes in Him will have eternal life in heaven. The staff of Diospi Suyana is convinced this is true. Therefore, each working day at the hospital begins with a chapel service and a prayer reminding all why we are here.
David is our oldest, and he has taught us many things about how to be parents. He is a great kid, full of creativity and drive. He is kind to his siblings and younger children, and he relates well with his peers. He has a good sense of humor, and he brings joy to our family. We are glad that he has been with us for the last eleven years.
This experience has convinced David to be a beach bum!
Our daughter Annie is 8 years old today! She is adventurous and full of creativity. She goes constantly from on task to another all day long. She likes to get things done. She likes her friends (which I realized as I tried to find pictures of her by herself.) We love you Annie, and we are so glad we get to spend life with you! God bless you in this next year.
Sometimes it is hard to believe that Lima and Curahuasi are in the same country.
Sarah is six today! So glad she is with us in our family. What a privilege for all of us to share our lives with her and watch her grow. Thank you God for Sarah! She is a girl ready for fun, a joke, dancing, and laughter. We look forward to more years of her bringing joy to all of us.
The missionary community here in Curahuasi is really excited about the opening of the Diospi Suyana school on March 17th. Our four kids will be in first, third, fourth, and fifth grades and I will be teaching as well. The facilities and the quality of education offered will be far, far above what is available here currently, and most importantly, this is a chance for the kids who attend to get training in the Bible and see the Christian life lived out.
Although the composition of the school will be 90% Peruvian, the directors (one German and one Peruvian) have made provision for the missionary kids who will be attending. Every day the foreign kids will have their own class time from 11:40 to 1:15. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, yours truly will be teaching English language arts, a little American history, and giving support for the task of attending school in a second language. I am really excited about the opportunity and I also see the difficulties therein. I will have eight students, two in each grade, and I think we will all be in one classroom. That is a lot of needs, difference in abilities, and responsibility, folks.
We have decided to order Sonlight curriculum for teaching language arts. I am going to go ahead and order the core curriculum (that means teacher’s guide, curriculum guide) for each grade that I am teaching next year, even though it is my understanding is that they overlap. I am hoping to set this up as clear and easy to follow as possible so that others can come in and take over if I move on to teaching ESL to the Peruvian kids in the future or in the case that some moms may want to borrow the material for homeschooling. We will order an extra set of readers so that each student can take the books home and keep up with their reading.
There is not really a budget for the missionary kids, so what does all this cost? Each grades’ curriculum is $400 to $440, for a grand total this year of $1646. Each extra set of books costs around $160 (times four). With shipping, I ordered $2427 in materials. Wonderfully, my dad is coming to see us in April, as are some other American visitors, and we will coordinate getting them into the country that way. If we get extra money, we will buy curriculum for future years or books for the school library.
If you would like to contribute to the purchase of this original set of curriculum, that would bless these dear kids (and their teacher!). You can send a donation through this website: https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=4d6052
We would also love donations from people who have used this curriculum and still have an old set lying around their house. By faith, we will be teaching missionary kids for years, so we’ll accept any and all grades’ curriculum or readers. We will put the books we receive in our new library! Our address here is: Allison Caire- Diospi Suyana- Apartado 210- Abancay, Apurímac, Perú.
I am so proud of all eight of these kids and how well they demonstrate Christ here in Curahuasi. Like Paul in Philippians, I eagerly expect that God will help me to serve them faithfully as a teacher. Please pray for us as we try to learn together!
Our kids are growing up. They each have their unique characteristics, and we are very proud of them. They are being stretched in their lives, in ways they may not have chosen for themselves. However, in general, they tell us they enjoy how their lives are going, and they enjoy the things they are experiencing. I took this picture during our current visa trip / car buying trip / vacation to Lima. For some reason I keep coming back to it to see how in many ways their unique personalities are captured in this one photo. Please keep praying for our kids; they need God to carry them through so many things.
We took this photo near the Plaza de Armas of Lima on the morning we picked up their Visas. They are standing in front of a church, La Iglesia de San Francisco, under which are catacombs containing many bones. We have read that their may have been 75,000 bodies interred under this church.
Glad to have some reinforcements. From the Diospi-Suyana Hospital website.
Four short-term coworkers ready for hard work
Dr. Jens Hassfeld introduces the four short-term employees in the morning worship.
At the right moment
During the vacation months of December to March patient volume is particularly high and we welcome any support we can get. Yesterday morning Dr. Jens Hassfeld presented four short-term employees: Anesthesiologist Dr. Gerhard Hinger from Baden Baden-Germany visits Curahuasi for the third time accompanied by his daughter, an ENT doctor Dr. Sara Helmle, her first visit to Diospi Suyana. Having worked at Diospi Suyana in the past, Pediatrician Dr. Heike Lindacher will help short term in the outpatient department. U.S. Medical student Carmen Rodriguez brings Spanish as a native speaker and a lot of enthusiasm. We hope all will return in the future as long term missionaries.
cairesonmission 