28 July 2016
Many things have happened since my last post, but to try and
stay current I am just reporting in on my current trip to Curahuasi this week
(plus language school is in recess giving me the needed respite from late night
homework to write here again! J).
Isaac (13) and I have embarked on our inaugural trip to
Diospi Suyana hospital whilst language school is in recess for two weeks. The bus is the most economical method by an
order of magnitude – typically between USD $30 to $40 p/p each way. Not bad for a 10 hour coach trip with 160° to
180° reclining bed seats and personal entertainment screens.
But that is where the luxury sell ends, as the bus travel in
these parts is far from smooth straight road, leading to a somewhat anxious
and prayerful trip for me. It was like
being in a theme park flight simulator ride where you are thrown up down, left
and right – all the time I was envisioning the speeding bus edging along mountain
hairpin bends with 300 metre sheer drops. All this with a seatbelt that did not work and
the Diospi Suyana accounts of carnage with buses that do go over the edge.
But my promise
scripture is Psalm 121 – I lift up my eyes to the mountains - where does my
help come from? My help comes from the
Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He
will not let your foot slip - he who watches over you will not slumber.
So of course we arrived OK and the Diospi Suyana facility
was every bit as impressive as imagined. It was a quality build and with friendly
professional Christian staff on board. The
media centre was bigger than I had imagined from the plans – a nice clean build
to get things right and be efficient and produce quality programming.
FM broadcasting had commenced a few weeks earlier for the low
power local Curahuasi license on the Diospi Suyana property, providing our
first 24 x 7 radio to the community. The
transmitter install is temporary but functional and does not impact upon signal
performance.
The first Diospi
Suyana FM – a low power transmitter (temporary install) serving Curahuasi
The Diospi Suyana
hospital site FM mast (co-sited)
We have met some wonderful fellow mission people here from
all parts – Germany, the US, Australia (Lyndal Maxwell) and many local
Peruvians. These are directors, surgeons,
doctors, medical assistants, broadcast producers, to even cleaners who take
such pride in their work.
We have also reserved a house for when we are ready to
commence work in Curahuasi. Many doubted
that a suitable place for a family of 10 would be found. However God clearly had other plans as we
found a large farm house (casa la hacienda) with everything we had dreamt of
having – from a creek, to beautiful views of mountains and crop fields, to even
a bath (a very rare thing in Peru!).
The house is believed to be over 150 years old, and has
approximately 1 metre thick adobe mud brick walls to regulate the ambient temperature
extremes. It has never been leased
before and is just 10 minutes out of town.
The owners – 4 adult siblings of an Italian visionary father, took over
2 hours to show me around and provide stories of their childhood and the
amazing things their father established in the place from vineyards, to
orchards, to vegetable gardens, to a water wheel to grind wheat and generate
power etc. It even has a paddock for
animals (read: accommodating possible horse one day for Sarah), not to mention
Inka trails that go on for countless kilometres (read: accommodating Sam’s mountain
bike riding) and hills to climb for all. We are feeling so incredibly blessed right now
(again!).
A perfect place to accommodate
our family (a coat of paint on the exterior will make a world of difference too!
J)
Yes a bath – and what
a view!!!
Tomorrow is Peru Independence Day where the town establishments
(such as Diospi Suyana) march the streets to the town centre – in Peru this is
the Plaza de Armes (of which every city and town of any presence has its centre
named this). I will be videoing with one
of the new Sony professional cameras recently acquired for the media centre. This will enable a programme to be produced
for the hospital for when the inaugural Diospi Suyana television station
commences broadcasting in the coming months.
Chris
