Pollada

Check this out. One of the members of our church Cristo Rey (Christ the King) needed to have surgery.  Hernia repair.  Not super serious, but he was practically trembling when he came to our clinic asking "Still don't have an OR?"  Sorry man.  Still a ways off.  We're only equipped to cut as deep as subcutaneous tissue (fat) at this point.  We did have a look at the severity of the hernia under sonography which showed that he needed to get it taken care of ASAP, especially considering his work as a carpenter and that his wife was suffering from a high risk pregnancy. He bit the bullet and went through the surgery at a private clinic. The members of Cristo Rey were faithful to pray for him and his family throughout the ordeal.  We're thankful that everything went smoothly.  His wife's condition even stabilized beforehand so that she no longer had to be on bed rest.  

    Shortly after, the ladies at Cristo Rey, together with the other men from the parish wood shop arranged a fundraiser to help pay for the cost of the surgery. Now I know $700 may not seem like much to you and me, but considering that this is about three to four months wages for a typical Peruvian middle-class-working-man, and that he wouldn't be able to work for at least a month after, it's enough to keep one awake at night.  When the mission hospital is built, we hope to offer the same, high quality procedures for half the price. 

    I was absolutely amazed at how everyone pulled together to help. They had a huge barbecue, selling enormous plates of chicken with veggies for $3. They also sold drinks and many of the missionary wives baked 'American' confections rare to Peru (cupcakes and brownies) to sell to support the cause.  Many folks even came from our sister churches in and out of town!  The even lasted all day.  For hours we just hung out and talked, played frisbee, watched the kiddos chase after the wild roosters, and there was a volleyball and soccer tournament.  It was the perfect summer day and a wonderful chance for the believers in the community to get to know each other better. 





  
You probably won't find 'pollada' in your Spanish-English dictionary.  It's taken from the word for chicken 'pollo', the traditional food at these fundraisers.  From what I gather, it's conjugated in the form of past participle.  Chickened.    

    One interesting caveat was that one of this fellow's close friends had recently broken his arm in an accident (bike verses auto) and although a member of our church, had not attended in a very long while, regardless of frequent visits from pastors and missionaries encouraging him.  He did not reach out to the church after his accident (embarrassed I'm sure) and opted not to have the necessary surgery as he would never be able to afford it.  He too is a carpenter.  Now his arm has healed poorly and does not have full range of motion.  He came to the pollada.  He saw the body of Christ come together to help his friend.  I think it spoke volumes and that we'll be seeing him again at church very soon.  
    $250 was raised.  Very successful day. 

The traffic is normal.  The smoke, not so much.

Me: Hey there Mr. policía.  Good afternoon.  Sorry to interupt whatever it is you're doing on your cell phone, but I was wondering if you could tell me where is the smoke coming from?
He looks up: Oh that?  They're probably just burning trash.
Looks back down at his cell.
Me:  Really?  Looks worrisome.
Another officer overhears, hops on his motorcycle and zooms off to check it out.
Mr. Cellphone turns to assure me that they'll have a look....and then after a double-take, he begins:  Well hello there!  Good afternoon.  How are you?  Where from?  Living around here?  What do you do?....
Oh great.  Is this really worth sticking around for just to find out where the smoke is coming from?  Probably not.  But heck I don't have anywhere to be for a while.
He continues for another 10 minutes:  Now you have to be careful living around here.  Very dangerous.  Many delinquents.  Are you married?  Well why not?  Think you will marry a Peruvian?...
His partner receives an urgent walkie talkie message from inside the police truck and interrupts our delightful conversation.  The man's eyes grew:  Fire?  Fire!
He mumbles something like "Excuse, must go now" while doing a 360º spin until he finds the entrance to his vehicle and shoots off with the sirens blaring.
Dangerous neighborhood?  I wonder why?

As we were walking back to the Bethesda clinic Thursday after lunch, there was a young mom waiting for us patiently on the curb in front of our temporarily closed doors.  I had never seen her before.  She was guarding her right wrist.
"What happened?" I asked, taking a closer look at how red, swollen and deformed it was.
"I fell, 16 days ago, in the market."
"Still hurt?"
"Very much."  She jumped when I manipulated it.
"Why didn't you go to the hospital?" (You know, to ONE of the TWO small hospitals in this county of over a MILLION people?)
"I did.  They told me to make an appointment.  There weren't any openings until three weeks later."
"The x-rays didn't show any fractures?"  Her eyes grew big.
"I can't get an order for x-rays until my appointment, which isn't for another week.  You do x-rays here?"  I wish we did.  Maybe next year we'll have those capabilities.  I was kind of appalled that this poor girl suffered so long with such an easily treatable injury just because it wasn't considered an emergency to whoever triaged her at the hospital.  Don't bones ossify?  Now she'll probably have to re-break the bones in order to have them set correctly.  
I asked our Peruvian doctor, "Is this really the way things are done in Peru?"
Embarrassed nod.
"Is it because she's uninsured?"
"Actually if you have insurance, it takes even longer to be seen."
"Really?  Now what would you do if it were your wife?"
"I'd have to call a colleague."
Backwards.  We did write her an order, free of charge, to go get x-rays taken.  Stuff like this continually reminds me to pray for our mission hospital to be complete.  If you or anyone you know is interested in giving to our campaign fund to help us finish the hospital, Peruvians like this woman can have a place to go and receive the help they need.