Motivation
For a long time we had the desire to be of service elsewhere in the world. The first seed for this was planted when we lived in Tanzania for a few months after we got married, where Hilbert worked in a hospital and Evelien worked for a Christian foundation that had a sponsorship program for school children.
That is why a few years ago we had exploratory talks with other mission organisations. Due to the fact that these organisations no longer supported medical work, this process was not continued.
Hospital Diospi Suyana
In August 2022, quite unexpectedly, we were approached by Dr. Klaus Dieter John, surgeon and founder of Hospital Diospi with the question whether we could come over as a family to work in the hospital. For some time now, there has been a need for an extra surgeon to cope with the many activities.
Hospital Diospi Suyana is a mission hospital founded in 2005 by the German doctor couple Klaus Dieter and Martina John, with the aim of providing good medical care to one of the poorest populations of Peru, the Quechua Indians. This concerns an indigenous population that seems to have been neglected in general by the Peruvian government. The hospital is located in Curahuasi, a town at an altitude of 2,700 meters in the Andes Mountains in the Apurimac region, also known as "the poorhouse of Peru".
The hospital has become one of the most modern mission hospitals, with the aim of providing the best possible standard of care, comparable to the current state of Western medicine. The core vision of Hospital Diospi Suyana lies in the view that it was Jesus Christ himself who was and is committed to healing the sick and bringing relief to the poor. The desire is to follow the "Great Samaritan".
"We also know that the ultimate solution to ending human suffering is not found in prescribing drugs, nor in procedural interventions, nor even in life-saving surgeries. Sooner or later we all die. The central question is "What comes after death?" Jesus Christ promised that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life in heaven. The staff at Diospi Suyana deeply believe this to be true."
In all the years that the hospital has existed, more than half a million patients have visited the outpatient clinic. In the waiting room, the gospel is shared by means of audiovisual presentations. Many of the patients are illiterate, which is why audiovisual equipment is very important.
Task in Peru
The work in Diospi Suyana for Hilbert will mainly be in the surgical field; treating and operating on patients and also being part of the medical staff. It looks like Evelien will take on various administrative tasks in the hospital. As a family, we will first
take an intensive Spanish language course to be well prepared for the work that awaits. The children will go to a local school and be educated there in Spanish. This school was also set up by the Diospi Suyana Foundation, with the aim of providing Christian education to both missionary and local children.
Departure
It is now clear that we will leave for Peru on January 6, 2024. Do you want to follow us? Click here for more information about our mission in Peru.