MISSION TO YUNGAY, PERU
- By Max Bruss
The Team’s report:

Dateline: Yungay, Peru - June 27th, 2000

VOSH FLORIDA AND THE MISSION GROUP FROM WINTER PARK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH LEFT THE CHURCH BY BUS AT 4:00 PM ON FRIDAY JUNE 27th. WE WERE 29 WHEN WE ARRIVED AT LIMA AIRPORT AT 4:20 AM ON JUNE 28th. WE WERE MET BY OUR HOSTS FROM UNION BIBLICA AND RUSHED TO A BUS FOR AN 8 HOUR TRIP NORTH TO THE EXTREME NORTH END OF PERU THEN OVER THE ANDES TO YUNGAY. A SMALL TOWN THAT HAD BEEN WIPED OUT BY AN EARTHQUAKE AND MUD AND ICE SLIDE THAT KILLED 60,000 PEOPLE 30 YEARS AGO. WE FELL INTO OUR BEDS AND PREPARED FOR A BUSY DAY ON SUNDAY.

WE ATTENDED A LOCAL CHURCH SERVICE AND DISCOVERED THE LOCAL DIALECT SPOKEN BY THE NATIVE INCAS WAS NOT SPANISH, BUT QUICHCAEN, A NATIVE TONGUE NOT SPOKEN BY THE SPANISH TRANSLATERS. WHATEVER, WE SET UP OUR CLINIC AT A FIRST ASSEMBLY OF GOD SEMINERY AND SAW OUR WARM UP GROUP OF 89 PATIENTS. WITH THE USUAL ELECTRONIC FAILURES AND 250 VOLT CIRCUITS WE BUMBLED ON.

MONDAY WE MET A LINE OF PEOPLE OUT THE DOOR AND AROUND THE SQUARE AT 8:00 AM. THE LOCALS REALIZED WE DID NOT EAT BABIES AND WE HAD DOCTORS AND GLASSES. SOMETHING THAT HAD NOT BEEN SEEN IN THIS TOWN EVER. IN ADDITION TO THE TWO O.D.s FROM THE U.S. WE HAD 3 O.D.s FROM LIMA SCHOOL OF OPTOMETRY. EACH OF THE 1192 FRIENDS THAT CAME TO VISIT GOT A COMPLETE EYE EXAM, WAS REFRACTED BY AN O.D. AND FITTED WITH GLASSES PROVIDED BY THE LIONS INTERNATIONAL. THE DOCS ALSO TREATED EYE PROBLEMS INCLUDING GLACOMA AND LEFT MEDICATION FOR FOLLOW UP. THE PERSCRIPTIONS WE COULD NOT FIT OUT OUR STOCK WERE BROUGHT BACK TO THE U.S. AND WE PICKED THEM FROM OUR STOCK IN OCALA. THEY ARE ON THEIR WAY WITH THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF EUSTIS, FLORIDA.

THURSDAY WAS A REST DAY WITH A TRIP TO LAKE CRISTAL, THE SECOND HIGHEST LAKE IN THE WORLD FOR THOSE ABLE TO TAKE THE ALTITUDE. 19,500 FEET.

WE RETURNED TO LIMA ON FRIDAY AND VISITED THE CENTER FOR THE STREET BOYS OF LIMA. THE MAIN THRUST OF UNION BIBLICA. THESE BOYS ARE ABANDONED ON THE STREET BY MOTHERS WHO CAN NOT FFED THEM AND LEFT TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES FROM AGE SIX.. WE LUNCHED WITH THEM AND RENEWED OLD FRIENDSHIPS, MOST OF US HAD BEEN THERE BEFORE.

ONE EXAMPLE WAS RUTH OBREGIS DOMINGUES, 13 YEAR OLD FEMALE. SHE HAD MENINGITIS WHEN SHE WAS SIX MONTHS OLD, WAS RETARDED AND LOST MOST OF HER SIGHT IN BOTH EYES. SHE COULD ONLY SEE LIGHT , BUT CAREFUL EXAMINATION REVEALED THAT THE OPTIC NERVE DAMAGE WAS LIMITED. WE FITTED HER WITH A PAIR OF -7.25 SPHERE IN BOTH EYES AND FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, SHE SAW HER MOTHER.

THIS MADE THE WHOLE TRIP WORTHWHILE.

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