The Georges in Peru

"If you leave him here, he'll just be abandoned and thrown into a common grave," the social assistence employee told me.  I didn't really believe her, but I didn't think taking Alejandro back to his home from the hospital was going to be much better than her threat.  His home has no running water, and with his broken left arm he suffered while trying to get up from his bed in the hospital, he can't even use his bedside commode.  His infected foot that was the reason for his hospitalization was worse than when I took him in before going to North America in July.  What am I going to do?  I can't sit at his side and take care of him like I did with Amy.  I have children to raise and ministries to do.  He needs a nurse that can come visit him.  I called some of the guys from church, who help out with Alejandro, if they knew of any nurses that could help.  Nope.  No one had any leads.  

I rode in the ambulance with Alejandro and Maruja (the employee that said Alejandro would be left to die) and we carried him up to his bed.   His niece came by and we tidied up his room and boiled him some water before I needed to head back downtown for a meeting.  

I started walking, not sure how far I'd have to go to find a taxi.  One showed up after I'd walked a block or two and I asked him (Edgar) how his day had been.  "Slow.  So many people are striking, there are less people needing taxis.  The teachers are striking.  The nurses are striking.  The miners are striking."

"Yeah, I saw the nurses marching with signs at the hospital an hour ago," I replied.

Edgar said, "My daughter studied nursing."  

"I need a nurse for a disabled patient nearby," I said, not really expecting anything in particular.  

"Are you the guy that helps take care of Alejandro?"  

"Yes," I said, a bit surprised that Edgar had heard of me.

"My daughter helped take care of him a couple of years ago!  He always called her an angel, he liked her so much!"  

"Is she working right now?"  I asked, starting to get excited with the prospect of finding a nurse for Alejandro.

"No, she has a baby now and no job."  

"Where does she live?"  

"With me, near where you got in my taxi."  

"Would she like a job of visiting Alejandro everyday to help take care of him?"  

"I'll ask her."

To make a long story a little less long, María was happy for a chance of employment, and she seemed to be so caring, taking Alejandro's hand when she came to meet me at his house to see what the job entailed.  Lots of people have been praying for Alejandro and it was incredible to see God provide for him in such a timely, precise way!  And I even got a chance to clearly present God's plan of salvation to the ambulance driver on the way to Alejandro's house!

The road between my house and Mary Beth's apartment has been under construction for about a year.  Yesterday was a happy day because they opened up the bridge between our two homes!  It took me only 9 minutes to get home from her house yesterday afternoon instead of the 20-30 minutes that the congested detour route required!  (It takes 45-50 minutes during rush hour!)  This will save me 30 minutes a day, an average of 5 days a week for the next 26 weeks, or 65 hours less time spent in the truck!  Yay!

A picture from the median of the new bridge looking at the continuing construction below and behind us.

This week we went on a medical campaign to the nearby Colca Canyon.  I say 'we' because the kids were on school break at the same time as the campaign, so they and Mary Beth joined me!  This is an annual trip that is organized by Medical Ministries International (MMI) and we were part of a team about about 30 volunteers.  About 10 were from Canada, 10 from the USA and 10 from Peru.  I saw patients while Mary Beth, Mia and Paul translated for the visiting doctors and nurses.

Monday night, after a day of seeing patients in Chivay, I was asked to do a house call to see Paulo, a patient with a tremor.  His cousin (or niece, it wasn't clear) described it as a bad tremor.  “How old is he?”  “49,” she told me.  Very young, I categorized him.  The cousin went on to say, “His sister had the same thing and died.”  “Huntington’s,” I told those in my car as we drove to his house.  His cousin took us to the ‘wrong house’ initially, while she cleaned up Paulo's house before our unannounced arrival.  When I saw him flailing his arms on the floor of his shack, my initial diagnosis was confirmed.  I knew that there was nothing that can be done to alter the course of his disease, but I didn’t know which medicines could help his symptoms in the meantime.  Despite our remote location, I had cell service and internet access.  I found a reliable source that said that Keppra is a drug that’s been shown to help control movements in HD and I knew that I have a bunch left over from Amy’s last days.  Unfortunately, I hadn't brought the Keppra with me with me, but will send them with Gamaliel, the missionary in the stocking cap, who is going back to visit him next week.  Paulo was actually quite happy and said that he had accepted Jesus as his Savior before, so we prayed with him and went back to join the rest of our medical team.

Our home just went through a milestone event.  Paul beat me in a fair-and-square game with 15 minutes on the chess clock for each player!  Here's the final position and the moves for the chess geeks out there:

[Date "2017.05.01"]

[White “Paul”]

[Black “Allenl"]

[Result “1-0”]

1. e4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Be7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O Re8 8. Re1 Bg4 9. Bf4 c6 10. Be2 Bd6 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. h3 Bh5 13. Ng5 Bxe2 14. Rxe2 Nbd7 15. Rxe8+ Rxe8 16. Qd2 h6 17. Nf3 Ne4 18. Nxe4 Rxe4 19. Re1 f5 20. Rxe4 dxe4 21. Nh4 Qe6 22. Qf4 g5 23. Qxf5 Qe8 24. Ng6 Kg7 25. Ne5 Nxe5 26. dxe5 Qg6 27. Qd7+ Kf8 28. Qxb7 Qe8 29. Qb4+ Kg7 30. Qd6 Kh7 31. Qf6 Qd7 32. e6 Qd1+ 33. Kh2 Qd6+ 34. Kh1 Qd1+ 35. Kh2 Qd6+ 36. g3 g4 37. Qf7+ Kh8 38. e7 Qd7 39. e8=Q+ Qxe8 40. Qxe8+ Kh7 41. Qe6 gxh3 42. Kxh3 a5 43. Kg4 a4 44. Qf7+ Kh8 45. Kf5 a3 46. Kg6 axb2 47. Qg7#

Alejandro lives in a difficult situation.  Crippled, 84 years old and without work, he depends on his $80/month pension and the compassion of others to survive.  I visit him weekly to talk, bring him food and water (his room has no running water) and again to take him to church.  His room is cluttered and noticeably dark because of the dark walls and the lone light bulb (his landlord nephew won't allow him to have more than one bulb because of the cost of electricity!) Mary Beth went with me to visit him a couple of weeks ago and remarked, "You know what would make his room better?  A new paint job!"  "I was given the wrong color of paint a few months ago when I was painting my bedroom, so I've got some nice ivory-colored paint to use!" I noted.  So today we painted the back wall of his room, making it much brighter and him happy.  Sometimes it helps to have some new eyes look at a situation.