Other stories from Pijal

"And this is love, that we walk according to His commandment.  This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it."   2 John 1:6

         This was our second year to hold a medical clinic at Pijal.  It is a poor community, nestled in the hills just outside Otavalo.  The Quechua women come with their children, walking alongside the chickens, sheep, dogs and pigs.  The concrete building in which we see people was once intended to serve as the health department, but now serves as a day care.   After sweeping the floors and hanging the tarps, we began seeing patients there yesterday.

        One lady we saw was brought to the clinic by her twenty-five year old son.  She had the usual Quechuan complaints of back pain and headache.  What caught Shelia and me by surprise, however, was that her son was her only child.  She told us that she had been pregnant seven times in her life.  She went on to say that her now deceased husband had brutally ended each of her first six pregnancies by beating her until she miscarried.  We were stunned to hear this, but it seemed to relieve her of an emotional burden to be able to tell a stranger of these tragic events in her life.  We provided some medications for her, and prayed tenderly for her and her son.

      Later in the day, we were heartened to see a lady that we had seen before last year.  Her three year old twin sons accompanied her, one of whom had been unable to walk or to use his arms when we saw him last year.  We gave her $30 last year to be used for regular physical therapy.  Indeed, she had been taking him to a physical therapist, and per our request last year, produced a receipt from his visits over the past year.  He is now walking, and is beginning to use his arms and hands.  He smiled as we examined him, and demonstrated improved strength in his limbs.  We attended to the other needs of the family, and encouraged his mother to continue with the physical therapy.  Shelia and I were encouraged as well!

        The day  at Pijal was a rainy one.  We were reminded of the simultaneous presence of hope and despair in that land.

Challenged and uplifted,
Dr. Tim