In September 2011 I went to the most remote location in Bolivia that I have ever been to: Caypayqui (kay-PIE-kee). First you go 4 hours by dirt road from Achacachi to Timusi (some of you have been there before). It is another 1:15 past Timusi! It is a stunningly beautiful and equally sad place.  The Timusi District  had pleaded with the General Assembly for the IEMB to open a new clinic in Caypayqui, and Dr. David Mamani, Head of Medical Services for the IEMB, Ruben Teran, his boss and head of Services, and I were there to see for ourselves if there really was a need or not. What we saw and heard surprised and shocked even this veteran team.

Leaders from the Methodist Church, community leaders of Caypayqui, and from eight surrounding villages, with a total population of over 1,000 people, were waiting for us. They then began, one after another, to give these heart-felt pleas asking the IEMB to start a Health Clinic there in Caypayqui. The nearest health clinic is 3-4 hours by foot. 

 Two of the communities are in such a difficult place that there is no road to them. There is only a footpath through the Andes that takes about 45 minutes to get to Caypayqui. When I asked if it was accessible by a rugged mountain motorcycle, they said, “No. No. The path is, by far, way too dangerous!”

As I began to ask about specifics, the sadness was almost palatable. One brother said, “If you are old, and you get sick, you die.” Another brother spoke on behalf of the children: “We can sometimes carry our children to the clinic, but often times they too die along the way”.The women, as is typical, sat as a group off to the other side of the town center and listened. So I went over to them and asked them some questions. At first, a few men tried to answer for them, but I simply raised my hand in a universal ‘stop sign’; and asked the women to share. The women seemed a little shocked that a male gringo wanted to hear from them. 

“Is this health clinic really needed?” “Oh, yes, pastor. Very much so.”“Why?” “For the children. When they get sick we don’t know what to do. There is no one to help us and no one to tell us what to do to make them well.”  

“What about the water, is it good?” “Oh yes. It is clean. You can see that it is. But if we drink a lot of it we get diarrhea ( ).” (I saw a little girl aged 3 or so with bad diarrhea.) “What about vaccines for the children?” “No pastor.”“But what about the free government vaccines? Surely you receive them.” “Who can bring them to us? The clinics say they only have enough for the villages close to their clinic.”  

Then I asked an important, but some what culturally insensitive question: “What about childbirth? Who helps you with delivering your babies?” There was some embarrassment, and the younger women giggled and were silent. But then an older matriarch said, slowly, and with a deep sadness, “No one, pastor. We give birth alone, with no one in attendance.” “Not even a mid-wife?” “No completely alone.”   

And then, and then she said, “Pastor, we had two women die in childbirth this year. Both babies survived. . . . . . . . ”   

That did it. Ruben Teran was great. He explained how the ministry of the Methodist Health Clinics was an extension of Christ’s healing ministries; that it was because the Methodist church believes in healing and ministering to the whole person: Spirit and Body.   

Ruben said that for the Methodist Church to build a clinic in Caypayqui, the community would have to donate some land and give the church the title to it. They quickly agreed. (We later selected two possible sites and told the community they should decide which would be best.)   

I then told them that neither I nor the IEMB had $25,000 – $30,000 to build a new clinic. That we would have to raise the money and it would probably take 3-4 years and the involvement of several teams to get this done. They then pleaded if we could possibly start the clinic right now.   

They showed us two small rooms, owned by the community, that we could have immediately. One for a clinic and the other for a nurses to live in. The rooms (15’x10’ & 15’x20’) have dirt floors, cracking old stucco, no windows, and inappropriate ceiling. The existing outhouse was totally unacceptable.   

“Please could you send us a nurse?”   

We said, “It is possible, but you must first build a new latrine for the nurse. You must put in cement floors for the two rooms, stucco to the one room, cover the ceiling, cut a hole for a window in each room, get new doors, and put in dividing walls in the “clinic” room. We estimate the cost of materials at about $500, and you will have to do the labor.”   

There was a disheartened stir among the elders. They huddled and whispered. Finally they said to Ruben, “Brother, we can do the work, and we can buy materials for the ceiling, and the dividing walls. But we cannot afford the stucco, cement, or the doors.   

Now it was time for the three of us to huddle. Ruben said that he had enough funds for salary of a nurse until the end of the year; but, of course, will need help for next year. He also thought that the Methodist schools could ‘loan’ the clinic most of the needed furniture. Dr. Mamani estimated that for $2,000 we could buy the remaining materials that are needed; and provide the simplest most basic equipment for the clinic. Ruben said the Church had $1,000 to pay toward that goal. And I said, “I’ll raise the other $1,000, somehow. . .  .”   

So, that is what we told the community. The joy was overwhelming: hugs and kisses. The prayers at the end were heartbreaking; begging God to bless the work of each of the three of us.   

So, there you go. The community is giving its labor and probably making the biggest financial contribution (% of income wise) of $100 to $200. The IEMB is giving $1,000 and we need to raise $1,000: A $1,000 to bring a health clinic in the next month to 1,000 people.   

If you could possibly help with a donation of $20, $50, $100 or more, please go to the “Advance” website for the United Methodist ‘Advance’ for the Bolivian “Health Care Program” by clicking here. You will be able to make a tax deductable donation in which 100% of the funds will go directly to Caypayqui. Please make “In Honor of” “Caypayqui” so that we can keep the funding seperate.   

(P.S. – It would be fantastic if I could talk to Ruben Teran, before I left for home on Sept. 6th, and tell him that we had the $1,000 and get that clinic open! Please consider helping.)   

Thanks folks.   

David