walking on water

It was a stormy night. The wind was howling, and leaves were flying through the cold air. I let the dogs off the leash and grimly continued my walk. I was finishing up my residency and training as a surgeon.

Since high school, my wife and I had dreamed about living and working in a developing country. As my wife was about to finish her residency in the paediatrics department, it seemed only a matter of time before we would start to realise our vision. With my hands deep in my pockets, I continued walking through the cold night. I felt desperate and sullen, which seemed to be perfectly in line with the bleak weather.

Although everything had gone smoothly career-wise, there was one thing I had not been able to resolve: God. As a medical doctor, I had to deal with death on a daily basis, especially in South Africa, where many of my patients had died. Was there a life after death? Were the words of Christ, which I had known since childhood, really true or just words of solace? As I was walking, I became more and more agitated until I finally screamed into the dark night: ‘God where are you? I want to see you!’

impossible in human terms

The longing for a personal relationship with God has never left me. I enjoyed reading about how other people had encountered God. At the same time, I analysed and reflected on my own life. When Tina and I were finally done with our residencies, which included stints in England, the US, South Africa and Germany, it was clear to us that a higher being had led us from one crossroads to the next. With a faith as small as a mustard seed, we applied to a missionary hospital in Ecuador. In our application, we stressed that we considered ourselves first and foremost doctors, with our Christian faith coming in a distant second.

Tina and I spent five years at the Hospital Vozandes del Oriente in Ecuador, which proved to be a time that would define our lives. We learned what it was like to run a missionary hospital in constant need of funding and with outdated equipment. What we also realised was that a hospital in need of funding will ultimately turn into a hospital for the middle class rather than the poor. Every indigenous person we had to turn away left us with a gnawing feeling that this was not right. Neither Tina nor I wanted to devote our lives to the well-being of the rich. We felt called to help the Quechua of the Peruvian Andes, a people group who had been marginalised and oppressed for decades, and whose fate had deeply moved us on a previous trip to Peru.

In January 2002, Tina and I started to develop our blueprint for a new hospital. Our hospital would serve the poorest of the poor and provide them with the highest standard of medical care. We quickly came to realise that such a project would cost millions of dollars. We figured it would require about 1,000 supporters, 30 volunteers, as well as donations from numerous healthcare and medical companies.

It seemed crazy to launch our initiative in Europe in 2002, when the Western world was going through tough economic times. Yet we drove up and down Germany on the autobahn, and wherever there was an opportunity, we introduced people to our vision. That year, Tina handwrote about 1,000 letters to find supporters for our project. By June 2004, we had received a mere 251 donations. It seemed as if we had reached a dead end. But we didn’t give up; we truly believed that it was God’s plan for us to build a hospital for the Quechuas in Peru.

God takes charge

The name we chose for our hospital was ‘Diospi Suyana’, which means ‘we trust in God’ in Quechua, the language of the ancient Incas. It turned out to be the perfect name, as we found out later. God was lining people up to help us realise our plan.

We had always hoped to find a construction engineer who would manage building the hospital as a consulting partner. We were looking for a person with significant experience willing to volunteer their time. Unfortunately, we hadn’t been able to find anybody fitting that job description.

On 16 February 2005, I met with our lawyer in Germany to discuss our negotiations with the construction company Constructec. The construction estimates were about 4 million dollars, not including any medical equipment.

Suddenly, our lawyer said: ‘I know somebody who fits your job description.’ ‘Who?’ I asked immediately. His answer: ‘Udo Klemenz.’ I called him immediately. ‘Mr Klemenz, your name came up two minutes ago, my wife and I are doctors, and we want to build a hospital in Peru. Would you be interested in leading this construction project on a voluntary basis?’ Mr Klemenz and I decided to continue our conversation that evening in person. What we didn’t know was that Udo Klemenz and his wife, Barbara, had been praying for a ‘special assignment’. And so, in August 2005, the couple arrived in Peru to oversee the construction of not only the hospital but eventually also the dental clinic and eye clinic. To sum it up, the Klemenz family would spend ten years of their life in Curahuasi to direct several big building projects for our mission.

The hospital construction never had a fixed budget, yet we were able to proceed without incurring any debt or loans. Financially, we never knew what the next day would bring, but so far, we’ve always received the necessary funding, although sometimes at the very last minute.

Nevertheless, there were challenges: We didn’t have a reliable internet connection or mobile phone service, and the nine local payphones hardly worked. We also received our share of bad news. On 17 December 2005, for example, customs officials at the Lima airport confiscated my projector. I had forgotten to declare the equipment on one of the customs forms. Even though I had quite a few high-ranking people, including the German ambassador, advocating for me, I didn’t get my projector back. Extremely frustrated, I finally set out to buy a new projector. On 10 February 2006, I was standing in a small store in Lima, testing various projectors by clicking through my slides about Diospi Suyana. Unbeknownst to me, the president of the Peruvian telecommunications company, Impsat-Peru, was standing right behind me, intently watching the presentation. He was so moved that he asked for an immediate meeting. As a result, he had Impsat-Peru donate a satellite dish, and provide access to several phone lines and internet connections. The value of this incredibly generous donation amounts so far to 400,000 US dollars.

Some of the difficulties we faced were frightening. In June 2006, the Ministry of Culture enforced an immediate halt to construction, claiming that we hadn’t obtained all the required licences. The penalty was set at 700,000 dollars, a sum that could have put the whole Diospi Suyana organisation under. I asked the German ambassador, Roland Kliesow, whether he could arrange a meeting with the newly elected President of Peru, Alan García, or his wife, Pilar Nores de García. The ambassador thought this overly ambitious given that Alan García had just won the election. But God intervened in mysterious ways. My wife and I received an invitation to the office of Mrs Nores in July. By the time our 70-minute presentation about Diospi Suyana was over, the Peruvian First Lady had decided to become our patron. And as soon as this news became public, the Ministry of Culture withdrew all their charges against our organisation.

31 August 2007

It was an impressive backdrop. Four and a half thousand people impatiently waiting in the amphitheatre next to the Diospi Suyana hospital. A full theatre, a big building complex, and behind them are the giant snow-covered mountains. Our dream of building a modern missionary hospital had become a reality. I got up and went to the mic to give the opening ceremony speech. I finished my short, ten-minute speech by proclaiming that only God can create something out of nothing. All glory to the Lord!

a place for the hopeless

The hospital has been in operation since October 2007. As of May 2024, we have registered 540,000 patient visits. Our patients are not just a number in our database; they are fellow human beings from every state of Peru who come to the hospital in the hope of treatment or healing of their ailments. In our morning service, our patients can learn that God loves them and that the existence of this hospital is proof that God truly exists. Our hospital is one of the best hospitals in the country, comparable with a medium-sized Western hospital. Our 200 staff members and missionaries are committed to making the mission that is written on the sign above our entrance a reality: A hospital that passes on the love of Jesus. Diospi Suyana has changed us – my wife and I now consider ourselves first and foremost Christians, our profession coming in a distant second.

the story continues

The construction of the mission hospital was the first major objective of Diospi Suyana. On 24 June 2010, we saw the inauguration of the Dental and Eye Clinics and, in April 2012, the completion of the Children’s House for the Diospi Suyana Kids’ Clubs. On 14 March 2014, we opened the Diospi Suyana School, which, together with the kindergarten, will aid the development of up to 700 children. We are grateful for the Bigalke, Rehder, and Rosenkranz families, who have served throughout the years as competent principals of the school. As the most recent highlight, we opened our Diospi Suyana Media Centre on 31 August 2016, offering a quality radio programme through twelve FM towers to the south of Peru. At the end of April 2024, we celebrated the second Diospi Suyana Youth Festival with visitors from 14 countries and 20 states of Peru. This five-day event, with concerts, services, and workshops, was attended by 4,000 participants, 800 of whom received pastoral counselling and a free copy of the Gospel of John.

The past 20 years have not been easy, and we were often afraid that our project could drown in the floods of political opponents or envious people. But we have experienced that, with God’s help, we can actually walk on water in a figurative sense.

words of thanks

At the heart of Diospi Suyana is its staff. They come from 17 different countries – doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers, and technicians are investing their best years for God and their neighbour. A particularly valuable addition to our team was Dr Oliver O´Neill, an expert English paediatrician, and his wife, Zowe, a physiotherapist.

Our thanks go to supporters and friends all over the world. Up to May of 2024, 150,000 individuals and 250 companies have donated over 45 million dollars.

In the New Testament, Paul writes that God ‘is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us‘. (Ephesians 3:20) We have seen the truth of these words over and over again at Diospi Suyana, and we thank God for his faithfulness and goodness. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote an abbreviation under each of his compositions: s d g. It stands for soli deo gloria and means ‘To God alone be the glory!’