BOLIVIA' S SERVAS SECRETARY IS CARING FOR THE AYMARA INDIANS!
Dr Ruth Tichauer, born in Germany, moved to Bolivia at the start of World War II to take a post in social medicine.
One day, 27 years ago, a council of Indians came shyly to ask if she would settle among them to work.
They found her a place in the poor section of the city of La Paz, put in some plumbing, patched and plastered "and when they came and asked for money for curtains, I knew it was ready." She had no idea then, she said, that the clinic would become famous.
"Soon people were coming from the interior, and would travel two or three days on foot to be with us. Some of them had not seen a doctor in 17 years." Services -all of which are free -have now expanded to include more doctors, a dentist, lawyers, agricultural consultants, and such lay personnel as farmers and a bee-keeper who have been trained to help.
Apart from the original La Paz clinic, there is now another in the Andean jungle, and a mobile, roadside health service. The jungle establishment began *ith sessions under a papaya tree, and "when there were more than thirty people gathered around, we started to build." In that area, soil was so barren that "even coffee wouldn't grow." It has now been transformed into a veritable Garden of Eden, said Dr Tichauer, with the help of agricultural consultants. People who lived there in poverty, undernourished and sickly, now can grow food. This is real help, based on love and respect.
Dr Tichauer's clinics operate partially on her own funds, partially on donations, a large measure of support coming from a group of retired American women doctors. She prefers not to ask the Government for funds.
www.servas.org/siexco/
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