Encarnacion, Paraguay
Finding Ministry Work in Unlikely Places
When friends ask us what Paraguay is like, we often respond with “it resembles Iowa with palm trees.” On the three hour journey from the airport to Clinica Lucas, the view from the car window is one of rolling fields, soybeans, and corn with deep red topsoil — and occasional palm trees. Although there is rich farmland in southern Paraguay, the country is the second poorest in South America, with a 2007 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of US $4,000. Forty percent of the population lives in poverty.
Several years ago, Dr. Jorge Gomez-Frey and his wife, Gloria, closed his very successful obstetrical/gynecological practice in the capital city of Asunción because they felt called to help the poor women of their country. At that time, Jorge was not yet a Christian and wasn’t responding — knowingly — to God’s call for his life. He and Gloria felt that they wanted to move their children away from the comfort and lifestyle of the big city and find a way to use their talents to serve the poor.
Their vision was for a clinic where care for poor women would be funded by providing excellent medical services to wealthier clients who could afford to pay. Jorge was one of the best-known doctors in Asunción, and his practice had a large following. He hoped to use the proceeds from his private practice to underwrite medical care for those who could afford to pay little or none at all.
Jorge and Gloria soon discovered that there were many women in the clinic area who had never seen a physician because of their poverty and remoteness. Their vision of providing medical care to this underserved population was underway. Sometime after they moved to Encarnación, a friend invited Jorge to attend church. Although Gloria was a committed Christian, Jorge himself had not been an active Christian. God spoke to Jorge during this experience, and his faith began to grow. As he became involved and active in his church, he understood his mission to help the poor women in the region was not only to minister to their physical needs, but also to introduce them to Christ.
After realizing the need for medical care in Encarnación, Jorge and Gloria took a step of faith and purchased land on which to build their clinic. Gloria, who was a business owner, researched the area and identified a piece of property that she felt would provide the perfect location. The clinic is located on the main highway leading into Encarnación, between the city and a new airport that will open in 2009. Several months after building their clinic, they were introduced to the Luke Society. After many email conversations, Dr. Apolos Landa, Regional Coordinator for the Luke Society in South America, and Dr. Wrede Vogel visited. It soon became apparent that Jorge and Gloria’s clinic fit perfectly within the Luke Society model of touching lives in Jesus’ name.
Since the clinic first opened its doors, Jorge and Gloria have attracted staff members and volunteers who are excited by their vision. Pastor Jorge and Rosa Nyskaluk serve as leaders of a church that the Freys helped build in an extremely poor, rural area ten kilometers from the clinic. The Nyskaluks have partnered with Jorge and Gloria by helping them run a satellite clinic in a building adjacent to the church. Poor women come for routine pregnancy visits and check-ups. When necessary, they are seen at Clinica Lucas for more serious health issues. They have also attracted other physicians to provide services at the Lucas Clinic, expanding the procedures and surgeries that they can offer to the women of the area.
The Lucas Clinic is a small hospital, with in-patient beds for up to ten women. The accommodations include a private room for full-pay patients, a semi-private room for partial pay patients, and a ward for those who cannot afford to pay. Whatever the financial ability of the patient, the medical care they receive is the highest quality. Any woman who needs an examination, a test, or a surgical procedure receives what she needs regardless of her ability to pay.
Responding to the medical needs of their community has also brought Jorge and Gloria into contact with other needs. Gloria, especially, has become very involved in a ministry at the Vertedero, a garbage dump for the city of Encarnación. On our recent PMT visit to Paraguay, we accompanied Gloria to this ministry site. We came away from this visit convinced that life for the 200+ people who live in the garbage dump is a vision of hell on earth.
Pictures cannot do justice to the horror of their living situation. One needs to experience the heat and the odors to fully appreciate what it would be like to live in the midst of the garbage dump along with pigs and chickens that wander freely. The people there make a living by picking through the garbage and pulling out materials that can be recycled such as glass bottles or cardboard. They sort and bundle these items to be sold, providing a meager financial reward.
Gloria and their church have begun a ministry directed towards the children living in the Vertedero. Using their own funds, Jorge and Gloria purchased a piece of land to erect a small building. There, they and volunteers from several churches, provide lunch to the children as well as bathing facilities.
When Gloria first began to visit the Vertedero, the children did not know how to play. Their only interaction with each other was fighting; they did not allow anyone to touch them. The volunteers have built a tree house and have been actively teaching the children how to play. They teach them songs and Bible verses and tell them stories. The children have responded to this attention and care. They now eat their lunch with good manners; they smile and participate in the singing and stories; and perhaps even most significantly, they allow themselves to be touched and hugged.
Gloria says that when they first began to visit the Vertedero, the volunteers were overwhelmed by the odor and the oppressiveness. When they visit now, though, they no longer notice the smells and the dirt. They are so moved and so encouraged by God’s grace and love that allows the progress they see in the lives of these children. They have also begun a program with several of the older children to bring them into the city for training on computers, hoping to break this cycle of poverty for future generations.
Within the next two years the area that is now the Vertedero will be covered by water when a new dam on the river between Argentina and Paraguay is completed. Although the garbage dump will be covered by water, the residents will simply move uphill to the new dump area. Gloria and the ministry team will follow them and continue to serve these poorest of the poor.
Jorge and Gloria have three children. Their two sons, Georgy and Niko, are both in medical school. Georgi, the older son, is interested in joining his father in the work of the Clinic; Niko is not yet certain where he plans to practice medicine. Their daughter, Melissa, is a high school student.
When Jorge and Gloria moved from the capital city, it was hard at first for their children to understand why they had to leave behind friends and a comfortable lifestyle. When the clinic was built, Jorge and Gloria moved into the clinic so that someone would always be available for emergencies. Their family lives in three rooms that they hope will some day be the clinic laundry. Over time, their children have grown to understand the vision that Jorge and Gloria have for providing medical care for the poor women and children in the area and have committed their own time and talents to carrying out that vision.
Though they have come far in establishing Clinica Lucas in such a short time, like all good visionaries, Jorge and Gloria have dreams for the future. A new 3-D ultrasound, a pulse oximeter for the operating room and new beds for the ward are some short-term goals. They also have dreams for an extended care facility and for finding leadership for Clinica Lucas ministries in other areas of Paraguay.
Their enthusiasm and excitement and their passion for doing God’s work helping poor women and children in Paraguay is infectious and inspiring.
Kathi Bates