LEFT: LOCAL PERUVIAN CHILDREN
I recently returned to the Gold
Coast from a two week trip
to Peru. During that time I
affiliated with a local charity
called DB Peru which works
to provide women’s health
clinics in the far reaches of the
Amazon River.
P eru has one of the worst cervical cancer
rates in the world and we know rates of
cervical cancer are greatly reduced with
screening. However given the isolation
of these villages and limited access to basic health
care, much less regular cervical cancer screening,
reducing that rate is not a simple or easy matter. This
is why the clinics and services organised by DB Peru
are so important in these remote communities. Often
these clinics are the only chance for women in these
communities to access any health care at all.
Since my return many people have congratulated
me on the work I did in Peru and helping these
women, but I actually feel it is the other way around.
The work DB Peru does is amazing and I feel
privileged to be able to contribute to a small part of
it. The Peruvian people are such a lovely natured
people, they have such a generous spirit, made more
amazing by the fact they have so little to begin with
and they are so willing to give what they can and
share what they have.
We would attend a patient in their house and you see
they have little food but they still offer you the best
of what they have and are so grateful for any small
thing. The sum of the children’s worldly possessions
consists of a couple of t-shirts and shorts, one pair of
shoes and a soccer ball and yet they are the happiest
most delightful children, always running around with a
smile on their faces.
Australians often take their health care for granted,
being able to see a doctor at any time. It is a luxury
so many people in other areas of the world would
love to have. Even something simple like a small cut
on the leg can be life threatening over in Peru, given
the chance of serious infection. Whereas here in
Australia it is a simple matter of attending your local
doctor’s clinic or Emergency Department. Seeing
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