Changes . . .

Photo: The "Free" Integrated Medicine Campaign.

Photo: Note the table of medications being set-up outside of the main tent.

I am at the airport awaiting my flight back to the U.S. This is a routine that I am very well acquainted. There is, however, a bit of a difference in my attitude as I leave a weeks stay in Lima.

Changes in the economy and the new prosperity of Peru are evident everywhere. From the number of new cars on the road to the congestion that constantly plagues the airport. Peru is a country on the move.

This morning I went for a run. A short run before quickly scurrying back to the Formation House to back my bags and say my goodbyes. My run was nothing special. It was along a route that I have taken many times in the past. There was one thing that made my run much different.

As I was circling back to the plaza in the center of Magdalena, I noticed a large tent set up in the middle of the square. I have seen tents similar to this one in the past - much of the time in very poor areas where international organizations are delivering medical and dental care. This time, however, the tent was a group of Peruvian health care providers setting up a free campaign right in the middle of a middle-class neighborhood.

I stopped and asked two people setting up a table with medications (the table was outside of the tent in a very conspicuous spot) what was going on. They told me that they were conducting a "gran campana salud integral." I asked who the sponsor of the campaign was and they shrugged their shoulders and said - "no one, we are just here helping."

As I walked away from the tent I noticed a banner stretched across the square close to the campaign. Upon closer inspection I saw a very familiar face and a slogan that every Limeno would recognize - "Hospital de la Solidaridad." Solidaridad Nacional is the political party of Luis Casteneda Lossio, the former mayor of Lima and a front runner for the Peruvian presidency in April.

The Casteneda party has been putting on medical and health care campaigns all over Lima for years. Their model has been to build portable "hospitals" (multi-specialty health care centers) out of discarded buses or shipping containers. They are easily recognizable because of there branding in the official colors of the Casteneda party.

Don't get me wrong, I am not against campaigning. In fact, I believe that Casteneda has a genuine concern for the needs of the Peruvian poor. It just seems a bit strange that a "gran campana salud integral" would take place in such a unusual spot.

Yes, things in Peru are rapidly changing. And, there is a long way to go.