Moyobamba, Peru

Asociación San Lucas

Asociación San Lucas in Moyobamba, Peru, ministers the word of Christ through its medical clinic and community betterment initiatives.

The ministry was chartered with Dr. Apolos Landa in the late 1980s and officially joined the Luke Society in the summer of 1989.

The ministry’s focus has evolved throughout its 30 years of existence. San Lucas began by offering curative treatments for common illnesses. However, a short time later the ministry began a transition from curative care to preventive care.

Today, San Lucas offers comprehensive health programs aimed at elderly at-risk; multidisciplinary treatment and reconstructive surgeries of cleft lip and palate; and strengthening capacities for teachers and church members to promote healthy and full child development.

The ministry also promotes the social integration of children, adolescents and young people from different social classes as well as patients of the cleft lip and palate program through music education.

 

Laura van Essen

About the ministry:

Name: Asociación San Lucas

Location: Moyobamba, Peru

Director: Laura van Essen

Partnership: 1989-present

Staff: 5

Alumni PMT: Steve and Teresa Beardsley; Dr. Jim and Deb Mellema; Jim and Becky Milstead; Orlin and Alyce Ten Cate.

 

Our mission:

“Our mission is to promote the overall wellbeing and development of vulnerable people, groups and communities. Our organization is based on Biblical values and focused on the family as the nucleus of society.”

Why I love being a director:

“It is a privilege to work with so many different people in God's Kingdom; to show empathy and give love to the most vulnerable people of society and sowing the seeds of the Gospel.”

About Peru:

Population: 32.2 million

Size: 1.3 million sq. km, or slightly smaller than Alaska.

Capital: Lima

Borders: Pacific Ocean to the west; Ecuador and Colombia to the north; Brazil and Bolivia to the east; Chile to the south.

Religious groups: Catholic, 60.0%; Protestant-evangelical, 14.6%

Primary language: Spanish

Literacy (age 15+): 94.5%

Physician density: 1.3 doctors per 1,000 people.

Population below international poverty line: 20.2%

Life expectancy: 74.9 years

Infant mortality rate: 19.4 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Major exports: Metals, petroleum products, natural gas, coffee, vegetables, fish, chemicals.

Climate: Varies from tropical in the east to desert in west; temperate to frigid in Andes Mountains.

Terrain: Western coastal plain; Andes Mountains in the middle; lowland jungle in the east.