Just “A boy (or girl) on a String”
While stationed in PERU, South America, during the 1990’s, with my wife, Maria, and baby daughter, Priscilla
We had the honor and privilege to serve as English to Spanish (and vice versa) translators during medical campaigns, with sometimes as many as 100+ North Americans, who’d help in one of the poorest ‘barrios’ that could be found. (There were NO LACK of choices there…especially as Peru was beginning to emerge from a war on terrorism, in which 70,000 Peruvians perished.
My very first assignment was to translate for an American dentist, in a make shift thatch hut, much as this photo shows:
NOTE: The growing pile of extracted teeth (many of which were abscessed) to the right of the dentist’s leg in the pail on the right hand side of photo
Most of these patients had never seen a dentist in their entire lives!! There were tallies taken on the extractions…which numbered in the hundreds!
Novocaine shots to the gums…stitches to close the gap in the gums…doses of antibiotics afterwards.
However, no drills, for filling cavities, or cleanings, to prevent them.
Root canals? Bridges? Dental Implants to replace lost teeth?
Not on your life.
I recall on the final day, the an American dentist handing me, about $50 or so, and telling me:
“You need to take some of these people to a Peruvian dentist…preventative maintenance would have SAVED a ton of their teeth.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him, that even Peruvian dentists ain’t gonna crown any rotted out molars, for $50…
However, I refused the money…advising him we were told to offer ‘tips’…financial, or advise, whatever.. to the ‘Funding Campaign” on behalf of the local Peruvian, fresh from graduating a preaching school, who would be ‘in charge’ of follow-up with all these Peruvians, after ALL…short time, 6 day American team had flown home from ‘Jorge Chavez International Airport’ in Lima.
The local native Peruvians would frequently tell me:
“Sus compadres van a regresar a ‘La Buena Vida’ en los EEUU…eh, amigo mio?
I must confess, now…I never would translate these sentiments, verbatim…word for word…palabra por palabra…during the evening team meals, and ‘sermon’ inviting the local community to join the new congregation…
“What did he/she say?”
“AHHH…wanna know WHEN and IF ya’all we be coming back soon?”
Trying to maintain good ‘diplomatic relations’, ya see?
In the evening, while recovering from the sight of blood being spilt in the hut, in the morning and afternoon…I looked forward to the evening, recuperation, rest, and relaxation time…
I’d catch some of the our teenagers and college age American visitors…shooting the breeze…about all sorts of stuff…
High school or university they went to…how parents ‘insisted’ they come on down, and forego a week of summer camp, giving up…swimming, softball, basketball, canoeing, volleyball, marsh mellow toasts around campfires, stuff like that..
Some had head gear, listening to Tubthumping by Chumbawamba
or Smash Mouth’s big hit …..Walking on the Sun
***Yeah, yeah, yeah…si, si, si…lo se…The lyrics are in Spanish, pero…Go ahead…practice some Spanish…might come in handy, someday ;-0
Unbeknownst to these, other side of the Equator, youngsters, these two songs happened to be ‘hits’ on the local Peruvian radio stations, as the ‘land of the Incas’ dilapidated public buses lumbered over pot-holed scarred roadways, blaring music at passengers, packed in like sardines in a can.
At times, I braved prying the earphones away from medical tour ‘cabezas’ …to pose a simple question to them:
“Why are you listening to those songs?”
I’d get incredulous looks…like ”Who sent this ‘fossil’ to South America?”
My informal survey got responses such as:
‘It’s cool”
“All my friends listen to it”
On rare occasions”Why it’s Trendy …Alternative Music”
My response: “COOL DUDE…and/or DUDESS!!”
I zipped out from my pocket a copy of a song I had been playing to some ESL (English as a Second Language) during the REST of the Year…for Peruvians eager to learn more English…for FREE.
“Here’s a cool song about Pinocchi! Come on, you must have seen this Walt Disney cartoon from 1940…like SOMETIME….unless you were orphaned on the streets, or something?
“Here…check it out,” handing ‘em a free sample, as sales reps in COSTCO and supermarkets stateside do. “Give it a listen. Try it, you might like it!”
Boy on a String by Jars of Clay
Editor’s Note: Just so happens, A new version, of the subject matter, Pinocchi, with Tom Hanks, is available on DISNEY+ streaming…but, I got a feeling…I’m still gonna prefer the ‘oldie…but goodie’. 😉
Here’s a clip from pre-WW2 version
I’ve got No strings
Once in a ‘blue moon’ I could see a LIGHT go off in my listeners’ eyeballs…and they’d react positively…
“Yeah…I’ve got to get me one of these CD’s….soon as I got off the plane”
I could only hope and pray they would follow through, on this resolution, and learn NOT to have ‘strings attached’…during the course of their Lifes.
One thing was certain…the SPANISH sermon being delivered by a guest Latin American preacher…
Was proving to be a total bore…NOT only to the North Americans, but, many of the South Americans, as they wandered off the grounds, into the night…MOST, back to their ‘thatch’ huts… a smaller number, the “more affluent”, to brick and mortar…partially finished homesteads…ALL refugees from the ‘highlands’ , where terrorists used the “RULE of the GUN’.
Refugees…who had flooded Lima’s perimeter…now, ‘squatting’ on land, not even ‘legally’ theirs.
Desperate people, merely trying to survive…human beings, whom don’t have TIME to worry about ‘legal terms’….a life in which. surviving just one more day, takes precedence.
I reckon.
The Gray Panting
P.S. Stay tuned for more POSTS. Here’s a SNEAK PREVIEW:
“Dancing on the strings held by all those—“Big Shots”…..Hmmmm…Pinocchi vibe, otra vez???
