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Pompinchu’s Staircase

We have been working with former TV comedian Pompinchu for over a year now since he suffered from a car accident which debilitated his movement and rendered him unable to perform.  Pompinchu, formally known as Alfonso Mendoza, had created an appeal show in the hope of raising money to help cover his medical expenses and help with his recovery but unfortunately did not get the support from his fans he was hoping for.  Luckily MEDLIFE also heard Pompinchu’s appeal and were able to step in and help.  We have been helping with Pompinchu’s medical expenses and more recently decided to fundraise and build a staircase up to his home.  

 IMG 8785The track up to Pompinchu’s house before the staircase.

 

Pompinchu’s house was located at the top of a slippery dirt track making it very difficult if he ever wanted to leave his house.  Over the past week MEDLIFE, with the help of some community members from the Laderas community, has been constructing the staircase up to Pompinchu’s house.  On Friday, a group of interns and nurses went with Carlos Benavides, director of MED Programs Peru, to paint and inaugurate the staircase.

IMG 0271MEDLIFE interns painting the staircase with Pompinchu and his family.

Whilst we were at the project site, we also decided to help Pompinchu with a few other changes he wanted to his house, redoing the paint, replacing the walls to his bathroom and decorating the side of his house with a character who is very important to Pompinchu.  

IMG 0404Pompinchu asked for an image of Pokemon’s Pikachu, a key feature of his TV show.

As well as interns and nurses, some of Pompinchu’s family members who live near by also came to help us with the final stages of staircase construction, including his young niece who was particularly excited to see all the bright paints we were using to decorate her uncle’s house!

IMG 0349Pompinchu with his niece at the inaugeration.

After completing the work on the staircase and other parts of the house, we were lucky enough to partake in a private viewing of Pompinchu’s once famous show ‘Comicos Ambulates’.  Pompinchu explained “much of the show is based on satirical political humour but as Spanish is not your first language I’m going to stick to something more simple” before showing us a series of slight of hand magic tricks and engaging in some friendly banter with his co star ‘monstro’.  

IMG 0420Pompinchu even invited some interns up to join in the show!

We finished the inaugeration with the traditional smashing of a champagne bottle over the staircase and a few speeches.  It was a delight inaugerating this staircase for Pompinchu who was incredibly entertaining all day and had us all joking around with him as we worked.  

IMG 0399MEDLIFE Staff with Pompinchu and his family at the inaugeration.

We will be continuing to work with Pompinchu and support him with his treatment and hope that having this staircase will make accesing his home easier and allow him to get out of the house more to continue entertaining.  

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Reya Seby
Western University

This trip motivated me more to pursue a career in the healthcare field so that I can use my resources to help those who need it the most, similar to MEDLIFE’s mission.

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One thing that I really loved about this trip was that MEDLIFE made sure that the volunteers got an understanding of the complexity of issues that lead to underprivileged people in communities outside of the main city

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Hannah Van Hofwegen
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Our family had the privilege of participating in multiple trips with Nick [founder] and his amazing staff. Their expertise made the trips unforgettable while instilling in my boys the fundamentals of good character: selflessness, compassion, and empathy.

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Harry Vildibill
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As an aspiring physician, MEDLIFE motivated me to further continue my goal of becoming a doctor. In fact, I enjoyed the Tanzania Service Learning Trip so much that I decided to go on another trip to Cusco, Peru.