Living in Peru : your everyday companion

By Renzo Guerrero de Luna
For El Comercio

All kinds of saints arrive at 47 year-old Edwin Ramírez Mendoza’s house to entrust their souls to him. Most of the time they come during emergencies, after having had an accident. Some have broken legs, others burnt wooden faces, there are also some headless virgins and angels. There are, as well, some idols that have not suffered any kind of mutilation but are just looking to regain the splendor that they had decades ago. 

Edwin welcomes them all in his restoration workshop that he has named the Hospital for Saints and tries to do his best to fix them. He is always guided – he says filled with emotion and raising his eyes to heaven – by the hands of God.

Ten years ago, Ramírez and his wife worked in the Archiepiscopate of Trujillo. He was the director of the Religious Art Museum. One day he found himself jobless and tried to open a restaurant but was not very successful.

After exploring other options, he decided to open an idol restoration workshop in his house on Jirón Orbegoso 742, in the Historic Centre of Lima. Since that moment, there has been a procession of saints, virgins, angels, and altarpieces through his home, looking for a cure.

Short of hands
Business has grown and now he has too many patients and not enough hands to fix them, especially during Christmas and Easter, despite the fact that his wife and his son, Joshua, are always there to help him.

Regardless of the hard work, he never forgets his patients and asks how they are doing when he runs into their owners. One of the discharged idols he remembers the most is a crucified Christ that arrived at the clinic in an ambulance due to its size. Edwin states that everyone who arrives at his door is looked after with the care and respect they deserve like all things that come from God. “It’s a great satisfaction to do something in honour of the Lord,” he says while he puts away cardboard boxes filled with remains of broken saints.

Translated by Diana Schwalb