Overseas Partnerships

PERU PARTNERSHIP

AUSTRALIAN PERUVIAN MISSION ASSOCIATES

THE SISTERS OF ST JOSEPH  are now active in facilitating programs and services among the Peruvian people in El Pacifico, (2 community houses) Cruz de Motupe, Pitumarca, San Francisco Xavier, and Tarma.

Josephite Associates are active in these areas and provide an essential partnership with the work of the Sisters.

EL PACIFICO

There are presently 3 Sisters working from Casa Central and 2 Sisters from Cerro Pacifico together offering social and human development services in partnership with the Josephite Associates in this area. 

Specifically the house named Mary de la Cruz provides developmental opportunities for children and families.  This house in a needy neighborhood is owned by the Josephites and offers services provided by Josephite Associates with appropriate professional qualifications.  Programs include activities for disabled children, services for street children, training and income development opportunities for mothers, bridging education for those unable to afford the Academia, thereby opening the opportunity of university entrance to poorer students. 

The Cerro Pacifico Women’s House continues to offer courses for women, most now being managed co-operatively by Peruvian women leaders. 

The third house providing services is named Casa Batania.  The Peruvian women who are leaders of this program have made considerable progress in the period covered by this report. They have further extended their training in handcraft production and in management and have successfully dispatched two orders to the large Australian department store Myer as well as preparing numerous smaller orders.  They also support the beginnings of a handcraft co-operative in Pitumarca.

 The 5 sisters co-operate in the local parishes and keep contact with a Sister, newly arrived from Australia, who is in Bolivia completing her Spanish language training.

CRUZ DE MOTUPE

There are presently 2 Sisters working from rented accommodation in Cruz de Motupe.  A major service from this community is providing group work and individual support to men in the nearby prison.  The neighborhood of Cruz de Motupe is an area of sparse infrastructure where families newly arrived from rural areas live in crowded and very difficult circumstances.  The Sisters and Associates have been engaged in community development of all kinds including the support of co-operative efforts to provide running water, the construction of a community centre and a health visitor co-operative.  There is also a handcraft group, children’s homework groups and a group of the aged.

SAN FRANCISCO XAVIER

One Sister of St Joseph lives in rented accommodation in this newly developing area.  Where the residents are still lacking the social and physical infrastructure of community she concentrates on nurturing leadership skills in 5 local areas. The adults of these communities are developing the capacity to assist in the education of children, to support the aged and to engage in small income generation activities.  This Sister has developed a network of contacts and covers the extensive area of the parish of San Francisco on foot.

PITUMARCA

Two Sisters live among the people in this medium sized Andean community situated beyond Cuzco.  They concentrate their efforts on children and families, recognizing the need of the families for financial viability and the need of the children for education.  They also support local cultural and spiritual endeavors. 

Major projects include a program of daily education for young children who are disadvantaged in school because the language of the school is Spanish and the mother tongue of the children is Quechua.  Each afternoon volunteer teachers college students and high school students work individually or in small groups with the young children of the district who are struggling to achieve literacy. The Sisters have built up an excellent collection of pre-reading games and puzzles as well as books and videos. 

For the adults there is an effective project for producing and marketing woven and knitted goods from local materials, especially alpaca. There is a well established pharmacy providing basic medications and advice.

A serviceable all wheel drive vehicle recently purchased with funds raised by the Australian Peruvian Mission Associates has made it possible for the two sisters to now outreach higher into the Andes to Ananiso, Japura, Hanchipacha, Sayllani and Chillca.  In these isolated villages a process of community development has begun and the people are prioritizing their most urgent needs.

TARMA

Tarma is a provincial centre in the North Central Highlands.  It is the newest of the communities and at present one sister of St Joseph lives there with 3 young Peruvian women who hope to join the community.  Two projects are developing in Tarma.  The first is a commodore for the nourishment of the children through the co-operative effort of the mothers, and the second is a school for the poor.  These projects are undertaken in partnership with the local people and with a local group of sisters with whom we have been associated for many years.

Joan Healy

_____________________________________________________

JUSTICE AND PEACE IS WOVEN STEP BY STEP

In memory of all those who perished in Peru.

In Peru there are many people whose lives have been deeply wounded through political violence, especially during the nineties when 69,280 people were killed. Two years ago, a movement was formed whose aim is not to let people forget what happpened so that it may never be repeated. Because the Government and the Army were so involved in what happened they are not prepared to keep the memory alive or financially help those affected.

People like the Columban Fathers and others conscious of justice are spearheading the movement. To help keep the memory alive, four men, representing the areas most affected, are walking 2,200 kilometres through the Andes leaving a message of peace. In solidarity with them, the people of Lima were invited to participate in a long run from the airport to a district called La Independencia. The main road was closed to traffic so the runners had a clear path. Many participated, mostly young people, but also older people. I saw one in a wheelchair being pushed along.

During the afternoon, there were speeches and entertainment. For us, the most moving part was a one-person presentation of a scene during the time of terrorism. A young man of 23 acted his story. It went something like this:

Scene 1: He was a very tiny child when his father was killed and he

portrayed his mother holding him and showing him the star in the sky where his father was.

Scene 2: Next he donned a red scarf and a cap, stood on a table with stick in hand and recaptured the memory of a terrorist  in the village shouting at the people.

Scene 3: The little boy cowering behind some bags of grain.

Scene 4: He acted the part of his mother protecting him.

Scene 5: He became a terrorist again / his mother pleding / the terrrorist shooting her.

Scene 6: The anguish of a little boy orphaned and bereft.

Scene 7: The final scene depicts himself as a young father with his own child, looking at the stars and encouraging the baby not to fear, to have faith because mama and papa were always with them.

It was a magnificent piece of theatre that brought out the emotions of people present.

To us, it was a reminder of Irene McCormack and those sisters who lived here through those years and shared with  the  people, the pain of violence.

May it never be repeated.

Geraldine Stringer rsj

News