Hello everyone! After a decent absence, a short entry for now to let you know that I`ve posted some photos from the past couple months on my photo site, link at right.
Life has been full here, as I prepare for my second Peruvian Christmas. Also since my last entry, we had our Confirmation and first communion masses, a trip to Ecuador with Jane/Julie/Courtney to get their residency visas, our youth council shopped for, made, and sold 300 panetones (1 kg sweet bread, super popular here for Christmas time), we`re preparing a Christmas music concert and Christmas play with our young people (including our English students singing some English carols). My internet time a this moment is running out, but soon I will write some more details and reflections. God bless.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Peruvian youth: What do you know about the US?
I asked Confirmation youth here in our parish (14-18 years old) to answer a few questions about themselves in order to begin an interchange with Confirmation youth from my former parish in Corvallis, Oregon. In this entry I have posted their responses to the question of what they know about the US, and in the previous entry I share what they like and dislike about Peru.
What do you know about the United States?
That it is a globalized country and is very developed as much in technology as in its people.
That is is a very big country, with a lot of people with charitable spirits.
Well, it is a country that is very developed in all aspects.
nothing
It is a country that is considered the greatest world power that has an excellent government that helps the country advance more and more each day.
I know that it was the first country to develop and libertate itself in all aspects in respect to the 13 colonies, and that this stimulated Latin America to be free. There is acid rain there and it is polluted; in truth I know a lot of other things also.
That it is very beautiful, very well organized, and has a good government.
Well, I just know that there a lot differences between the United States and Peru.
That it is very populated, developed, orderly, nice, and has big universities and casinos.
That it is a very developed country with the most opportunity of any country in the world.
Well, I only know that it is nice there. I have an uncle who lives there in the United States.
That it is a very developed country, technological, but like all countries has defect; but very beautiful.
That it`s a very nice country, the majority speak English but like latin features and customs, the same as we like their features and customs, and that it is a very developed country.
That it is a very modern country with a lot of technology, and with many nice people.
It is a very big country that has a lot of work and opportunities,, and there is a lot of technology.
Well, that it is a developed country and that the things there are good in comparison to the things in Peru.
It`s a country, considered the biggest world power, that has an excellent government that helps the country move forward each day
It is very beautiful and calm, there are many pretty things.
That it is a very developed country, it has a lot of riches, it is very beautiful, and it is very big.
That it is a very beautiful country, orderly and very clean. In addition it is very beautiful and that there are many beaches and casinos there.
That it was a world power and that currently it has been surpassed by Japan.
The United States is a country of many qualities (riches, poverty, good wellbeing); mostly I hear that it is a country that is very advanced, full of free people, work can be found, it has a good government, very civilized country and very developed. Although sometimes Peruvians there are a little discriminated against and treated poorly, but only in their work.
That it is one of the biggest countries in economic development, it’s another life. My dream is to be able to step on a soccer field there.
That it is big, beautiful, full of hard-working people, but they don`t have time for God.
That it is one of the most important countries in the world and that it has an economy that is very stable. That it supports many Latin American countries.
That it is a great world power, that it participated in World War II, that it had a rivalry with the Soviet Union, in the 90`s its economy was very good.
That it is a very nice country, they speak English, the people that live in the United States are kind and good.
I don`t know anything.
nothing
That it is an underdeveloped country, with a lot of technology and it offers jobs.
That it is a very developed country.
That it is a very developed country, very nice, big, and its language is English
I think it is an important country where there is work, and I think it is a country that is very far ahead.
What do you know about the United States?
That it is a globalized country and is very developed as much in technology as in its people.
That is is a very big country, with a lot of people with charitable spirits.
Well, it is a country that is very developed in all aspects.
nothing
It is a country that is considered the greatest world power that has an excellent government that helps the country advance more and more each day.
I know that it was the first country to develop and libertate itself in all aspects in respect to the 13 colonies, and that this stimulated Latin America to be free. There is acid rain there and it is polluted; in truth I know a lot of other things also.
That it is very beautiful, very well organized, and has a good government.
Well, I just know that there a lot differences between the United States and Peru.
That it is very populated, developed, orderly, nice, and has big universities and casinos.
That it is a very developed country with the most opportunity of any country in the world.
Well, I only know that it is nice there. I have an uncle who lives there in the United States.
That it is a very developed country, technological, but like all countries has defect; but very beautiful.
That it`s a very nice country, the majority speak English but like latin features and customs, the same as we like their features and customs, and that it is a very developed country.
That it is a very modern country with a lot of technology, and with many nice people.
It is a very big country that has a lot of work and opportunities,, and there is a lot of technology.
Well, that it is a developed country and that the things there are good in comparison to the things in Peru.
It`s a country, considered the biggest world power, that has an excellent government that helps the country move forward each day
It is very beautiful and calm, there are many pretty things.
That it is a very developed country, it has a lot of riches, it is very beautiful, and it is very big.
That it is a very beautiful country, orderly and very clean. In addition it is very beautiful and that there are many beaches and casinos there.
That it was a world power and that currently it has been surpassed by Japan.
The United States is a country of many qualities (riches, poverty, good wellbeing); mostly I hear that it is a country that is very advanced, full of free people, work can be found, it has a good government, very civilized country and very developed. Although sometimes Peruvians there are a little discriminated against and treated poorly, but only in their work.
That it is one of the biggest countries in economic development, it’s another life. My dream is to be able to step on a soccer field there.
That it is big, beautiful, full of hard-working people, but they don`t have time for God.
That it is one of the most important countries in the world and that it has an economy that is very stable. That it supports many Latin American countries.
That it is a great world power, that it participated in World War II, that it had a rivalry with the Soviet Union, in the 90`s its economy was very good.
That it is a very nice country, they speak English, the people that live in the United States are kind and good.
I don`t know anything.
nothing
That it is an underdeveloped country, with a lot of technology and it offers jobs.
That it is a very developed country.
That it is a very developed country, very nice, big, and its language is English
I think it is an important country where there is work, and I think it is a country that is very far ahead.
Peruvian youth: What do you like/dislike about Peru?
As I mentioned in my previous entry, I asked Confirmation youth (14-18 years old) to answer a few questions about themselves in order to begin an interchange with Confirmation youth from my former parish in Corvallis, Oregon. Below I share their responses to a couple of the questions:
What do you like about your country?
I haven´t visited every part, but it´s a country very rich in natural resources, architecture, its people.
Well, almost nothing.
That we have many riches to share and our people.
The traditional food, the groups of people and dancing
It`s people, customs, cities like Mancora, Lima, etc.
I like the customs.
I like the archeological sites
I like all things we grow here and our cultures.
I like the tourist places.
I like its landscapes, its museums of the great cultures that it had, Cuzco (Machu Picchu).
I like it`s tourist and recreation sites.
I like its people, their way of treating others.
I like the landscapes, the food, and the people.
It has places for recreation, tourist sites, and good food.
What I like about my country is that Peru is the only country that has such a diversity of cultures, beautiful places, etc.
That it has a variety of tourist attractions.
I like its mysteries.
I like the people.
I like our food.
Well, about my country, I like the beaches (Mancora), its museums (like the Lord of Sipàn), the ruins of Machu Picchu (Cusco), and all that is related to the Incan culture.
I like Machu Picchu since it is a wonder that is in our country.
I like its people, its recreation centers, everything there is here.
Almost nothing
I like that Peruvians are hardworkers.
I like the tourist sites that exist.
Machu Picchu and Cuzco.
What I like about this country is Machu Picchu.
What I like are its tourist sites, beautiful places to visit, and the food.
I like the food and dancing.
I like the climate and Peruvian food.
The great riches that we have, like for example, Machu Picchu, and the food is delicious.
What changes would you like to see in Peru?
In truth, a lot more work, opportunities, and that poverty stops.
I would like that the governors change so that the people might be able to change.
That it would be cleaner and that we would take better care of our riches.
I would like there to be no corruption, violence, etc.
I wish that the politics were more clean, just, and not corrupt.
I would like to change the social and economic aspects, and the politics of the whole government
I would like it if there were no more crime and delinquency.
I wish that there were no gangs.
I would like there to be more order in Peru so that there could be more development and progress and also that there wouldn`t be so much gang activity.
I would like to see all the change that is possible.
I would like there to be no deliquency or crime, and that the people here would change.
I would change the pollution and the bad leaders of the state (presidents).
I don`t like the crime and delinquency, the pollution.
I would to see the following changes: no crime or delinquency, no gangs, no poverty, etc.
I would like it to be more united, respectful, and that people would say no to injustice and corruption.
I would like to see my country more united and that there wouldn`t be people who are indifferent to the needs of others.
I would like the politics to change
I wish it would be more calm and with a lot of peace.
I would like there to be more work opportunities that jobs would pay well.
I would like there to be no gangs, for it to be cleaner so that it could develop more.
What I would like to see changed is that foreigners aren`t taken advantage of and that they treat them in a friendly way.
I would make changes in the form of government, in that they would do a little more of what we as citizens do in order that Peru could grow more.
Perhaps if there were social changes or improvements in politics.
I would like that there would be nobody in gangs and that that everyone would know how to read.
I would like to see more opportunity for Peruvians and foreigners to visit the tourist sites
I would like there to be no poverty.
I would like to change the president.
The changes that should happen are that there should be more organizations that take care of the natural environment.
more work and help for the most needy
I would like to see changes in the conduct of our citizens, that they would have more love for their country an take care of and value it, not make it dirtier.
I would like to see less poverty and environmental pollution.
What do you like about your country?
I haven´t visited every part, but it´s a country very rich in natural resources, architecture, its people.
Well, almost nothing.
That we have many riches to share and our people.
The traditional food, the groups of people and dancing
It`s people, customs, cities like Mancora, Lima, etc.
I like the customs.
I like the archeological sites
I like all things we grow here and our cultures.
I like the tourist places.
I like its landscapes, its museums of the great cultures that it had, Cuzco (Machu Picchu).
I like it`s tourist and recreation sites.
I like its people, their way of treating others.
I like the landscapes, the food, and the people.
It has places for recreation, tourist sites, and good food.
What I like about my country is that Peru is the only country that has such a diversity of cultures, beautiful places, etc.
That it has a variety of tourist attractions.
I like its mysteries.
I like the people.
I like our food.
Well, about my country, I like the beaches (Mancora), its museums (like the Lord of Sipàn), the ruins of Machu Picchu (Cusco), and all that is related to the Incan culture.
I like Machu Picchu since it is a wonder that is in our country.
I like its people, its recreation centers, everything there is here.
Almost nothing
I like that Peruvians are hardworkers.
I like the tourist sites that exist.
Machu Picchu and Cuzco.
What I like about this country is Machu Picchu.
What I like are its tourist sites, beautiful places to visit, and the food.
I like the food and dancing.
I like the climate and Peruvian food.
The great riches that we have, like for example, Machu Picchu, and the food is delicious.
What changes would you like to see in Peru?
In truth, a lot more work, opportunities, and that poverty stops.
I would like that the governors change so that the people might be able to change.
That it would be cleaner and that we would take better care of our riches.
I would like there to be no corruption, violence, etc.
I wish that the politics were more clean, just, and not corrupt.
I would like to change the social and economic aspects, and the politics of the whole government
I would like it if there were no more crime and delinquency.
I wish that there were no gangs.
I would like there to be more order in Peru so that there could be more development and progress and also that there wouldn`t be so much gang activity.
I would like to see all the change that is possible.
I would like there to be no deliquency or crime, and that the people here would change.
I would change the pollution and the bad leaders of the state (presidents).
I don`t like the crime and delinquency, the pollution.
I would to see the following changes: no crime or delinquency, no gangs, no poverty, etc.
I would like it to be more united, respectful, and that people would say no to injustice and corruption.
I would like to see my country more united and that there wouldn`t be people who are indifferent to the needs of others.
I would like the politics to change
I wish it would be more calm and with a lot of peace.
I would like there to be more work opportunities that jobs would pay well.
I would like there to be no gangs, for it to be cleaner so that it could develop more.
What I would like to see changed is that foreigners aren`t taken advantage of and that they treat them in a friendly way.
I would make changes in the form of government, in that they would do a little more of what we as citizens do in order that Peru could grow more.
Perhaps if there were social changes or improvements in politics.
I would like that there would be nobody in gangs and that that everyone would know how to read.
I would like to see more opportunity for Peruvians and foreigners to visit the tourist sites
I would like there to be no poverty.
I would like to change the president.
The changes that should happen are that there should be more organizations that take care of the natural environment.
more work and help for the most needy
I would like to see changes in the conduct of our citizens, that they would have more love for their country an take care of and value it, not make it dirtier.
I would like to see less poverty and environmental pollution.
Un Halloween Peruano
Greetings! Some snapshots of events since my entry on October 30:
HALLOWEEN/DIA DE LA CANCIÒN CRIOLLA
Although the US customs of Halloween (costumes, mostly) have made small inroads here, the primary celebration on October 31 is Criolla (Peruvian Spanish) Music day, in which this style of music -- usually slow-tempo, with a lot of intricate guitar work and a cajòn drum (which is a box you sit on an hit with your hands) -- is celebrated. Also, the fact that the following day, November 1, is a national holiday due to being All Saints Day gives more reason to celebrate late into the night (Peruvians don`t need much push in that area). Our choir planned a social event, though in typical style the nature of our outing was in doubt until the day before, when we decided to have a party in the house of Alex (a friend of mine and a member of the choir) instead of braving the crowds at the karaoke places or discotecas. At the designated meeting time of 9:00, a couple people besides myself were present, but by 10:00 a few of the guys were there and they began an impromptu concert in the street outside the house where we rehearse while we were waiting for others. With two guitars and a cajòn they played and sang out on the sidewalk for nearly and hour, me enjoying the live and unique concert and appreciating their substantial guitar skills, wishing I could somehow record such a Peruvian moment. At around 11:00, we walked with instruments to Alex`s where the show continued -- mixed in with CD recordings -- until around 2:00 am. At this point I called it quits and walked home with my friend Roger, but Julie, Jane, and Courtney stayed dancing until nearly 5:00. In typical fashion for our choir (unlike the usual case of US parish choirs, ours is predominantly guys) we were about 10 guys and the only girls were my housemates. A memorable night all in all.
CONFIRMATION GROUP
We are nearing the close of this year`s confirmation program, with the ceremony coming up on November 23. Their initial offerings in the Corvallis-Chimbote interchange have been translated and sent, and in my next entry I plan to share a few of their responses that might interest you. Our one-night retreat took place last weekend, November 8-9, and though was organized a bit last-minute for my taste, the two-man team who led the retreat (a part-time job for them) did a solid job -- they have a gift for being crazy, goofy, funny, prayerful, and powerful at the appropriate moments. On Saturday night we had a bonfire at the retreat center just on the edge of town, with lots of music and singing. For at least a half-hour the girls and guys traded turns singing songs to each other: first `guy hate girl and girl hate guy` songs and then love songs. Then, just general singing to religious and popular music. Par for the course, I didn`t get much sleep. On Sunday morning, youth were presented with letters their parents had written ahead of time and at the closing their parents entered the room for a pre-planned but surprise (for the youth) visit, which for many was a powerful moment of reconciliation.
GENERAL REFLECTIONS
I`ve been missing home a little more recently, the season of fall seems to be when I notice the lack of beloved seasonal rites the most: birthdays, football, fall colors, Thanksgiving, etc. Summer is not here yet, so -- knowing this year the heat that will inevitably come -- I am doing my best to appreciate and savor the still-cool mornings and refreshing breezes. It strikes me that despite the distinctly slower pace of life here compared with the US, it is still quite easy to become involved in the day-to-day of the local community and personal relationships to leave undone efforts to build wider networks or projects for societal change. The gospel today is about the kingdom being among us, and this is a good reminder -- God is already working here. My role isn`t to start from scratch but to notice where the spirit is moving and to nurture/encourage/build on this. Not every moment or every day in any place, ministry, etc. will be gratifying or fulfilling, but if I look attentively I will find small moments to savor. Some of these moments come from the slow but steady progress in the area of guitar playing as I continue my twice weekly lessons with Roger, who is also becoming a good friend. We have changed the time and day so that now Courtney can join Roberto and I in the group. When we are all three practicing different strums, etc, at the same time the sound is a bit discordant, but a joyful one. Yesterday was Julie`s 22nd birthday, and I helped the celebration by preparing a US-style cake from scratch and, with Roberto`s help, a homemade ceviche lunch. Saturday evening the youth council has planned a Festival de la Risa (Festival of Laughter), with several parish groups preparing and rehearsing short comedic skits or routines to share. Also this weekend, Fr. Carlos has arranged for a seminar on parenting, obliging confirmation parents to attend two mornings and one afternoon. It would never work to add an obligatory gathering like that with two weeks notice in a US parish.
Anyway, I`ll sign off. Have a blessed day -- may you savor the small joys.
HALLOWEEN/DIA DE LA CANCIÒN CRIOLLA
Although the US customs of Halloween (costumes, mostly) have made small inroads here, the primary celebration on October 31 is Criolla (Peruvian Spanish) Music day, in which this style of music -- usually slow-tempo, with a lot of intricate guitar work and a cajòn drum (which is a box you sit on an hit with your hands) -- is celebrated. Also, the fact that the following day, November 1, is a national holiday due to being All Saints Day gives more reason to celebrate late into the night (Peruvians don`t need much push in that area). Our choir planned a social event, though in typical style the nature of our outing was in doubt until the day before, when we decided to have a party in the house of Alex (a friend of mine and a member of the choir) instead of braving the crowds at the karaoke places or discotecas. At the designated meeting time of 9:00, a couple people besides myself were present, but by 10:00 a few of the guys were there and they began an impromptu concert in the street outside the house where we rehearse while we were waiting for others. With two guitars and a cajòn they played and sang out on the sidewalk for nearly and hour, me enjoying the live and unique concert and appreciating their substantial guitar skills, wishing I could somehow record such a Peruvian moment. At around 11:00, we walked with instruments to Alex`s where the show continued -- mixed in with CD recordings -- until around 2:00 am. At this point I called it quits and walked home with my friend Roger, but Julie, Jane, and Courtney stayed dancing until nearly 5:00. In typical fashion for our choir (unlike the usual case of US parish choirs, ours is predominantly guys) we were about 10 guys and the only girls were my housemates. A memorable night all in all.
CONFIRMATION GROUP
We are nearing the close of this year`s confirmation program, with the ceremony coming up on November 23. Their initial offerings in the Corvallis-Chimbote interchange have been translated and sent, and in my next entry I plan to share a few of their responses that might interest you. Our one-night retreat took place last weekend, November 8-9, and though was organized a bit last-minute for my taste, the two-man team who led the retreat (a part-time job for them) did a solid job -- they have a gift for being crazy, goofy, funny, prayerful, and powerful at the appropriate moments. On Saturday night we had a bonfire at the retreat center just on the edge of town, with lots of music and singing. For at least a half-hour the girls and guys traded turns singing songs to each other: first `guy hate girl and girl hate guy` songs and then love songs. Then, just general singing to religious and popular music. Par for the course, I didn`t get much sleep. On Sunday morning, youth were presented with letters their parents had written ahead of time and at the closing their parents entered the room for a pre-planned but surprise (for the youth) visit, which for many was a powerful moment of reconciliation.
GENERAL REFLECTIONS
I`ve been missing home a little more recently, the season of fall seems to be when I notice the lack of beloved seasonal rites the most: birthdays, football, fall colors, Thanksgiving, etc. Summer is not here yet, so -- knowing this year the heat that will inevitably come -- I am doing my best to appreciate and savor the still-cool mornings and refreshing breezes. It strikes me that despite the distinctly slower pace of life here compared with the US, it is still quite easy to become involved in the day-to-day of the local community and personal relationships to leave undone efforts to build wider networks or projects for societal change. The gospel today is about the kingdom being among us, and this is a good reminder -- God is already working here. My role isn`t to start from scratch but to notice where the spirit is moving and to nurture/encourage/build on this. Not every moment or every day in any place, ministry, etc. will be gratifying or fulfilling, but if I look attentively I will find small moments to savor. Some of these moments come from the slow but steady progress in the area of guitar playing as I continue my twice weekly lessons with Roger, who is also becoming a good friend. We have changed the time and day so that now Courtney can join Roberto and I in the group. When we are all three practicing different strums, etc, at the same time the sound is a bit discordant, but a joyful one. Yesterday was Julie`s 22nd birthday, and I helped the celebration by preparing a US-style cake from scratch and, with Roberto`s help, a homemade ceviche lunch. Saturday evening the youth council has planned a Festival de la Risa (Festival of Laughter), with several parish groups preparing and rehearsing short comedic skits or routines to share. Also this weekend, Fr. Carlos has arranged for a seminar on parenting, obliging confirmation parents to attend two mornings and one afternoon. It would never work to add an obligatory gathering like that with two weeks notice in a US parish.
Anyway, I`ll sign off. Have a blessed day -- may you savor the small joys.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
13 meses...
Greetings from Chimbote,
(Author`s note: After writing this entry, I realize that I have rambled in a haphazard, stream of consciousness type manner. I hope you will forgive the disorganization as I share with you a dumping out of some of my recent thoughts.)
Time seems to go by quickly here, just passed the 13-months-in-Chimbote mark this week, and my time remaining here seems short now rather than long. I am celebrating events and seasons for the second time around now, from a perspective that can only come as a result of the intervening months. A year ago I was still in a sling from my dislocated, looking for where I might be useful, Emily and Nicole were doing my laundry, and I was going on four weeks without a shower, getting ready to start English classes the first week of November, and not really knowing enough people to to have a birthday party. Now, Emily and Nicole are back in the US, I have three great new missionary companions, we have grown in numbers and organization in our English courses, my arm is good and strong, and we just had about 70 people over, with a live band, to celebrate my birthday at 9:00 on a Sunday night. It was actually visits from the two choirs last year for Emily and I`s birthday that began a process of meeting more people in the parish. I have ideas for more projects than there are time for, I have adapted more to the flexible rhythm of life, and have gotten a lot better at subjunctive verb forms. I still miss fall and its rites -- football, leaves, crisp air, etc -- but not as poignantly as last year. I have found a few good friends that I know I will miss, even as I also know I will be excited to return to the US to see and be with family. I missed being with Suzanne, Ryan, Michelle, Mom and Dad as they gathered in Redding during this week when my dad had a major surgery, but the marvels of modern communication have also helped keep us in better touch that we imagined before I came. I am enjoying the guitar lessons from Roger, finally getting a little grasp of the theory behind it all, and still pick up the quena and zampoña now and then. Our JUMIFRA youth council has big plans for advent and Christmas -- posadas, Christmas play, Christmas music concert, Christmas party and gifts for parish children, our own website through a free program offered by the archdiocese -- I`ll be sure to share stories and photos from all this as it comes along. On Sundays, instead of running out into the fields as I do most mornings, I continue my custom of walking past downtown to the ocean (about 30 minutes each way) -- past the honking cars, the combi assistants drumming up business, the elderly ladies selling all shapes and sizes of fresh-baked bread from huge baskets on the street, the greasy feel and smell of the sidewalk along Galvez Street near the market, people stopping for fresh-squeezed orange juice at street stands where the reuse the glasses after a perfunctory rinse, the smell of meat frying and fresh fish all mixing together. There were Sundays last year at this time when, upon arriving at the (very polluted, I now realize) bay, I wondered to myself what the heck I was doing here. Why had I come? I still might not know exactly the end purpose of my stay here in this desert port city, but thoughts of regret stopped coming to me a long while back. I know I have -- and will be -- changed when my time comes to return to the US, even though I struggle when asked to define the exact nature of this change. In a discussion with my housemates this week about our spirituality as missionaries, we agreed that in some ways we are not challenged as much here in our faith: sermons are only occasionally engaging or inspiring (aside from the language issue) and faith of people as a generalization tends to be less intellectual and individual than we are accustomed to in the US, instead the focus being on community, ritual and feast day celebration, and music. The parish here, we are discovering in our survey conversations with youth, has a huge potencial to be a place of gathering for youth: to learn (faith based and otherwise), develop skills (art, music, carpentry, baking, etc), socialize (a safe place to interact with others in a neighborhood and city that holds so many potencial dangers and detours for young people), and work toward societal change (environmental pollution and conservation, less corruption and better use of resources, etc). We have thus far taken a few small steps toward addressing these potencial roles, but so much more could be done (I am finding that even writing this reflection is newly inspiring me to keep striving onward). Though I am sometimes not challenged or inspired intellectually as I might be in a US parish, we agreed that just living here daily challenges us to solidarity, to simplicity (those cold showers will never be easy), to self-reflection on priorities, to a weighing of this new culture -- its positives and negatives -- that I am immersed in. I pray each day that I might be open to what God might want to teach me, that I might have eyes to see and take in even the small details of this gift of an experience, and that somehow I might be able to plant seeds that will someday grow into a harvest of a better, saner, healthier and more just life here in Chimbote, Peru.
(Author`s note: After writing this entry, I realize that I have rambled in a haphazard, stream of consciousness type manner. I hope you will forgive the disorganization as I share with you a dumping out of some of my recent thoughts.)
Time seems to go by quickly here, just passed the 13-months-in-Chimbote mark this week, and my time remaining here seems short now rather than long. I am celebrating events and seasons for the second time around now, from a perspective that can only come as a result of the intervening months. A year ago I was still in a sling from my dislocated, looking for where I might be useful, Emily and Nicole were doing my laundry, and I was going on four weeks without a shower, getting ready to start English classes the first week of November, and not really knowing enough people to to have a birthday party. Now, Emily and Nicole are back in the US, I have three great new missionary companions, we have grown in numbers and organization in our English courses, my arm is good and strong, and we just had about 70 people over, with a live band, to celebrate my birthday at 9:00 on a Sunday night. It was actually visits from the two choirs last year for Emily and I`s birthday that began a process of meeting more people in the parish. I have ideas for more projects than there are time for, I have adapted more to the flexible rhythm of life, and have gotten a lot better at subjunctive verb forms. I still miss fall and its rites -- football, leaves, crisp air, etc -- but not as poignantly as last year. I have found a few good friends that I know I will miss, even as I also know I will be excited to return to the US to see and be with family. I missed being with Suzanne, Ryan, Michelle, Mom and Dad as they gathered in Redding during this week when my dad had a major surgery, but the marvels of modern communication have also helped keep us in better touch that we imagined before I came. I am enjoying the guitar lessons from Roger, finally getting a little grasp of the theory behind it all, and still pick up the quena and zampoña now and then. Our JUMIFRA youth council has big plans for advent and Christmas -- posadas, Christmas play, Christmas music concert, Christmas party and gifts for parish children, our own website through a free program offered by the archdiocese -- I`ll be sure to share stories and photos from all this as it comes along. On Sundays, instead of running out into the fields as I do most mornings, I continue my custom of walking past downtown to the ocean (about 30 minutes each way) -- past the honking cars, the combi assistants drumming up business, the elderly ladies selling all shapes and sizes of fresh-baked bread from huge baskets on the street, the greasy feel and smell of the sidewalk along Galvez Street near the market, people stopping for fresh-squeezed orange juice at street stands where the reuse the glasses after a perfunctory rinse, the smell of meat frying and fresh fish all mixing together. There were Sundays last year at this time when, upon arriving at the (very polluted, I now realize) bay, I wondered to myself what the heck I was doing here. Why had I come? I still might not know exactly the end purpose of my stay here in this desert port city, but thoughts of regret stopped coming to me a long while back. I know I have -- and will be -- changed when my time comes to return to the US, even though I struggle when asked to define the exact nature of this change. In a discussion with my housemates this week about our spirituality as missionaries, we agreed that in some ways we are not challenged as much here in our faith: sermons are only occasionally engaging or inspiring (aside from the language issue) and faith of people as a generalization tends to be less intellectual and individual than we are accustomed to in the US, instead the focus being on community, ritual and feast day celebration, and music. The parish here, we are discovering in our survey conversations with youth, has a huge potencial to be a place of gathering for youth: to learn (faith based and otherwise), develop skills (art, music, carpentry, baking, etc), socialize (a safe place to interact with others in a neighborhood and city that holds so many potencial dangers and detours for young people), and work toward societal change (environmental pollution and conservation, less corruption and better use of resources, etc). We have thus far taken a few small steps toward addressing these potencial roles, but so much more could be done (I am finding that even writing this reflection is newly inspiring me to keep striving onward). Though I am sometimes not challenged or inspired intellectually as I might be in a US parish, we agreed that just living here daily challenges us to solidarity, to simplicity (those cold showers will never be easy), to self-reflection on priorities, to a weighing of this new culture -- its positives and negatives -- that I am immersed in. I pray each day that I might be open to what God might want to teach me, that I might have eyes to see and take in even the small details of this gift of an experience, and that somehow I might be able to plant seeds that will someday grow into a harvest of a better, saner, healthier and more just life here in Chimbote, Peru.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Fiesta de San Francisco
Greetings! Before beginning, an editor`s note: Courtney is not from St. Paul, as I mistakenly indicated in my last entry, but from Minneapolos. Apparently there is a rivalry between the two cities, and she wanted to make sure I knew the true site of her origin. I hope that by writing a bit more often, I can avoid the extra-long entries such as last week`s and give a few more details along the way. Within the next few days, I`ll post photos of some of the events described below, but for now a summary...
FIESTA PATRONAL
Last week and weekend was occupied with activities surrounding the parish celebration of its patron saint (St. Francis), and with the parish run by Franciscan priests, the feast holds even more weight. As they do each year, we first had a procession through some of the parish neighborhoods carrying the large platform with the image of St. Francis, accompanied by a band and various parish groups (Confirmation, choirs, prayer groups) and a number of students from the public high school (Santa Marìa Reyna) across the street, many carrying signs. As happened last year, I was drafted to take shifts helping to carry the image, and my memory of the moments of marching through the evening streets, alegre music, watching out for dips in the dirt, the people watching from the houses, is one that will stay with me and return, I hope, each year at this time. In addition to the normal parish festivities, this year a young man named Elmer, who grew up in the parish, was ordained at a Mass on Saturday the 4th, the actual feast day, with a lunch and entertainment following. Youth of the parish were in charge of decorations and of organizing the entertainment for the 500 people who were to attend. Each night during the week about 10 of us gathered to cut out stirofoam letters, paint, etc, and then arrived 6:00 am Saturday to sweep, blow up balloons, make a balloon arch, etc. Our English class performed a song (Here I am, Lord) in English and several of the members helped serve food. They were nervous, but did pretty well -- Jane, Courtney and Julie joined the singing and Jane also performed later with the parish folkloric dance group. Several other individual youth and my choir also sang. We finished the day tired but satisfied. The Saturday ended with a birthday party of one of the girls in my choir, which I departed from `early` at 1:30 a.m. very sleepily.
ONE YEAR REFLECTIONS
On Sunday we rested a bit before going with the confirmation group to a multi-parish youth rally in downtown Chimbote, 3-9 in the afternoon/evening. A few short talks and testimonies, lots of music (with associated actions and dancing) and finally a festive mass to close made for a fun event which was also valuable for me in a reflective sense as I evaluate my goals for the coming year. A few main general goals/plans as to what my next year here might look like...
1)Neighborhood intra-parish youth communities and home visit initiative -- I envision working with current leaders and group members to make personal contact with more youth in the various sectors that the parish serves. Having made personal contact these next three months, I picture inviting them to a retreat during the summer (Jan-March) for the dual purpose of spiritual growth and motivating the formation of small fellowship communities that will continue meeting afterward in their neighborhoods. These small groups would then be a base for continued growth personally for the youth, but also for initiatives concerning the environment, local social change, parish events, etc. As a start, I went out the weekend before this last one with Lenin and Nelly and we had some good conversations with about 12 young people over the course of a couple hours, using a form of our earlier survey which I have modified to provoke a bit of faith-based conversation and discussion.
2)Inter-parish networks for change -- The experience of meeting with youth leaders from various parishes in advance of this weekend`s rally, and seeing the success of the effort (400-500 youth for the first time event), inspired the idea in me to work toward building relationships between these leaders/groups and those of our own parish, especially around issues of common concern (again, pollution comes to mind) as a step to more coordinated church-based effort to effect actual social change. In addition, I believe that if youth see that their church in truth takes real-life problems seriously and is working to improve the world, they may be more likely to see it as worth investing their time in becoming involved. A start would be to go with members of our youth council to visit leaders from other parishes, and then meet together with those who are interested to come up with a common vision. I know the diocese here has monthly meetings for youth workers, but I don`t see much real connection or coordinated efforts.
3)Continue to offer English classes, which can empower and create more opportunities for those who apply themselves to it but has the side benefit of being another way to connect with the parish.
4)Continue to take advantage of opportunities to learn and grow in musical endeavors: guitar, flute, etc. I am learning a lot from Roger and am excited about the opportunitiy to develop this part of me. Julie commented to me in her first couple weeks here about how musical a person I am, which struck me because I have never seen myself in that way. Here, though, I feel more freedom to explore and do what I can, even if I will never sing amazingly.
5)Accompany the confirmation groups, and attempt to initiate a program of follow-up for those who are confirmed, a plan for helping them continue to meet and build on both the fellowship, personal growth, and parish involvement that have definitely grown during their experience of preparation. As in the US as well, it is such a shame to lose that by forgetting about the confirmed youth as soon as the ceremony is over. I hope to take some time to brainstorm and formulate a strategy.
6)Corvallis-Chimbote confirmation interchange. I have had our kids here in the confirmation group fill out forms about who they are, what they like, their impression of their country and of the US, etc, and have had our advanced English students help me translate them. In these next few days I will be sending them via email, with electronic photo, to the confirmation youth in Corvallis -- who are working on a parallel intro-form in English. After translating to Spanish, we will have the first step of a cultural exchange and hopefully continued contact between some of them, to encourage the realization of the larger body of Christ and how people in another part of the world live.
Well, I realize now that though this entry does have more details, it is no shorter than the last one -- sorry! As always, thanks for reading and God bless.
FIESTA PATRONAL
Last week and weekend was occupied with activities surrounding the parish celebration of its patron saint (St. Francis), and with the parish run by Franciscan priests, the feast holds even more weight. As they do each year, we first had a procession through some of the parish neighborhoods carrying the large platform with the image of St. Francis, accompanied by a band and various parish groups (Confirmation, choirs, prayer groups) and a number of students from the public high school (Santa Marìa Reyna) across the street, many carrying signs. As happened last year, I was drafted to take shifts helping to carry the image, and my memory of the moments of marching through the evening streets, alegre music, watching out for dips in the dirt, the people watching from the houses, is one that will stay with me and return, I hope, each year at this time. In addition to the normal parish festivities, this year a young man named Elmer, who grew up in the parish, was ordained at a Mass on Saturday the 4th, the actual feast day, with a lunch and entertainment following. Youth of the parish were in charge of decorations and of organizing the entertainment for the 500 people who were to attend. Each night during the week about 10 of us gathered to cut out stirofoam letters, paint, etc, and then arrived 6:00 am Saturday to sweep, blow up balloons, make a balloon arch, etc. Our English class performed a song (Here I am, Lord) in English and several of the members helped serve food. They were nervous, but did pretty well -- Jane, Courtney and Julie joined the singing and Jane also performed later with the parish folkloric dance group. Several other individual youth and my choir also sang. We finished the day tired but satisfied. The Saturday ended with a birthday party of one of the girls in my choir, which I departed from `early` at 1:30 a.m. very sleepily.
ONE YEAR REFLECTIONS
On Sunday we rested a bit before going with the confirmation group to a multi-parish youth rally in downtown Chimbote, 3-9 in the afternoon/evening. A few short talks and testimonies, lots of music (with associated actions and dancing) and finally a festive mass to close made for a fun event which was also valuable for me in a reflective sense as I evaluate my goals for the coming year. A few main general goals/plans as to what my next year here might look like...
1)Neighborhood intra-parish youth communities and home visit initiative -- I envision working with current leaders and group members to make personal contact with more youth in the various sectors that the parish serves. Having made personal contact these next three months, I picture inviting them to a retreat during the summer (Jan-March) for the dual purpose of spiritual growth and motivating the formation of small fellowship communities that will continue meeting afterward in their neighborhoods. These small groups would then be a base for continued growth personally for the youth, but also for initiatives concerning the environment, local social change, parish events, etc. As a start, I went out the weekend before this last one with Lenin and Nelly and we had some good conversations with about 12 young people over the course of a couple hours, using a form of our earlier survey which I have modified to provoke a bit of faith-based conversation and discussion.
2)Inter-parish networks for change -- The experience of meeting with youth leaders from various parishes in advance of this weekend`s rally, and seeing the success of the effort (400-500 youth for the first time event), inspired the idea in me to work toward building relationships between these leaders/groups and those of our own parish, especially around issues of common concern (again, pollution comes to mind) as a step to more coordinated church-based effort to effect actual social change. In addition, I believe that if youth see that their church in truth takes real-life problems seriously and is working to improve the world, they may be more likely to see it as worth investing their time in becoming involved. A start would be to go with members of our youth council to visit leaders from other parishes, and then meet together with those who are interested to come up with a common vision. I know the diocese here has monthly meetings for youth workers, but I don`t see much real connection or coordinated efforts.
3)Continue to offer English classes, which can empower and create more opportunities for those who apply themselves to it but has the side benefit of being another way to connect with the parish.
4)Continue to take advantage of opportunities to learn and grow in musical endeavors: guitar, flute, etc. I am learning a lot from Roger and am excited about the opportunitiy to develop this part of me. Julie commented to me in her first couple weeks here about how musical a person I am, which struck me because I have never seen myself in that way. Here, though, I feel more freedom to explore and do what I can, even if I will never sing amazingly.
5)Accompany the confirmation groups, and attempt to initiate a program of follow-up for those who are confirmed, a plan for helping them continue to meet and build on both the fellowship, personal growth, and parish involvement that have definitely grown during their experience of preparation. As in the US as well, it is such a shame to lose that by forgetting about the confirmed youth as soon as the ceremony is over. I hope to take some time to brainstorm and formulate a strategy.
6)Corvallis-Chimbote confirmation interchange. I have had our kids here in the confirmation group fill out forms about who they are, what they like, their impression of their country and of the US, etc, and have had our advanced English students help me translate them. In these next few days I will be sending them via email, with electronic photo, to the confirmation youth in Corvallis -- who are working on a parallel intro-form in English. After translating to Spanish, we will have the first step of a cultural exchange and hopefully continued contact between some of them, to encourage the realization of the larger body of Christ and how people in another part of the world live.
Well, I realize now that though this entry does have more details, it is no shorter than the last one -- sorry! As always, thanks for reading and God bless.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Greetings to everyone!
New photos of our youth council camping trip are posted on the photo site at right. Below, news about the past three weeks in Chimbote...
NEW MISSIONARIES
Last entry I introduced briefly my new companions in mission here: Julie, Jane and Courtney. Now, a little more detail as to where they come from and what their ministries are evolving to be here
- Jane Silcock is 22 years old and just graduated from The University of Missouri, her home state, with majors in communications and journalism. She worked there for a TV/radio station as a reporter. Here in Chimbote, she is continuing in her field by working part-time at Cecopros, a non-profit which puts out the diocesan newspaper, does TV journalism, and produces faith/justice-based videos about local issues, people and organizations. She does camera work, takes photos, edits, will write articles, and does upkeep on their website (www.cecopros.org). Jane has also joined the youth folkloric dance group at the parish and has performed in a few presenations already, the first IWM to do so, I believe. Jane`s other ministry is helping at the Center for Social Justice, where she will accompany the team on visits to the local jail along with other projects. Jane also keeps a blog, which is linked at right, will be living in Chimbote for two years.
- Julie Ramaley, 21, hails from Connecticut and just graduated in pre-med from Villanova University in Philadelphia. She intends to apply for medical school after her year of IWM service and currently splits her time between the Sisters` clinic next to our parish and a womens` hospital/birthing center called Maternidad de Marìa. Julie is a swimmer and played water polo for Villanova, and misses her pool time here. As a substitute she has begun running with me 3-4 days per week in the mornings before she heads off. Julie has been a vegetarian from an early age, though does eat fish -- so doesn`t miss out on ceviche, the local specialty. Julie is the primary assistant for our mid-level English group.
- Courtney Cranston, 21, grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, but also loves Chicago, where she graduated this year from the nursing program at Loyola University. Like me, Courtney adopted a new name--Corina--upon arrival, `Courtney` proving quite difficult for people here to pronounce. Corina works with Julie at the clinic and maternity center and also plays guitar and loves to sing. Roger has extended an invitation to join his band as a singer, which she is excited about. Corina is the primary assistant for our beginners in the English course.
RODENTS
Beginning a week or two prior to the arrival of Jane, Corina and Julie, we began having a problem with mice helping themselves to any food products not in the fridge or in plastic containers. Since then, we`ve taken both defensive (everything in plastic -- old peanut butter jars come in really handy) and offensive (mouse poison pellets) measures. For the poison, three nights in a row we left considerable quantities of pellets in the rodent-traffic areas -- all were gone in the mornings. Jane has had the most intimate contact, consistent mouse droppings in a corner of her room, plus incidences of such remains left under her pillow during our absence camping and in her sheets after a night when she slept in her bed. Needless to say, she was a little grossed out. All in all, the verdict is iffy -- either we were hosting a very large quantity of mice or the poison doesn`t work. Currently, we are coexisting.
CAMPING
As I mentioned above, I`ve posted some photos of our September 20-21 camping trip with JUMIFRA, our youth leadership council. As a reward for a series of events planned and carried out in the parish, Fr. Carlos suggested a recreation outing, and the group chose camping -- which many had never done here. Camping is not at all common here, except for maybe occasional sleeping on the beach. (I judge camping`s rarity a result of economics and the fact that the living situation of many here -- part inside, part outside -- itself resembles the US version of camping. It`s not a stretch at all to say that many families here live with less amenities (although a bit more space) than the standard RV provides, but that is another topic.) We had a great time camping at the farm of Father Carlos` uncle just outside the small town of Moro, 2 hours southeast of Chimbote in a fertile river valley. We had 2 1/2 actual tents plus one which we fabricated from sheets of plastic and wood poles -- it fell down in the morning when the guys got up, but served its purpose. In all, 15 of us, including Jane and Corina, made up the group which enjoyed the group games, hanging out by a small river, campfire songs, and hike to a nearby pre-Inca cemetery, now a small hill. For food we cooked in a pot over the fire quaker (the oatmeal/milk drink) and then chicken & rice for lunch. We returned Sunday afternoon content, tired, and filthy.
YOUTH DAY
Two weeks ago we celebrated the national youth day (23rd) by going with friends Yuri, Alex, and Colver to Nuevo Chimbote for a concert by Grupo 5, the band of the moment here in Peru. The huge plaza was quite full, the only problem was that Grupo 5 experienced some delay in coming on stage and the opening act played until 12:30, Grupo 5 not coming out until 1:00 am. We passed the time talking, people watching, and having anticuchos (skewered/grilled beef heart) but were too tired to stay much past 1:30 am.
FUNERAL
This past week, Alex`s mom died after a three-month battle with stomach cancer. I hadn`t seen Alex much lately, as he was occupied in caring for his mom and helping to run a restaurant his family had opened in his house in order to raise money for her care and treatment. A delay in diagnosis proved too much to overcome, however, and his mom died a week after returning to Chimbote after a stay in Lima in search of better treatment. We four joined a number of his friends from the choir and parish in accompanying Alex in the funeral process. Traditions vary much here from those in the US. When a person dies, that same day tents are erected in the street out front of the house for friends and family to gather, and a room within the house is transformed into the wake area, where the deceased rests in a casket next to lights, pillars, flowers, etc provided by the funeral company. For a couple days, family and friends come and go, offering their presence and support -- our choir participated by singing some songs on the first night to accompany a short prayer service performed by Father Carlos. After singing, we stayed until past midnight, sitting on chairs out in the street -- many stay all night. The whole experience seems exhausting for the family, since beside their grief they are expected to serve food and drink to the visitors periodically throughout the 2-3 days. Anyway, on the second day after his mom died we attended the funeral -- a procession with a small brass band the half-mile to the parish for mass, then additional procession out of the church for a few blocks after which we caught a cab to the parish (the two buses provided by the family were stuffed full). Burials are generally not underground here, but to save space they instead build structures five-levels high that the casket is slid into after family members have a chance to say final words of rememberance. The band plays and the family comforts each other while a cementery employee mixes a small batch of cement to seal up the tomb right then and there. Finally, we took a cab back to Alex`s house where the family served another meal and a small group of us sat and talked with Alex for a while. Alex is 27 and his mom in her late forties, and he is doing OK but definitely seeking to be with friends instead of alone. We have hung out a few times since then, including a gathering of about 15 of us from the parish downtown where we played group games in the two main plazas, walked along the ocean, and had pizza. I also joined Yuri and Alex for a visit with his family on this past Saturday -- they were making a huge pot of a dessert called Chiclayo in camp-style fire in the street in front of the house. It was my first time to try the dish, which consists of cooked fresh pumpking, sugar, water, and milk, and is eaten in a bowl like soup. Not bad -- different, but not bad.
GUITAR AND MUSIC
I have begun to meet regularly with Roger, a friend of mine and Nicole`s boyfriend, for him to give me lessons on playing guitar. He is a quite impressive guitarist, and I am learning a lot -- practice and theory. On the musical theme, I continue to practice on the quena (a flute) in free moments and am making gradual progress. For this weekend`s feast of St. Francis, patron of the parish here, our English class has been invited to sing a couple songs as a contribution to the entertainment during the lunch (following the mass during which a young man from the parish will be ordained a priest). We will sing Here I am, Lord and Amazing Grace -- Roger accompanying us on guitar and me maybe playing the zampoña for the first time in public. We had rehearsal last night with the group, and...we need some more work. But, I have faith it will turn out OK.
ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY
This past Thursday, September 25, I celebrated the one-year anniversary of my arrival here in Chimbote. I actually didn`t do too much to celebrate, but did some reflecting during down moments on my time here so far. Seems to have gone quickly in some sense, but also I feel that it was so long ago that I was in the US. Next entry I will share some more thoughts on this milestone, things I do/don`t will/won`t miss, etc. I`ve been asked how I`ve changed in this year, and I honestly have a hard time coming up with a solid answer to that question. Maybe I will only know for sure when I return...
Have a blessed week.
New photos of our youth council camping trip are posted on the photo site at right. Below, news about the past three weeks in Chimbote...
NEW MISSIONARIES
Last entry I introduced briefly my new companions in mission here: Julie, Jane and Courtney. Now, a little more detail as to where they come from and what their ministries are evolving to be here
- Jane Silcock is 22 years old and just graduated from The University of Missouri, her home state, with majors in communications and journalism. She worked there for a TV/radio station as a reporter. Here in Chimbote, she is continuing in her field by working part-time at Cecopros, a non-profit which puts out the diocesan newspaper, does TV journalism, and produces faith/justice-based videos about local issues, people and organizations. She does camera work, takes photos, edits, will write articles, and does upkeep on their website (www.cecopros.org). Jane has also joined the youth folkloric dance group at the parish and has performed in a few presenations already, the first IWM to do so, I believe. Jane`s other ministry is helping at the Center for Social Justice, where she will accompany the team on visits to the local jail along with other projects. Jane also keeps a blog, which is linked at right, will be living in Chimbote for two years.
- Julie Ramaley, 21, hails from Connecticut and just graduated in pre-med from Villanova University in Philadelphia. She intends to apply for medical school after her year of IWM service and currently splits her time between the Sisters` clinic next to our parish and a womens` hospital/birthing center called Maternidad de Marìa. Julie is a swimmer and played water polo for Villanova, and misses her pool time here. As a substitute she has begun running with me 3-4 days per week in the mornings before she heads off. Julie has been a vegetarian from an early age, though does eat fish -- so doesn`t miss out on ceviche, the local specialty. Julie is the primary assistant for our mid-level English group.
- Courtney Cranston, 21, grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, but also loves Chicago, where she graduated this year from the nursing program at Loyola University. Like me, Courtney adopted a new name--Corina--upon arrival, `Courtney` proving quite difficult for people here to pronounce. Corina works with Julie at the clinic and maternity center and also plays guitar and loves to sing. Roger has extended an invitation to join his band as a singer, which she is excited about. Corina is the primary assistant for our beginners in the English course.
RODENTS
Beginning a week or two prior to the arrival of Jane, Corina and Julie, we began having a problem with mice helping themselves to any food products not in the fridge or in plastic containers. Since then, we`ve taken both defensive (everything in plastic -- old peanut butter jars come in really handy) and offensive (mouse poison pellets) measures. For the poison, three nights in a row we left considerable quantities of pellets in the rodent-traffic areas -- all were gone in the mornings. Jane has had the most intimate contact, consistent mouse droppings in a corner of her room, plus incidences of such remains left under her pillow during our absence camping and in her sheets after a night when she slept in her bed. Needless to say, she was a little grossed out. All in all, the verdict is iffy -- either we were hosting a very large quantity of mice or the poison doesn`t work. Currently, we are coexisting.
CAMPING
As I mentioned above, I`ve posted some photos of our September 20-21 camping trip with JUMIFRA, our youth leadership council. As a reward for a series of events planned and carried out in the parish, Fr. Carlos suggested a recreation outing, and the group chose camping -- which many had never done here. Camping is not at all common here, except for maybe occasional sleeping on the beach. (I judge camping`s rarity a result of economics and the fact that the living situation of many here -- part inside, part outside -- itself resembles the US version of camping. It`s not a stretch at all to say that many families here live with less amenities (although a bit more space) than the standard RV provides, but that is another topic.) We had a great time camping at the farm of Father Carlos` uncle just outside the small town of Moro, 2 hours southeast of Chimbote in a fertile river valley. We had 2 1/2 actual tents plus one which we fabricated from sheets of plastic and wood poles -- it fell down in the morning when the guys got up, but served its purpose. In all, 15 of us, including Jane and Corina, made up the group which enjoyed the group games, hanging out by a small river, campfire songs, and hike to a nearby pre-Inca cemetery, now a small hill. For food we cooked in a pot over the fire quaker (the oatmeal/milk drink) and then chicken & rice for lunch. We returned Sunday afternoon content, tired, and filthy.
YOUTH DAY
Two weeks ago we celebrated the national youth day (23rd) by going with friends Yuri, Alex, and Colver to Nuevo Chimbote for a concert by Grupo 5, the band of the moment here in Peru. The huge plaza was quite full, the only problem was that Grupo 5 experienced some delay in coming on stage and the opening act played until 12:30, Grupo 5 not coming out until 1:00 am. We passed the time talking, people watching, and having anticuchos (skewered/grilled beef heart) but were too tired to stay much past 1:30 am.
FUNERAL
This past week, Alex`s mom died after a three-month battle with stomach cancer. I hadn`t seen Alex much lately, as he was occupied in caring for his mom and helping to run a restaurant his family had opened in his house in order to raise money for her care and treatment. A delay in diagnosis proved too much to overcome, however, and his mom died a week after returning to Chimbote after a stay in Lima in search of better treatment. We four joined a number of his friends from the choir and parish in accompanying Alex in the funeral process. Traditions vary much here from those in the US. When a person dies, that same day tents are erected in the street out front of the house for friends and family to gather, and a room within the house is transformed into the wake area, where the deceased rests in a casket next to lights, pillars, flowers, etc provided by the funeral company. For a couple days, family and friends come and go, offering their presence and support -- our choir participated by singing some songs on the first night to accompany a short prayer service performed by Father Carlos. After singing, we stayed until past midnight, sitting on chairs out in the street -- many stay all night. The whole experience seems exhausting for the family, since beside their grief they are expected to serve food and drink to the visitors periodically throughout the 2-3 days. Anyway, on the second day after his mom died we attended the funeral -- a procession with a small brass band the half-mile to the parish for mass, then additional procession out of the church for a few blocks after which we caught a cab to the parish (the two buses provided by the family were stuffed full). Burials are generally not underground here, but to save space they instead build structures five-levels high that the casket is slid into after family members have a chance to say final words of rememberance. The band plays and the family comforts each other while a cementery employee mixes a small batch of cement to seal up the tomb right then and there. Finally, we took a cab back to Alex`s house where the family served another meal and a small group of us sat and talked with Alex for a while. Alex is 27 and his mom in her late forties, and he is doing OK but definitely seeking to be with friends instead of alone. We have hung out a few times since then, including a gathering of about 15 of us from the parish downtown where we played group games in the two main plazas, walked along the ocean, and had pizza. I also joined Yuri and Alex for a visit with his family on this past Saturday -- they were making a huge pot of a dessert called Chiclayo in camp-style fire in the street in front of the house. It was my first time to try the dish, which consists of cooked fresh pumpking, sugar, water, and milk, and is eaten in a bowl like soup. Not bad -- different, but not bad.
GUITAR AND MUSIC
I have begun to meet regularly with Roger, a friend of mine and Nicole`s boyfriend, for him to give me lessons on playing guitar. He is a quite impressive guitarist, and I am learning a lot -- practice and theory. On the musical theme, I continue to practice on the quena (a flute) in free moments and am making gradual progress. For this weekend`s feast of St. Francis, patron of the parish here, our English class has been invited to sing a couple songs as a contribution to the entertainment during the lunch (following the mass during which a young man from the parish will be ordained a priest). We will sing Here I am, Lord and Amazing Grace -- Roger accompanying us on guitar and me maybe playing the zampoña for the first time in public. We had rehearsal last night with the group, and...we need some more work. But, I have faith it will turn out OK.
ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY
This past Thursday, September 25, I celebrated the one-year anniversary of my arrival here in Chimbote. I actually didn`t do too much to celebrate, but did some reflecting during down moments on my time here so far. Seems to have gone quickly in some sense, but also I feel that it was so long ago that I was in the US. Next entry I will share some more thoughts on this milestone, things I do/don`t will/won`t miss, etc. I`ve been asked how I`ve changed in this year, and I honestly have a hard time coming up with a solid answer to that question. Maybe I will only know for sure when I return...
Have a blessed week.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Transitions...
Greetings from Chimbote, on a gray and cool winter day. To go with the recent photos that you can access with the link at right, here are some highlights and reflections on life here in Peru since my last blog a month ago:
FRENCH CYCLIST VISITS
As a member of the `Warm Showers List` website, I am on a list of people who are willing to host traveling cyclists with a place to stay, food, and a warm shower (we are lacking in the `warm` part at the moment, but we do have showers -- see below). I have been on the list for a few years, but was never contacted while in Oregon. Here in Chimbote, three travelers/couples have written me emails, with one visit coming to fruition. Nicolas Carron, a 30-year-old from France who has spent a year in Tennessee in grad school and is in the first month of a year-long trip around South America (partly by bike), stayed a day and night with us in August. Having trouble with his vision near Huaràz, he took a bus to Chimbote to have his eyes checked (turned out to be nothing wrong) and pick up some bike tools. We had a pleasant visit, and below you can see a photo of him as he rode away (a very light packer, I must say).
ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS EVENT
In the month of August our youth council organized and pulled off two successful events for youth and adults of our community. First, on August 16, we hosted a profesor from the local national university who spoke about the sober reality of how we as a city are massively polluting the bay on which we sit. I joined teams that went to neighborhood schools ahead of time to speak with science teachers, several of whom brought with them 10-25 students, for a crowd of about 100 people including parishioners. I enjoyed the chance to enter inside the various high schools and elementary schools, to see a little of that reality. In truth, I sensed a wide range of upkeep, professionalism, order in the several schools we visited -- though nearly all the teachers we talked with were excited about the invitation and opportunity to bring students. For the event itself, JUMIFRA youth council members cleaned, set-up, welcomed, and made/served chicha morada, a very popular drink here made by boiling purple corn with cinnamon, cloves, and pineapple and then adding sugar. Though it ran a bit long, the presentation was well-done and supported by a number of graphics and photos which we displayed with a digital projector borrowed from one of the parish priests. The assembled public learned of the initial pristine condition of the bay (as late as the mid-50`s) and the causes for its steady degradation: fishing industry, steel mill, sewer, hospital waste. For example, all sewers -- 100% -- dump directly into the bay just off the shore from downtown, industrial construction has changed current patterns and increased coastal erosion, and there is no longer a beach that fronts the `tourist hotel.` We collected names and contact information from attendees, and plan to follow up with the schools themselves and with other parish events and projects. Lots to do...
COMPAÑA COMPARTIR
Next, we turned our attention briefly to the Compaña Compartir (Sharing Campaign) that is an annual initiative of the Peruvian Catholic Church to collect funds for a particular cause, maybe similar to the Catholic Charities collection. The difference is that you see the posters everywhere -- post office, stores, etc. And, though with late notice, our pastor asked the youth council to take charge of visiting the neighborhood schools to take up collections there. So, early in the week I went with Lucciani to leave official notices from the pastor requesting permission to return on Friday, August 22, to present/collect in each classroom. On Friday, teams of two young adults went to five neighborhood schools, I with Nelly to Corpus Cristi, a few doors down from my house -- the theme this year was `Toward a World Free of Drugs.` The striking part about the whole experience was the access on behalf of the church to the school system -- the letter from the pastor was all we needed. Definitely different from the US.
YOUTH MUSIC CONCERT
Following the Compaña Compartir JUMIFRA (Juventud Misionera Franciscana -- Franciscan Missionary Youth) bore down on pulling together a youth music concert for August 30th. A big event that came off quite well, aside from some confusion on who was in charge of preparing the food (a form of hotdogs, even less apetizing in my view but popular here) to sell during the event. Nonetheless, the food we sold covered much of the cost for renting the sound equipment. Although the event started late (surprised?), it featured good quality and variety of music: both youth choirs (including mine), Franciscan postulants, Cumbia singer, Christian music group, Latin American Music, an `all-star` group from both our choirs, and a local high school rock band. Our new missionaries -- Julie, Jane, and Courtney -- even joined me in our choir on their second full day in Chimbote. A lot of work cleaning up and decorating during the day, but worth it in the end. Besides music, we continued with the environmental awareness theme, making posters with anti-pollution and pro-conservation messages as decoration and running a loop of photos of local environmental pollution on a screen above the stage during the show.
NEW INCARNATE WORD MISSIONARIES
I missed some of the run-up preparations for the concert because I made a trip to Lima to meet and welcome our new IWM`s -- Julie, Jane and Courtney (Corina). They arrived at 12:30 am on Tuesday, August 26, and I met them at the airport with Sisters Mirella and Pilar. We took two taxis back to the sisters` house, where we stayed for three nights and two days for a quick orientation to Lima. Activities during our stay included a visit to the National Museum (with a sobering exhibit about the years of terrorist violence in Peru in the 80`s and 90`s), downtown Lima and the Plaza de Armas (see photo below), the Convent of Santo Domingo with the tombs of Saint Martin de Porres and Saint Rose of Lima, the Park of the Waters with its beautiful lit-up fountains, and visits to both additional houses for Incarnate Word sisters in the capital city.
On Thursday we were back in Chimbote for a welcome dinner with Emily, Nicole, and the sisters here and then a full weekend at the parish with the concert, a trip to mass at Nuevo Chimbote`s Cathedral, and their first taste of ceviche (no major damage). Since then, Jane, Julie and Courtney have gradually been visiting various sites where they might choose to devote their time in service: a Catholic radio station and video/publishing center, Hospice, the medical clinic, birthing center, women`s education center, prostitute ministry, and of course they`ve taken turns assisting with our growing English class program. Additionally, they helped with and enjoyed the Goodbye/welcome party we held in our back patio (see below). With Emily and Nicole now gone a few days, we are working to settle into our new community and routines, and its been positive so far -- I look forward to a good year ahead. You`ll hear more about each of my new housemates in future posts...
DESPEDIDA
With the welcoming of my new housemates came of course a goodbye to my companions and friends of this past year, Emily and Nicole Tardio. Both helped a ton in showing the new missionaries around, and I feel that Julie, Courtney and Jane are at least more aware and less naive than we were about safety issues and practical tips from the several conversations that the six of us shared. I feel sad to see Emily and Nicole go, after many shared adventures and laughs, but my overall feeling is one of gratitude for walking alongside them for this chapter of our lives. We most likely will find our way to a reunion back in the US at some point, so the goodbye is not forever -- as it likely was with them and their Peruvian friends. They are currently in Huaràz, Peru, and will be in Lima later today. Tomorrow they fly to Iquitos in NW Peru, where they will spend a few days in a jungle lodge on the Amazon. They are both excited and nervous -- Nicole especially about the 5:00 am canoe rides to view wildlife :). On the 19th they will be on a plane back to Cincinatti, their excited family members, and their next adventure. I pray that this experience continues to live on in their hearts, minds, and lives.
To say goodbye to the many groups of friends they`ve gotten to know here, we decided to throw a goodbye party (despedida) at our house. We cleaned, shopped (5 kilos of ground meat and 8 kilos of potatos) cooked (I made cookies, girls made hamburgers and french fries with the help of hospice friends), and cleaned. Colver and Cuder lent their music and stereo system, and we danced until almost 5 am -- OK, I ran out of energy around 2 am and mostly talked after that. For once, we were the noise of the neighborhood, but a lot of fun in all with invitees from our English class, the parish, hospice co-workers, and a few extras. On the night of their final departure, the four of us remaining IWM`s and several guys from the parish -- all went to the bus terminal to see them off, waving goodbye as a few drops of rare rain came down.
CUYADA (GUINEA PIG LUNCH FUNDRAISER)
On September 7 the parish held an annual fundraiser, this year a cuy (guinea pig) lunch). We missionaries and youth helped set up, manage food lines (Peruvians don`t wait in line well, not seeing the point) and also to peel potatoes amidst de-haired, gutted, cuyes hanging inside-out on a clothes line over our heads (see photos). Julie is a vegetarian (although she eats fish) so didn`t sample the finished product, but Jane and Courtney liked it OK. I don`t see cuy as the delicacy that it is viewed as by most Peruvians, but will eat it when served. (see photos below)
MISCELANEOUS...
With time for this session running short, a quick summary of the rest: I planned and led my first Confirmation session in Spanish on Tuesday, English class is steadily growing, we had fun watching Peru tie Argentina in soccer at Alex`s house with he and Yuri a couple days ago, I am initiating a long-term youth visiting program with members of JUMIFRA to various neighborhoods, and our electric showerheads have once again stopped working, leaving us with cold showers once again, but this time during the winter -- every day another chance to live simply :).
Until next time, God bless!
FRENCH CYCLIST VISITS
As a member of the `Warm Showers List` website, I am on a list of people who are willing to host traveling cyclists with a place to stay, food, and a warm shower (we are lacking in the `warm` part at the moment, but we do have showers -- see below). I have been on the list for a few years, but was never contacted while in Oregon. Here in Chimbote, three travelers/couples have written me emails, with one visit coming to fruition. Nicolas Carron, a 30-year-old from France who has spent a year in Tennessee in grad school and is in the first month of a year-long trip around South America (partly by bike), stayed a day and night with us in August. Having trouble with his vision near Huaràz, he took a bus to Chimbote to have his eyes checked (turned out to be nothing wrong) and pick up some bike tools. We had a pleasant visit, and below you can see a photo of him as he rode away (a very light packer, I must say).
ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS EVENT
In the month of August our youth council organized and pulled off two successful events for youth and adults of our community. First, on August 16, we hosted a profesor from the local national university who spoke about the sober reality of how we as a city are massively polluting the bay on which we sit. I joined teams that went to neighborhood schools ahead of time to speak with science teachers, several of whom brought with them 10-25 students, for a crowd of about 100 people including parishioners. I enjoyed the chance to enter inside the various high schools and elementary schools, to see a little of that reality. In truth, I sensed a wide range of upkeep, professionalism, order in the several schools we visited -- though nearly all the teachers we talked with were excited about the invitation and opportunity to bring students. For the event itself, JUMIFRA youth council members cleaned, set-up, welcomed, and made/served chicha morada, a very popular drink here made by boiling purple corn with cinnamon, cloves, and pineapple and then adding sugar. Though it ran a bit long, the presentation was well-done and supported by a number of graphics and photos which we displayed with a digital projector borrowed from one of the parish priests. The assembled public learned of the initial pristine condition of the bay (as late as the mid-50`s) and the causes for its steady degradation: fishing industry, steel mill, sewer, hospital waste. For example, all sewers -- 100% -- dump directly into the bay just off the shore from downtown, industrial construction has changed current patterns and increased coastal erosion, and there is no longer a beach that fronts the `tourist hotel.` We collected names and contact information from attendees, and plan to follow up with the schools themselves and with other parish events and projects. Lots to do...
COMPAÑA COMPARTIR
Next, we turned our attention briefly to the Compaña Compartir (Sharing Campaign) that is an annual initiative of the Peruvian Catholic Church to collect funds for a particular cause, maybe similar to the Catholic Charities collection. The difference is that you see the posters everywhere -- post office, stores, etc. And, though with late notice, our pastor asked the youth council to take charge of visiting the neighborhood schools to take up collections there. So, early in the week I went with Lucciani to leave official notices from the pastor requesting permission to return on Friday, August 22, to present/collect in each classroom. On Friday, teams of two young adults went to five neighborhood schools, I with Nelly to Corpus Cristi, a few doors down from my house -- the theme this year was `Toward a World Free of Drugs.` The striking part about the whole experience was the access on behalf of the church to the school system -- the letter from the pastor was all we needed. Definitely different from the US.
YOUTH MUSIC CONCERT
Following the Compaña Compartir JUMIFRA (Juventud Misionera Franciscana -- Franciscan Missionary Youth) bore down on pulling together a youth music concert for August 30th. A big event that came off quite well, aside from some confusion on who was in charge of preparing the food (a form of hotdogs, even less apetizing in my view but popular here) to sell during the event. Nonetheless, the food we sold covered much of the cost for renting the sound equipment. Although the event started late (surprised?), it featured good quality and variety of music: both youth choirs (including mine), Franciscan postulants, Cumbia singer, Christian music group, Latin American Music, an `all-star` group from both our choirs, and a local high school rock band. Our new missionaries -- Julie, Jane, and Courtney -- even joined me in our choir on their second full day in Chimbote. A lot of work cleaning up and decorating during the day, but worth it in the end. Besides music, we continued with the environmental awareness theme, making posters with anti-pollution and pro-conservation messages as decoration and running a loop of photos of local environmental pollution on a screen above the stage during the show.
NEW INCARNATE WORD MISSIONARIES
I missed some of the run-up preparations for the concert because I made a trip to Lima to meet and welcome our new IWM`s -- Julie, Jane and Courtney (Corina). They arrived at 12:30 am on Tuesday, August 26, and I met them at the airport with Sisters Mirella and Pilar. We took two taxis back to the sisters` house, where we stayed for three nights and two days for a quick orientation to Lima. Activities during our stay included a visit to the National Museum (with a sobering exhibit about the years of terrorist violence in Peru in the 80`s and 90`s), downtown Lima and the Plaza de Armas (see photo below), the Convent of Santo Domingo with the tombs of Saint Martin de Porres and Saint Rose of Lima, the Park of the Waters with its beautiful lit-up fountains, and visits to both additional houses for Incarnate Word sisters in the capital city.
On Thursday we were back in Chimbote for a welcome dinner with Emily, Nicole, and the sisters here and then a full weekend at the parish with the concert, a trip to mass at Nuevo Chimbote`s Cathedral, and their first taste of ceviche (no major damage). Since then, Jane, Julie and Courtney have gradually been visiting various sites where they might choose to devote their time in service: a Catholic radio station and video/publishing center, Hospice, the medical clinic, birthing center, women`s education center, prostitute ministry, and of course they`ve taken turns assisting with our growing English class program. Additionally, they helped with and enjoyed the Goodbye/welcome party we held in our back patio (see below). With Emily and Nicole now gone a few days, we are working to settle into our new community and routines, and its been positive so far -- I look forward to a good year ahead. You`ll hear more about each of my new housemates in future posts...DESPEDIDA
With the welcoming of my new housemates came of course a goodbye to my companions and friends of this past year, Emily and Nicole Tardio. Both helped a ton in showing the new missionaries around, and I feel that Julie, Courtney and Jane are at least more aware and less naive than we were about safety issues and practical tips from the several conversations that the six of us shared. I feel sad to see Emily and Nicole go, after many shared adventures and laughs, but my overall feeling is one of gratitude for walking alongside them for this chapter of our lives. We most likely will find our way to a reunion back in the US at some point, so the goodbye is not forever -- as it likely was with them and their Peruvian friends. They are currently in Huaràz, Peru, and will be in Lima later today. Tomorrow they fly to Iquitos in NW Peru, where they will spend a few days in a jungle lodge on the Amazon. They are both excited and nervous -- Nicole especially about the 5:00 am canoe rides to view wildlife :). On the 19th they will be on a plane back to Cincinatti, their excited family members, and their next adventure. I pray that this experience continues to live on in their hearts, minds, and lives.
To say goodbye to the many groups of friends they`ve gotten to know here, we decided to throw a goodbye party (despedida) at our house. We cleaned, shopped (5 kilos of ground meat and 8 kilos of potatos) cooked (I made cookies, girls made hamburgers and french fries with the help of hospice friends), and cleaned. Colver and Cuder lent their music and stereo system, and we danced until almost 5 am -- OK, I ran out of energy around 2 am and mostly talked after that. For once, we were the noise of the neighborhood, but a lot of fun in all with invitees from our English class, the parish, hospice co-workers, and a few extras. On the night of their final departure, the four of us remaining IWM`s and several guys from the parish -- all went to the bus terminal to see them off, waving goodbye as a few drops of rare rain came down.
CUYADA (GUINEA PIG LUNCH FUNDRAISER)
On September 7 the parish held an annual fundraiser, this year a cuy (guinea pig) lunch). We missionaries and youth helped set up, manage food lines (Peruvians don`t wait in line well, not seeing the point) and also to peel potatoes amidst de-haired, gutted, cuyes hanging inside-out on a clothes line over our heads (see photos). Julie is a vegetarian (although she eats fish) so didn`t sample the finished product, but Jane and Courtney liked it OK. I don`t see cuy as the delicacy that it is viewed as by most Peruvians, but will eat it when served. (see photos below)
MISCELANEOUS...
With time for this session running short, a quick summary of the rest: I planned and led my first Confirmation session in Spanish on Tuesday, English class is steadily growing, we had fun watching Peru tie Argentina in soccer at Alex`s house with he and Yuri a couple days ago, I am initiating a long-term youth visiting program with members of JUMIFRA to various neighborhoods, and our electric showerheads have once again stopped working, leaving us with cold showers once again, but this time during the winter -- every day another chance to live simply :).
Until next time, God bless!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
I have been away from the blogdesk for some time, but promise a thorough update of the past month within a few days. Until then, I offer the text of an article that I recently wrote for the Peruvian Incarnate Word Sisters` bulletin, in which I reflect on my experience after nearly one year here. Also, I have posted a couple of albums of recent photos which you can see by accessing the link at right. Enjoy!
THE CHIMBOTE MISSIONARY LIFE (written August 4, 2008)
I found the Incarnate Word Missionaries ad in the Response catalog of an organization called Catholic Network of Volunteer Service, or CNVS, in the spring of 2007 as I was exploring options for living and serving in Latin America for an extended period. Two previous visits to Guatemala and several service trips with youth to Tijuana had triggered and sustained this calling, this tug on my heart that did not go away even amidst the busy and fulfilling life of youth ministry in a U.S. Catholic parish. This interior stirring, combined with a growing sense of the ignorance of most US citizens (and Catholics) of life outside the US and a desire to help build bridges and encourage increased solidarity in my fellow US Christians, was plenty of motivation for sending CNVS interest forms to about 10 congregational volunteer programs. About four later I had chosen – and had been chosen by – the Incarnate Word Missionary program of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate word.
Following a three-week orientation and retreat period in San Antonio, I embarked with my fellow Peru IWM`s – Emily and Nicole Tardio, from Cincinnati, Ohio – on our adventure into the unknown. Our daily sessions and discussions at the University of the Incarnate Word had included a wide range of topics, from cross-cultural sensitivity and culture shock to CCVI history, journaling, and recommendations for living together in community. Still, we grew more and more eager to actually see our new home, city, country – what would our new life be like? Despite the best efforts of Meg and Tere, we all three feel that the true orientation was `on the job,` so to speak. What have we learned these eleven months? From the unique perspective of this August Monday morning in Chimbote, I seek to share with you some reflections as I ponder this very worthy question.
RAW FISH ISN`T THAT BAD
Though fans of sushi might already have learned this, we have come to enjoy this concoction of raw fish (can also include shellfish), garlic, lime juice, ajì (hot pepper), sweet potato, yucca, and corn. The typical Chimbotano eats ceviche multiple times each week – if not every day – usually as a mid-morning snack, at home or one of the ubiquitous formal and informal (i.e. the clean and the hygienically questionable) cevicherìas.
MOPPING THE FLOOR IS A LOSING BATTLE
Dust is a reality of life here – it keeps coming, and coming, and coming. We began by mopping the whole house each week, only to judge the effort pointless – we succeeded only in moving the dirt around and removing a few footprints. Though we now have settled into sweeping once per week and mopping occasionally, we have developed a certain dust tolerance and never go barefoot in the house.
WHAT SMELL?
Warned numerous times before our arrival how Chimbote smells strongly of fish, we were pleasantly surprised not to smell anything out of the ordinary as we got off the bus for the first time, Sister Juanita there to meet us. Nowadays, we learned, fishing periods are limited due to past over-fishing – which is bad news for the local economy but good news for local lungs. Still, we have had a taste of `the smell of money`, as they say here, for a few short periods.
TIME IS RELATIVE
I have adjusted somewhat, but I don`t think I will ever fully get used to the flexible conception of time and schedules, i.e. `Let`s say the meeting starts at 7:00 so that we will be sure to start by 7:30.` Why not just say it starts at 7:30 and actually start then? I naively ask. Because then everyone won`t arrive until 8:00. On the positive side, I love how I can organize an outing with 5-10 friends with a day`s notice.
ENGLISH IS A DIFFICULT LANGUAGE TO LEARN
As one of our steady ministries here we offer a program of English classes within the parish, now with three different levels. A couple realizations: English pronunciation is difficult, we have many expressions that make no literal sense, and teaching English is a lot more complicated than just knowing how to speak it.
PERUVIANS LOVE TO DANCE TO LOUD MUSIC
What`s a party without dancing? Well, here it wouldn`t be a party at all. I enjoy the festive culture, but the noise level of parties (like from the `social and cultural association` across the street) and life in general has taken some getting used to. We can sleep through the dogs no problem by now, though the garbage truck`s horn remains impossible to work into one`s dreams.
OUR WORK AND PRESENCE IS APPRECIATED
Though my parish work in the US was more involved, took more time, and sometimes produced more tangible `results` than my efforts here, I have experienced genuine welcome and appreciation that in my own culture we often don`t take the time to express. Especially in my first couple months here (complicated by a dislocated elbow playing basketball) I felt like I was floating a bit – looking for where I would find a niche, where I would do my `work.` Now I have more projects in mind than there is time to start, yet have adopted a slower, more patient rhythm and expectations.
CHIMBOTE IS NOT A TOURIST CITY
A major struggle for the three of us has been the general lack of security here coupled with our glaring `non-anonymity.` With few gringos around, we attract attention (especially Emily and Nicole) wherever we go. Experiences of being robbed in the street have made us more watchful and careful as to when, where, and carrying which things we will walk around. Though we are more obvious targets due to the association of gringos with money, our friends who live here also are victims of crime and have to take precautions.
PROBLEMS ARE BIG, BUT PEOPLE WANT CHANGE
The struggles that many here face – individually and as a society – can seem overwhelming and an adequate response impossible: pollution and garbage, lack of work, poverty, the humble living conditions of some hospice patients, corrupt and inefficient government, inadequate health care services, despair and drug use, gangs, crime, etc. Still, especially among the young people I have met in my work at the parish, hope and desire for change are alive and well. How do I help them take their own steps toward transforming their reality? I feel that my first year has been full of learning – now how do I convert some of my new found understanding into concrete actions that make a difference? Even that statement, I realize, reflects my own bias toward action as more important than presence.
I CAN SING?
I have loved my experience of Peruvian music here – not so much the cumbia/pop of Grupo 5 (the group of the moment) flowing out of the mototaxis and late-night parties, but my opportunity to help create music as part of a parish youth choir here. I have generally enjoyed singing in church in the past, but with an admittedly soft voice and very little confidence. Still, I was invited to join one of our two youth choirs and have seen significant improvement in both qualities. Inspired by the talented musicians in the choir and among our friends here, I have increased my guitar skills and taken up learning to play the zamponia and quena, two styles of traditional Andean flutes.
THE INCARNATE WORD SISTERS IN PERU ARE COOL
When we arrived to Jorge Chàvez airport in September, Sisters Silvia and Elia were there to meet us. Sister Juanita met our bus in Chimbote and gave us a several-day tour and orientation to our new city. Sister Pilar, Sister Hirayda and Sister Elia helped make possible the attendance of 14 Chimbote youth at a two-week youth ministry training course in Lima. The communities of Comas and San Juan Lurigancho made my stay in Lima in June – for a Peruvian reality course at the Bartholomew de las Casas Institute – both possible and a lot of fun, and Sister Teresa de Jesùs in Huancanè showed us great hospitality in cold Huancanè. Being a missionary here I have genuinely felt a welcome and included member of the IW congregational community, and I am very grateful for this and the friendships with sisters that have developed.
I LIKE MY LIFE HERE
The slow and patient rhythm, time to read and practice music during the afternoon siesta (the girls sleep a bit more than I do), the numerous chances to serve and accompany young people, not being in charge, continually improving my Spanish, friendships that have grown quickly in comparison to past experiences of moving to new places in the US, the cheap and flavorful food, the colorful chaos of the outdoor market. Chimbote is far from perfect, and there are moments when I strongly miss my family, my culture. I have been an Incarnate Word Missionary in Chimbote for almost one year of my two year term, and there is still so much to do and see and learn. I already know that when I leave I will be both excited to return home and sad to leave, to say goodbye to the people and the life I led. I do know too, however, that my experience here – given to me by the CCVI sisters – will help me live out my call as a Christian to live as a missionary of the gospel wherever I find myself in the future.
THE CHIMBOTE MISSIONARY LIFE (written August 4, 2008)
I found the Incarnate Word Missionaries ad in the Response catalog of an organization called Catholic Network of Volunteer Service, or CNVS, in the spring of 2007 as I was exploring options for living and serving in Latin America for an extended period. Two previous visits to Guatemala and several service trips with youth to Tijuana had triggered and sustained this calling, this tug on my heart that did not go away even amidst the busy and fulfilling life of youth ministry in a U.S. Catholic parish. This interior stirring, combined with a growing sense of the ignorance of most US citizens (and Catholics) of life outside the US and a desire to help build bridges and encourage increased solidarity in my fellow US Christians, was plenty of motivation for sending CNVS interest forms to about 10 congregational volunteer programs. About four later I had chosen – and had been chosen by – the Incarnate Word Missionary program of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate word.
Following a three-week orientation and retreat period in San Antonio, I embarked with my fellow Peru IWM`s – Emily and Nicole Tardio, from Cincinnati, Ohio – on our adventure into the unknown. Our daily sessions and discussions at the University of the Incarnate Word had included a wide range of topics, from cross-cultural sensitivity and culture shock to CCVI history, journaling, and recommendations for living together in community. Still, we grew more and more eager to actually see our new home, city, country – what would our new life be like? Despite the best efforts of Meg and Tere, we all three feel that the true orientation was `on the job,` so to speak. What have we learned these eleven months? From the unique perspective of this August Monday morning in Chimbote, I seek to share with you some reflections as I ponder this very worthy question.
RAW FISH ISN`T THAT BAD
Though fans of sushi might already have learned this, we have come to enjoy this concoction of raw fish (can also include shellfish), garlic, lime juice, ajì (hot pepper), sweet potato, yucca, and corn. The typical Chimbotano eats ceviche multiple times each week – if not every day – usually as a mid-morning snack, at home or one of the ubiquitous formal and informal (i.e. the clean and the hygienically questionable) cevicherìas.
MOPPING THE FLOOR IS A LOSING BATTLE
Dust is a reality of life here – it keeps coming, and coming, and coming. We began by mopping the whole house each week, only to judge the effort pointless – we succeeded only in moving the dirt around and removing a few footprints. Though we now have settled into sweeping once per week and mopping occasionally, we have developed a certain dust tolerance and never go barefoot in the house.
WHAT SMELL?
Warned numerous times before our arrival how Chimbote smells strongly of fish, we were pleasantly surprised not to smell anything out of the ordinary as we got off the bus for the first time, Sister Juanita there to meet us. Nowadays, we learned, fishing periods are limited due to past over-fishing – which is bad news for the local economy but good news for local lungs. Still, we have had a taste of `the smell of money`, as they say here, for a few short periods.
TIME IS RELATIVE
I have adjusted somewhat, but I don`t think I will ever fully get used to the flexible conception of time and schedules, i.e. `Let`s say the meeting starts at 7:00 so that we will be sure to start by 7:30.` Why not just say it starts at 7:30 and actually start then? I naively ask. Because then everyone won`t arrive until 8:00. On the positive side, I love how I can organize an outing with 5-10 friends with a day`s notice.
ENGLISH IS A DIFFICULT LANGUAGE TO LEARN
As one of our steady ministries here we offer a program of English classes within the parish, now with three different levels. A couple realizations: English pronunciation is difficult, we have many expressions that make no literal sense, and teaching English is a lot more complicated than just knowing how to speak it.
PERUVIANS LOVE TO DANCE TO LOUD MUSIC
What`s a party without dancing? Well, here it wouldn`t be a party at all. I enjoy the festive culture, but the noise level of parties (like from the `social and cultural association` across the street) and life in general has taken some getting used to. We can sleep through the dogs no problem by now, though the garbage truck`s horn remains impossible to work into one`s dreams.
OUR WORK AND PRESENCE IS APPRECIATED
Though my parish work in the US was more involved, took more time, and sometimes produced more tangible `results` than my efforts here, I have experienced genuine welcome and appreciation that in my own culture we often don`t take the time to express. Especially in my first couple months here (complicated by a dislocated elbow playing basketball) I felt like I was floating a bit – looking for where I would find a niche, where I would do my `work.` Now I have more projects in mind than there is time to start, yet have adopted a slower, more patient rhythm and expectations.
CHIMBOTE IS NOT A TOURIST CITY
A major struggle for the three of us has been the general lack of security here coupled with our glaring `non-anonymity.` With few gringos around, we attract attention (especially Emily and Nicole) wherever we go. Experiences of being robbed in the street have made us more watchful and careful as to when, where, and carrying which things we will walk around. Though we are more obvious targets due to the association of gringos with money, our friends who live here also are victims of crime and have to take precautions.
PROBLEMS ARE BIG, BUT PEOPLE WANT CHANGE
The struggles that many here face – individually and as a society – can seem overwhelming and an adequate response impossible: pollution and garbage, lack of work, poverty, the humble living conditions of some hospice patients, corrupt and inefficient government, inadequate health care services, despair and drug use, gangs, crime, etc. Still, especially among the young people I have met in my work at the parish, hope and desire for change are alive and well. How do I help them take their own steps toward transforming their reality? I feel that my first year has been full of learning – now how do I convert some of my new found understanding into concrete actions that make a difference? Even that statement, I realize, reflects my own bias toward action as more important than presence.
I CAN SING?
I have loved my experience of Peruvian music here – not so much the cumbia/pop of Grupo 5 (the group of the moment) flowing out of the mototaxis and late-night parties, but my opportunity to help create music as part of a parish youth choir here. I have generally enjoyed singing in church in the past, but with an admittedly soft voice and very little confidence. Still, I was invited to join one of our two youth choirs and have seen significant improvement in both qualities. Inspired by the talented musicians in the choir and among our friends here, I have increased my guitar skills and taken up learning to play the zamponia and quena, two styles of traditional Andean flutes.
THE INCARNATE WORD SISTERS IN PERU ARE COOL
When we arrived to Jorge Chàvez airport in September, Sisters Silvia and Elia were there to meet us. Sister Juanita met our bus in Chimbote and gave us a several-day tour and orientation to our new city. Sister Pilar, Sister Hirayda and Sister Elia helped make possible the attendance of 14 Chimbote youth at a two-week youth ministry training course in Lima. The communities of Comas and San Juan Lurigancho made my stay in Lima in June – for a Peruvian reality course at the Bartholomew de las Casas Institute – both possible and a lot of fun, and Sister Teresa de Jesùs in Huancanè showed us great hospitality in cold Huancanè. Being a missionary here I have genuinely felt a welcome and included member of the IW congregational community, and I am very grateful for this and the friendships with sisters that have developed.
I LIKE MY LIFE HERE
The slow and patient rhythm, time to read and practice music during the afternoon siesta (the girls sleep a bit more than I do), the numerous chances to serve and accompany young people, not being in charge, continually improving my Spanish, friendships that have grown quickly in comparison to past experiences of moving to new places in the US, the cheap and flavorful food, the colorful chaos of the outdoor market. Chimbote is far from perfect, and there are moments when I strongly miss my family, my culture. I have been an Incarnate Word Missionary in Chimbote for almost one year of my two year term, and there is still so much to do and see and learn. I already know that when I leave I will be both excited to return home and sad to leave, to say goodbye to the people and the life I led. I do know too, however, that my experience here – given to me by the CCVI sisters – will help me live out my call as a Christian to live as a missionary of the gospel wherever I find myself in the future.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Hace tiempo...
Greetings! Yes, I know it`s been a while since I last wrote, so here`s an attempt to catch up on what I`ve been up to. Before going further -- want to notify you of a few pictures of recent events (like our new water pump!) are posted on my photo site, link at right.
In some ways, this month since my return to Chimbote has been quite difficult. Without going into more detail than necessary or appropriate in this forum, I would be leaving out a lot if I didn`t tell you that Michi and I have broken up as of a couple weeks ago. After a good amount of soul searching, the decision was my initiative -- just a lot harder than I thought it would be to keep the relationship going from my end during this separation. We are remaining friends and in touch, trying to trust where God might be leading us in the future.
On other topics, a few highlights:
UPCOMING CHANGE OF HOUSEMATES
Time seems to have hurried by, as we near the 11-month anniversary of our arrival in Peru and Chimbote. August will be the final month for Nicole and Emily`s service at the hospice here. On September 9th they will leave Chimbote for a stay in the mountains of Huaraz, southwest of here, and then a trip and tour to the Amazon jungle region of Iquitos in NW Peru. Their flight back to Cincinatti will be September 19. Even before then, however, my new fellow missionaries and housemates will be arriving in Peru, even now they are in the midst of their three-week orientation at the Incarnate Word mother house in San Antonio, TX. Julie (Connecticut), Courtney (Minnesota), and Jane (Missouri) will fly into Lima on Monday, August 25. I will make the trip to Lima to meet them at the airport and, while we take care of their immigration paperwork, will help give a tour of major Lima sites during a 2-3 day stay, during which they will also be able to meet the IW sisters living in Lima. On the 28th or 29th we should all be in Chimbote, where Emily, Nicole, Sr. Juanita and I are planning a local orientation. I am looking forward to meeting my new companions, though will miss Nicole and Emily to be sure. Forming a new community with its own life and rhythms will be exciting but at the same time a period of transition no doubt, as we get to know each other. I hope, with a year of experience, to be able to soften their landing a bit.
In preparation for the arrival of Jane, Julie, and Courtney we have been making steady efforts to get the house in shape. Recent improvements/repairs have included a shiny new water pump installed by Eduardo, employee of our landlord Hector and veteran of multiple visits to repair the old pump. So, we now have consistent running water in the tap, which we long ago stopped taking for granted. The recent spell of collecting water in buckets twice daily, about 3-4 weeks, became quite routine. Filling everything and washing dishes before the water shut off at 8 am, filling tubs as needed in the afternoon between 4 and 5, bucket showers, etc. Other projects have included a major weed-chopping session in the back yard, work with handyman Oscar on the upstairs laundry sink drains and replacement of the switch of the downstairs shower, which had shorted out and no longer functioned. We still lack a general, thorough cleaning -- which we will do closer to the arrival date -- but with running water, warm showers, and draining sinks we are living the high life :).
IW REGIONAL ASSEMBLY, JULY 27-28
As part of the yearly assembly of Peru-based Incarnate Word sisters in Lima, we missionaries and lay associates were invited for a weekend of prayer, talks, sharing, and a fun talent show. As representative of our house (Nicole and Emily had just returned from a few-day trip to Cajamarca and couldn`t get away from their work) I put together a slide show summarizing our experiences -- good and challenging -- as missionaries in Chimbote. In the evening Saturday, each community was asked to share an artistic talent. There were a few songs, traditional dances, and I played the zampoña, a traditional Andean flute that I have begun learning. It was a festive visit with the sisters, several of which have become good friends. The day was part of their four-day meeting in which they reflected on their history in Peru and what their visions were for the future.
PARISH EVENTS
On August 9 I joined a parish bus up to the town of Pariacoto, a two-hour trip to the site where two Franciscan friars were martyred by the terrorist group Shining Path in 1991. August 9th is the anniversary of the event, and we shared a mass, two short hikes, and lunch in the peaceful town (I had been there twice before). Several of my friends from the Youth Council went along, and it was a good day. The same weekend, the youth council sponsored a breakfast fundraiser to raise money for two upcoming events: a talk this Saturday about the environmental problems in Chimbote and a youth concert on August. We made and sold chicken sandwiches (sandwiches can be eaten any time of day except for lunch) and `quaker` -- a cooked oatmeal drink with cinnamon, cloves, milk, and a little cocoa. We sold a sandwich and drink for 1.5 soles, about $0.50, and made around 120 soles profit. Considering average monthly wages for official jobs are 300-500 soles here, not too bad. To cap off the exhausting schedule, I helped by accompanying a Confirmation field trip to a local soccer field/park complex and had a couple choir rehearsals. I am happy to back in Chimbote more steadily, even though I also enjoyed my time away in June and July. Our new cycle of English classes is now in full swing, now with three levels and about 20 students -- three nights per week of class and one for conversation practice. I`ve recently located ground ginger and something called `Algarrobina` that resembles molasses, so have made ginger snaps and ginger bread for our conversation gatherings and a spice cake to celebrate Nicole`s birthday on July 23rd.
The youth council is excited about our environmental event this weekend -- we`ve visited local schools and several have committed to sending a science teacher with 20-30 students to participate.
Think I`ll close for now, next entry I hope to offer some one-year reflections and goals for the second half of my time here. God bless!
In some ways, this month since my return to Chimbote has been quite difficult. Without going into more detail than necessary or appropriate in this forum, I would be leaving out a lot if I didn`t tell you that Michi and I have broken up as of a couple weeks ago. After a good amount of soul searching, the decision was my initiative -- just a lot harder than I thought it would be to keep the relationship going from my end during this separation. We are remaining friends and in touch, trying to trust where God might be leading us in the future.
On other topics, a few highlights:
UPCOMING CHANGE OF HOUSEMATES
Time seems to have hurried by, as we near the 11-month anniversary of our arrival in Peru and Chimbote. August will be the final month for Nicole and Emily`s service at the hospice here. On September 9th they will leave Chimbote for a stay in the mountains of Huaraz, southwest of here, and then a trip and tour to the Amazon jungle region of Iquitos in NW Peru. Their flight back to Cincinatti will be September 19. Even before then, however, my new fellow missionaries and housemates will be arriving in Peru, even now they are in the midst of their three-week orientation at the Incarnate Word mother house in San Antonio, TX. Julie (Connecticut), Courtney (Minnesota), and Jane (Missouri) will fly into Lima on Monday, August 25. I will make the trip to Lima to meet them at the airport and, while we take care of their immigration paperwork, will help give a tour of major Lima sites during a 2-3 day stay, during which they will also be able to meet the IW sisters living in Lima. On the 28th or 29th we should all be in Chimbote, where Emily, Nicole, Sr. Juanita and I are planning a local orientation. I am looking forward to meeting my new companions, though will miss Nicole and Emily to be sure. Forming a new community with its own life and rhythms will be exciting but at the same time a period of transition no doubt, as we get to know each other. I hope, with a year of experience, to be able to soften their landing a bit.
In preparation for the arrival of Jane, Julie, and Courtney we have been making steady efforts to get the house in shape. Recent improvements/repairs have included a shiny new water pump installed by Eduardo, employee of our landlord Hector and veteran of multiple visits to repair the old pump. So, we now have consistent running water in the tap, which we long ago stopped taking for granted. The recent spell of collecting water in buckets twice daily, about 3-4 weeks, became quite routine. Filling everything and washing dishes before the water shut off at 8 am, filling tubs as needed in the afternoon between 4 and 5, bucket showers, etc. Other projects have included a major weed-chopping session in the back yard, work with handyman Oscar on the upstairs laundry sink drains and replacement of the switch of the downstairs shower, which had shorted out and no longer functioned. We still lack a general, thorough cleaning -- which we will do closer to the arrival date -- but with running water, warm showers, and draining sinks we are living the high life :).
IW REGIONAL ASSEMBLY, JULY 27-28
As part of the yearly assembly of Peru-based Incarnate Word sisters in Lima, we missionaries and lay associates were invited for a weekend of prayer, talks, sharing, and a fun talent show. As representative of our house (Nicole and Emily had just returned from a few-day trip to Cajamarca and couldn`t get away from their work) I put together a slide show summarizing our experiences -- good and challenging -- as missionaries in Chimbote. In the evening Saturday, each community was asked to share an artistic talent. There were a few songs, traditional dances, and I played the zampoña, a traditional Andean flute that I have begun learning. It was a festive visit with the sisters, several of which have become good friends. The day was part of their four-day meeting in which they reflected on their history in Peru and what their visions were for the future.
PARISH EVENTS
On August 9 I joined a parish bus up to the town of Pariacoto, a two-hour trip to the site where two Franciscan friars were martyred by the terrorist group Shining Path in 1991. August 9th is the anniversary of the event, and we shared a mass, two short hikes, and lunch in the peaceful town (I had been there twice before). Several of my friends from the Youth Council went along, and it was a good day. The same weekend, the youth council sponsored a breakfast fundraiser to raise money for two upcoming events: a talk this Saturday about the environmental problems in Chimbote and a youth concert on August. We made and sold chicken sandwiches (sandwiches can be eaten any time of day except for lunch) and `quaker` -- a cooked oatmeal drink with cinnamon, cloves, milk, and a little cocoa. We sold a sandwich and drink for 1.5 soles, about $0.50, and made around 120 soles profit. Considering average monthly wages for official jobs are 300-500 soles here, not too bad. To cap off the exhausting schedule, I helped by accompanying a Confirmation field trip to a local soccer field/park complex and had a couple choir rehearsals. I am happy to back in Chimbote more steadily, even though I also enjoyed my time away in June and July. Our new cycle of English classes is now in full swing, now with three levels and about 20 students -- three nights per week of class and one for conversation practice. I`ve recently located ground ginger and something called `Algarrobina` that resembles molasses, so have made ginger snaps and ginger bread for our conversation gatherings and a spice cake to celebrate Nicole`s birthday on July 23rd.
The youth council is excited about our environmental event this weekend -- we`ve visited local schools and several have committed to sending a science teacher with 20-30 students to participate.
Think I`ll close for now, next entry I hope to offer some one-year reflections and goals for the second half of my time here. God bless!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Dulce Hogar (Home Sweet Home)
Greetings everyone! After an exciting period of three weeks in Lima for the Peruvian reality course, one week home, Michi`s visit to Chimbote, and then our two-week journey to southern Peru, it is good to be home again. A few new photos from our time in Chimbote and the first leg of our trip are available through the link at right.
Some highlights since my last entry:
FEAST OF ST. PETER, PATRON OF CHIMBOTE
Michi`s arrival coincided with the annual fiesta honoring St. Peter, the patron saint of fishing-centered Chimbote. Thus, our four days here were a bit more packed with activity than they would have been, but all worth it in the end. Besides accompanying me to a couple confirmation meetings, an English class, and on a morning of hospice visits, Michi was able to take in the fireworks and musical performances downtown on Saturday night and the nautical procession (with the image of St. Peter in the lead boat) to the mouth of the bay on Sunday morning. We arose early to be at the pier at 7:00 am for a place in line and found a place with other young people from the parish on a large fishing boat -- a number of the fishing boats load up passengers for the free cruise/procession. After a bit of waiting, St. Peter`s boat appeared and the rest of the boats followed to the mouth of the bay, where the bishop blessed the boats, fish, bay, etc. Our boat then took a forty-minute additional cruise out past the mouth and the White Islands on a day that had turned beautifully sunny after a foggy start. We closed the morning with ceviche at a local restaurant with some friends from the parish.
Besides the procession, we also joined a group of my friends to tour the vivero forestal (city park) and see the fair there, with products and animals for sale from many regional towns and farms. Also, my friend Lucciani helped us prepare ceviche in our house, accompanying us to the market to buy the raw materials and orchestrating the production once we got back home. Though the hot water shower head stopped working a couple days before Michi arrived, she was a good sport about it. And at least the pump was working to provide water in the tap -- during our trip it died once again and we are now back to collecting our daily water in buckets in the morning and evening.
AREQUIPA
After our full time in Chimbote, we boarding a bus for a two-part trip to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru and reknowned for its white stone buildings. The overnight trip wasn`t great, and I got sick with diarhea and headache later in the day, causing us to miss the key attraction of the Santa Catalina convent. We were fortunate, though, to enjoy the hospitality and company of Isabel and Inma, two Spanish missionaries who I`d met in Lima at my course on Peruvian Reality. I slept most of our second day there before we took another night bus to Cuzco -- but before getting sick were able to cruise around the downtown and the square, even enjoying some live traditional music in a coffee shop.
CHIMBOTE
Back in Chimbote, I am preparing for the start of a new term of English classes -- we are adding one more night each week in order to offer a beginner`s course in addition to continuing with the two groups we had during the last term. I have a few ideas for projects in the upcoming year, and am excited for what lies ahead. Thanks for tuning in!
Some highlights since my last entry:
FEAST OF ST. PETER, PATRON OF CHIMBOTE
Michi`s arrival coincided with the annual fiesta honoring St. Peter, the patron saint of fishing-centered Chimbote. Thus, our four days here were a bit more packed with activity than they would have been, but all worth it in the end. Besides accompanying me to a couple confirmation meetings, an English class, and on a morning of hospice visits, Michi was able to take in the fireworks and musical performances downtown on Saturday night and the nautical procession (with the image of St. Peter in the lead boat) to the mouth of the bay on Sunday morning. We arose early to be at the pier at 7:00 am for a place in line and found a place with other young people from the parish on a large fishing boat -- a number of the fishing boats load up passengers for the free cruise/procession. After a bit of waiting, St. Peter`s boat appeared and the rest of the boats followed to the mouth of the bay, where the bishop blessed the boats, fish, bay, etc. Our boat then took a forty-minute additional cruise out past the mouth and the White Islands on a day that had turned beautifully sunny after a foggy start. We closed the morning with ceviche at a local restaurant with some friends from the parish.
Besides the procession, we also joined a group of my friends to tour the vivero forestal (city park) and see the fair there, with products and animals for sale from many regional towns and farms. Also, my friend Lucciani helped us prepare ceviche in our house, accompanying us to the market to buy the raw materials and orchestrating the production once we got back home. Though the hot water shower head stopped working a couple days before Michi arrived, she was a good sport about it. And at least the pump was working to provide water in the tap -- during our trip it died once again and we are now back to collecting our daily water in buckets in the morning and evening.
AREQUIPA
After our full time in Chimbote, we boarding a bus for a two-part trip to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru and reknowned for its white stone buildings. The overnight trip wasn`t great, and I got sick with diarhea and headache later in the day, causing us to miss the key attraction of the Santa Catalina convent. We were fortunate, though, to enjoy the hospitality and company of Isabel and Inma, two Spanish missionaries who I`d met in Lima at my course on Peruvian Reality. I slept most of our second day there before we took another night bus to Cuzco -- but before getting sick were able to cruise around the downtown and the square, even enjoying some live traditional music in a coffee shop.
CHIMBOTE
Back in Chimbote, I am preparing for the start of a new term of English classes -- we are adding one more night each week in order to offer a beginner`s course in addition to continuing with the two groups we had during the last term. I have a few ideas for projects in the upcoming year, and am excited for what lies ahead. Thanks for tuning in!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
May-June Photos...
Just a short entry to let you know that photos from a few May-June events are now posted on the photo link at right, including shots from our ceviche making, English class field trip, birthday party for friend Lenin at our house, and shots from my recent trip to Lima (see post below).
I`ve jumped right back into life here, with Confirmation classes, basketball, choir practice and singing at mass, and English classes. I`m also preparing to leave again soon, excited for the visit of Michi at the end of the week. The next blog entry will be in mid-July, after her visit: a few days here in Chimbote and then two weeks of travel to Arequipa, Cuzco/Machu Picchu, and Lake Titicaca. God bless, and happy independence day!
I`ve jumped right back into life here, with Confirmation classes, basketball, choir practice and singing at mass, and English classes. I`m also preparing to leave again soon, excited for the visit of Michi at the end of the week. The next blog entry will be in mid-July, after her visit: a few days here in Chimbote and then two weeks of travel to Arequipa, Cuzco/Machu Picchu, and Lake Titicaca. God bless, and happy independence day!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
La Vida Limeña
Greetings to all! This entry comes to you from Lima, capital of Peru and home to about 8 million people (of about 28 million total in the country). Photos posted soon (don`t have the right cables with me).
INTRODUCTION TO THE PERUVIAN REALITY
I am in the closing week of a three week course called An Introduction to the Peruvian Reality, directed at foreign missionaries working in Peru and presented by the Bartholomew de las Casas Institute. The Bartolo, as they call it, was founded in 1974 as a space for theological reflection on (and organization of) the role of the church in the society of Latin America, specifically from the point of view of its founder Gustavo Gutierrez, one of the foundational figures of the Liberation Theology movement. Bartholomew de las Casas was a colonial era priest who was the first champion of the rights of the indigenous populations of the Spanish colonies. Besides the stimulating course material, I`ve enjoyed the chance to meet and get to know my fellow classmates, a mixture of 24 priests, religious, and lay missionaries from a variety of countries: Spain(4), Chile(4), Ireland(3), Canada(3), US(3 including me), Mexico(2), Switzerland(2), Portugal, The Congo, Germany, Peru.
SUMMARY OF TOPICS
Anyway, first a summary of the topics (for each topic, usually two each day, they have invited a different person who specializes in that field or area):
Week 1: Ancient and Modern History of Peru, the years of violence (1980-93), intro to social problems, economic reality, political context
Week 2: Multicultural/intercultural country, Indigenous communities of the Andes, communities of the Amazon region, women in Peru, psicological aspects of cultural immersion, globalization and the effects on Peru, Project of Decentralization of government, The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Problems in Public Health Care
Week 3: Conflicts between Communities and the Mining Industry, The Media in Peru, Civil Society, Problems in Public Education, History of the Church in Latin America, The 2007 Conference of Latin American Bishops.
Tomorrow we have a class on Liberation Theology and group discussion, and on Friday the closing: evaluation, potluck (each person to bring something from their country--I think I`ll make apple pie.
IMPRESSIONS
Some initial themes/impressions:
- Peru is a very centralized country, centralized in Lima. It seems like two countries, Lima and the rest of Peru (which they call here `the provinces`). The life here is also distinct: much more ethnically diverse, much broader range of economic classes, obviously a lot bigger with more traffic, etc, more racism, some very nice areas that could be any US city (including the neighborhood where I am staying), a ton of chinese food restaurants. In addition, I realize more the relative absence of the government outside of Lima in providing basic services -- many rural areas of Peru, and especially the jungle, are severely neglected.
- The War of the Pacific, between Peru and Chile in 1870´s, severely marked the national psyche. Peru lost valuable territory in the south and to this day has a chip on its shoulder against Chile, esp in Lima it seems (haven`t noticed this in Chimbote). Partly it`s because of current Chilean capital in Peru and experiences of racism that Peruvians experience when they travel there. Plus, Peru almost always loses to Chile in soccer.
- Peru has a rich pre-colonial history, of which the most recent, the Incas, were only one small part of. This history leaves a legacy of diversity which was augmented by Spanish colonization, importation of slaves, immigrations of Chinese (late 1800`s) and Japanese (early 1900`s) workers, and Italian/German immigrations. The geographical diversity of coastal desert, high Andes, and Amazon jungle adds to the variety. In general though, the diversity is seen as a problem instead of an asset and there seems to be a general lack of national identity and unity.
- The years of terrorist violence here were tough and brutal, and continue to leave a legacy of mistrust among people. Between 1980 and 2,000 about 70,000 people, mostly indigenous, were killed by either the Maoist Shining Path rebels or the armed forces.
- Like most things left to the responsibility of the federal government, public education is very poor here. Teachers are generally not well trained and lack basic resources such as textbooks. Corruption within the government is high in general, but is the highest in the education system. Education is generally dictation, copying, and memorization. Private schools, of which there are multitudes, are generally better but are out of the reach of many. There was a national forum on education in 2004 which produced a 15 year plan for overhauling the system, but after a grand ceremony and promises the current president (Alan Garcia, of which I`ve heard few positive things except that he is a good speaker) has forgotten all about it.
- The economy of Peru has seen a steady period of growth the past 7 years, fueled by exports of the mining industry, dominated by international/foreign companies. However, this growth has not changed the reality of life for the majority of the population and has not resulted in any substantial increase in badly needed investment in public infrastructure (as our own dirt streets of Chimbote illustrate). The government refuses to tax at a reasonable level the huge profits of foreign mining companies for fear of driving them away, while these companies increasingly conflict with local rural communities over land rights, with the state usually intervening on behalf of the business interest.
- Peru, as many countries, has seen a huge immigration of its population to urban areas in the last 40 years. The outskirts of Lima are settlements on dry, desert hills, with services arriving only years later.
- Politically, there is no viable political opposition to the party in power, APRA, which is the only national political party. Only in 2002 were state governors elected for the first time, and national congress members are not elected by a particular area, leaving constituents with no person directly speaking for their needs. Lacking meaningful channels for dissent, protests and conflicts (sometimes violent) break out at the rate of 60-70 per month nationally -- currently mining workers are making news by blocking the Pan American Highway in south Peru and taking policemen hostage.
- The Amazon jungle comprises 70% of Peruvian territory and holds 10% of its population. Access to the money economy and to state services is severely limited for the 50 distinct cultures of varying demographic size that inhabit this area.
- The current Peruvian Church as a whole is very conservative and very much in line with the interests of power and wealth, with the exception of a couple bishops who take isolated stands to work for the interests of their people. Still, the message of the most recent council of Latin American Bishops (Aparecida, Brazil, 2007) -- with the utmost support of Pope Benedict XVI -- strongly supports the renovation of the 1960`s, that the Church is called to be poor, missionary and paschal, implicit in its mission is identification with the marginalized of the world.
Personally, this wider view of Peruvian society has caused me to see my role here as larger than just helping my parish have a successful youth program. I hope to help and walk with our youth as they take concrete steps to change their society for the better. An additional benefit is all the practice in listening to and speaking Spanish here, both in the course (all given in Spanish) and with the sisters at the house.
OTHER ACTIVITIES IN LIMA
- With my friend Luzeliana who I met at our YM training course in February, I have taken a bus up Cerro San Cristòbal for a 360 degree view of Lima at night, made a brief stop at a discoteca, and visited the very beautiful, green, clean Park of the Waters, which is a series of lighted, creative fountains -- including one with a light show in the spray.
- Sister Pilar, the 37-year-old superior in Peru, had a hemorage in her stomach the first Wednesday I was here, passing out and vomiting blood. She was in the hospital a few days but is now at the house recovering well, but we made a couple visits in the afternoons and I donated blood. Each clinic or hospital has its own blood bank, and when you withdraw you have to find people to donate replacement blood. The technician, Naida, is studying English and asked me, while the bag was filling, if we could practice talking a bit. :)
- Sister Mirella and I went to see Prince Caspian in Spanish (my first movie theatre experience in Peru) and I had the chance to visit both the other houses that the Incarnate Word Sisters have here: Comas is on the edge of the city as the dry mountains begin, and the novitiate house is in San Juan Lurigancho. It has been a good opportunity to get to know many of them who are based in Lima better, including Elisa, Mirella, Gladys, Lourdes, Rosaleen, Pilar, Fabiola, Anita, with a bonus visit of Sister Lourdes from San Antonio.
- The first week also saw the visit of Carlos and Brandon from the IW headquarters in San Antonio, here to bring and install a video conference system in the house to allow international meetings without all the travel. They had a couple hangups, however, in that the firewall was confiscated for taxes at the airport and another key item (I don`t remember the name) burned up from the higher voltage. Both will eventually be available after taxes are paid, but Carlos and Brandon will have to make another trip south. An aside to this story is that on the way to the airport in a combi to meet the guys at the airport, Sister Elisa and I (we were going because Pilar had just entered the hospital) the police stopped the van and asked all inside for their identity documents. Neither Elisa (who is from Mexico) or I were carrying our ID`s, which she explained hopefully to the officer. I was a bit nervous for a moment, but he thankfully just reprimanded us but didn`t take any action.
- Jorge and Angelica, two Columban Lay Missionaries from Chile, invited me to their house out on the end of Lima for lunch this past Sunday. Jorge met me in town here and we made the 1.5 hour bus trip to spend an enjoyable afternoon with them and other young missionaries: Claudia and Teresa (Chilean Columban missionaries serving in a town near Cuzco, also in my course), John and Irma (Columban Missionaries from the Philipines with over 7 years here in Peru, and Miguel (German volunteer doing his obligatory national service for a year). The four Columban Missionaries lived together for one year in Chile in preparation and study, and just started a three year Peruvian commitment in January. Anyway, it was a good visit with dedicated, laughing people all around my age or a bit younger.
- Roberto, a friend from Chimbote, was in Lima the first weekend and we met a classmate of mine to visit the National Museum on Saturday. The museum was mostly closed with only a couple rooms open, so after a short visit Roberto and I ventured on three different buses to the ruins of Pachacamac, south of Lima, a temple site of various cultures 400-1500`s AD.
Well, if you`ve made it this far -- thank you! I will try to write sooner next time, so as to spread it out a little more. Next entry once again from Chimbote.
INTRODUCTION TO THE PERUVIAN REALITY
I am in the closing week of a three week course called An Introduction to the Peruvian Reality, directed at foreign missionaries working in Peru and presented by the Bartholomew de las Casas Institute. The Bartolo, as they call it, was founded in 1974 as a space for theological reflection on (and organization of) the role of the church in the society of Latin America, specifically from the point of view of its founder Gustavo Gutierrez, one of the foundational figures of the Liberation Theology movement. Bartholomew de las Casas was a colonial era priest who was the first champion of the rights of the indigenous populations of the Spanish colonies. Besides the stimulating course material, I`ve enjoyed the chance to meet and get to know my fellow classmates, a mixture of 24 priests, religious, and lay missionaries from a variety of countries: Spain(4), Chile(4), Ireland(3), Canada(3), US(3 including me), Mexico(2), Switzerland(2), Portugal, The Congo, Germany, Peru.
SUMMARY OF TOPICS
Anyway, first a summary of the topics (for each topic, usually two each day, they have invited a different person who specializes in that field or area):
Week 1: Ancient and Modern History of Peru, the years of violence (1980-93), intro to social problems, economic reality, political context
Week 2: Multicultural/intercultural country, Indigenous communities of the Andes, communities of the Amazon region, women in Peru, psicological aspects of cultural immersion, globalization and the effects on Peru, Project of Decentralization of government, The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Problems in Public Health Care
Week 3: Conflicts between Communities and the Mining Industry, The Media in Peru, Civil Society, Problems in Public Education, History of the Church in Latin America, The 2007 Conference of Latin American Bishops.
Tomorrow we have a class on Liberation Theology and group discussion, and on Friday the closing: evaluation, potluck (each person to bring something from their country--I think I`ll make apple pie.
IMPRESSIONS
Some initial themes/impressions:
- Peru is a very centralized country, centralized in Lima. It seems like two countries, Lima and the rest of Peru (which they call here `the provinces`). The life here is also distinct: much more ethnically diverse, much broader range of economic classes, obviously a lot bigger with more traffic, etc, more racism, some very nice areas that could be any US city (including the neighborhood where I am staying), a ton of chinese food restaurants. In addition, I realize more the relative absence of the government outside of Lima in providing basic services -- many rural areas of Peru, and especially the jungle, are severely neglected.
- The War of the Pacific, between Peru and Chile in 1870´s, severely marked the national psyche. Peru lost valuable territory in the south and to this day has a chip on its shoulder against Chile, esp in Lima it seems (haven`t noticed this in Chimbote). Partly it`s because of current Chilean capital in Peru and experiences of racism that Peruvians experience when they travel there. Plus, Peru almost always loses to Chile in soccer.
- Peru has a rich pre-colonial history, of which the most recent, the Incas, were only one small part of. This history leaves a legacy of diversity which was augmented by Spanish colonization, importation of slaves, immigrations of Chinese (late 1800`s) and Japanese (early 1900`s) workers, and Italian/German immigrations. The geographical diversity of coastal desert, high Andes, and Amazon jungle adds to the variety. In general though, the diversity is seen as a problem instead of an asset and there seems to be a general lack of national identity and unity.
- The years of terrorist violence here were tough and brutal, and continue to leave a legacy of mistrust among people. Between 1980 and 2,000 about 70,000 people, mostly indigenous, were killed by either the Maoist Shining Path rebels or the armed forces.
- Like most things left to the responsibility of the federal government, public education is very poor here. Teachers are generally not well trained and lack basic resources such as textbooks. Corruption within the government is high in general, but is the highest in the education system. Education is generally dictation, copying, and memorization. Private schools, of which there are multitudes, are generally better but are out of the reach of many. There was a national forum on education in 2004 which produced a 15 year plan for overhauling the system, but after a grand ceremony and promises the current president (Alan Garcia, of which I`ve heard few positive things except that he is a good speaker) has forgotten all about it.
- The economy of Peru has seen a steady period of growth the past 7 years, fueled by exports of the mining industry, dominated by international/foreign companies. However, this growth has not changed the reality of life for the majority of the population and has not resulted in any substantial increase in badly needed investment in public infrastructure (as our own dirt streets of Chimbote illustrate). The government refuses to tax at a reasonable level the huge profits of foreign mining companies for fear of driving them away, while these companies increasingly conflict with local rural communities over land rights, with the state usually intervening on behalf of the business interest.
- Peru, as many countries, has seen a huge immigration of its population to urban areas in the last 40 years. The outskirts of Lima are settlements on dry, desert hills, with services arriving only years later.
- Politically, there is no viable political opposition to the party in power, APRA, which is the only national political party. Only in 2002 were state governors elected for the first time, and national congress members are not elected by a particular area, leaving constituents with no person directly speaking for their needs. Lacking meaningful channels for dissent, protests and conflicts (sometimes violent) break out at the rate of 60-70 per month nationally -- currently mining workers are making news by blocking the Pan American Highway in south Peru and taking policemen hostage.
- The Amazon jungle comprises 70% of Peruvian territory and holds 10% of its population. Access to the money economy and to state services is severely limited for the 50 distinct cultures of varying demographic size that inhabit this area.
- The current Peruvian Church as a whole is very conservative and very much in line with the interests of power and wealth, with the exception of a couple bishops who take isolated stands to work for the interests of their people. Still, the message of the most recent council of Latin American Bishops (Aparecida, Brazil, 2007) -- with the utmost support of Pope Benedict XVI -- strongly supports the renovation of the 1960`s, that the Church is called to be poor, missionary and paschal, implicit in its mission is identification with the marginalized of the world.
Personally, this wider view of Peruvian society has caused me to see my role here as larger than just helping my parish have a successful youth program. I hope to help and walk with our youth as they take concrete steps to change their society for the better. An additional benefit is all the practice in listening to and speaking Spanish here, both in the course (all given in Spanish) and with the sisters at the house.
OTHER ACTIVITIES IN LIMA
- With my friend Luzeliana who I met at our YM training course in February, I have taken a bus up Cerro San Cristòbal for a 360 degree view of Lima at night, made a brief stop at a discoteca, and visited the very beautiful, green, clean Park of the Waters, which is a series of lighted, creative fountains -- including one with a light show in the spray.
- Sister Pilar, the 37-year-old superior in Peru, had a hemorage in her stomach the first Wednesday I was here, passing out and vomiting blood. She was in the hospital a few days but is now at the house recovering well, but we made a couple visits in the afternoons and I donated blood. Each clinic or hospital has its own blood bank, and when you withdraw you have to find people to donate replacement blood. The technician, Naida, is studying English and asked me, while the bag was filling, if we could practice talking a bit. :)
- Sister Mirella and I went to see Prince Caspian in Spanish (my first movie theatre experience in Peru) and I had the chance to visit both the other houses that the Incarnate Word Sisters have here: Comas is on the edge of the city as the dry mountains begin, and the novitiate house is in San Juan Lurigancho. It has been a good opportunity to get to know many of them who are based in Lima better, including Elisa, Mirella, Gladys, Lourdes, Rosaleen, Pilar, Fabiola, Anita, with a bonus visit of Sister Lourdes from San Antonio.
- The first week also saw the visit of Carlos and Brandon from the IW headquarters in San Antonio, here to bring and install a video conference system in the house to allow international meetings without all the travel. They had a couple hangups, however, in that the firewall was confiscated for taxes at the airport and another key item (I don`t remember the name) burned up from the higher voltage. Both will eventually be available after taxes are paid, but Carlos and Brandon will have to make another trip south. An aside to this story is that on the way to the airport in a combi to meet the guys at the airport, Sister Elisa and I (we were going because Pilar had just entered the hospital) the police stopped the van and asked all inside for their identity documents. Neither Elisa (who is from Mexico) or I were carrying our ID`s, which she explained hopefully to the officer. I was a bit nervous for a moment, but he thankfully just reprimanded us but didn`t take any action.
- Jorge and Angelica, two Columban Lay Missionaries from Chile, invited me to their house out on the end of Lima for lunch this past Sunday. Jorge met me in town here and we made the 1.5 hour bus trip to spend an enjoyable afternoon with them and other young missionaries: Claudia and Teresa (Chilean Columban missionaries serving in a town near Cuzco, also in my course), John and Irma (Columban Missionaries from the Philipines with over 7 years here in Peru, and Miguel (German volunteer doing his obligatory national service for a year). The four Columban Missionaries lived together for one year in Chile in preparation and study, and just started a three year Peruvian commitment in January. Anyway, it was a good visit with dedicated, laughing people all around my age or a bit younger.
- Roberto, a friend from Chimbote, was in Lima the first weekend and we met a classmate of mine to visit the National Museum on Saturday. The museum was mostly closed with only a couple rooms open, so after a short visit Roberto and I ventured on three different buses to the ruins of Pachacamac, south of Lima, a temple site of various cultures 400-1500`s AD.
Well, if you`ve made it this far -- thank you! I will try to write sooner next time, so as to spread it out a little more. Next entry once again from Chimbote.
Friday, May 30, 2008
¿Dònde estàn mis pantalones jeans?
Greetings to all, and thanks for checking in. A few notes from the past week and a half...
MISSING CLOTHES
The first story relates to the title of this post. On Monday night, I left my window cracked when I went to sleep, as I am accustomed to do at times (though less often now with the weather turning cooler). When I woke up and began to put on clothes to go running, I noticed and wondered that the window was wide open. In the next moments, I realized in succession that my pants were and a couple of shirts that I`d worn yesterday were gone (I`d laid them on my desk near the window when I went to bed) and that, though I had only a few soles in the jeans, my house keys had been in the front pocket. At that point, I assumed that the burglar (whose tracks showed they`d climbed along our front wall from the roof of our neighbor`s house) had probably entered the house downstairs with the keys and taken whatever could be found -- my guitar, house money, TV/stereo, etc. Thankfully, though, this fear proved unfounded. To make a long story shorter, my friend Roberto helped bring a locksmith to the house later in the day, who removed the two door locks, changed the key system and made new keys, and re-installed the locks -- all for about $12. In the meantime I stayed at the house with the door manually bolted as a precaution, and we had our handyman Oscar bring a friend to do an estimate for putting in bars over the upstairs windows. Apparently the burglar either saw me sleeping there and decided not to enter further, or planned to grab from my desk whatever could be found (this also solves the mystery of several other missing clothing articles about four months ago, which I`d thought I`d lost but now realize were most definitely stolen as well -- only I didn`t notice the window open, since it was during the hot months). As I will be gone a few weeks during the next two months, we are moving quickly to install the window bars and to close in the open-roofed upstairs hallway as safety precautions. I still have enough clothes to wear, not to worry. :)
BIRTHDAY PARTY HOUSE
Lenin, a friend and member of our JUMIFRA youth council, celebrated his 27th birthday last Thursday and a couple girls from our group asked if we would offer our house as the party location. We agreed, and after our English class we enjoyed a small potluck of snacks and a gathering of 15-20 folks from the parish, all friends of ours. Roger and Elvis played guitar and sang some, those who wished to had the chance to honor Lenin with a few words, we drank Inca Cola, Anis tea, and sangrìa, and of course there was dancing to the radio of our small boombox. All in all, a very pleasant Peruvian evening, organized on a couple days` notice -- though it ended by 11:30 (with a little push). Lenin thought it best to have folks walk home before it was too late, esp. with the next day being a work day, and so we turned down the music and I announced that before everyone left, I wanted to get a group photo. It`s a cultural quirk that few people will leave early unless others do, almost a sign of weakness :) to admit one is tired. Another quirk is that people don`t serve themselves here -- a snack table buffet will basically go untouched unless you put the food on trays and serve it around. Apparently everyone had fun, because we were asked yesterday to host another birthday party tomorrow night, Saturday, for Juan -- also a friend and member of the Lima trip group.
MADELEINE`S FAMILY
At the specific request of the grandmother who came by my house, I made a return visit to Madeleine and her family, who I wrote about last time. They had asked for help for Madeleine with school English homework, so I brought a photocopy of Inglès Para Latinos that Michi had sent me. I stayed this time for an hour and a half (still they asked `Leaving already?`) and visited, though I couldn`t do much with the English worksheet, Madeleine needing a lot of background instruction to help her understand the concepts. Either she has missed days, really struggles, or the teacher did not explain/teach the concept well. The expected help from a local priest to fund their escape trip to south Peru fell through, and unsubtle hints were given as to how much money they would need to all five make the journey. I see their need, but also felt a bit manipulated and cornered. Also, I think the precedent of me being a money source is not a good one to establish. For now, I will visit periodically to help with English if they desire it.
CONFIRMATION CLASSES
I began a couple weeks ago to assist my friend Yuri with the two confirmation preparation classes, Tuesday and Saturday evenings for two hours each. He prepares the lessons (I think he gets a small stipend for coordinating the program), and I am enjoying getting to know the forty (total, both groups) teenagers, 13-17 years old. I`ve even shared a couple of my favorite youth ministry games -- maybe even more than US teenagers, they love to play group games (a few even wanted to extend the classtime on Tuesday to play another game at the end). The lesson on Tuesday I found intriguing. The topic was Moses/Exodus, and Yuri did a good job of relating this ancient story to the students` modern Peruvian experience by first having them reflect on their own reality. To his question of `How do the Peruvian people live?` they responded that Peruvians live in crisis, with a lack of justice, amidst violence, in poverty, show a lack of love/respect for others, and in increasing environmental pollution. He then drew the parrallel between the state of the Israelites in Egypt and many Peruvians today -- who is working to help liberate our people today? Do you think Moses was afraid? Asked about their dreams for the future, some were similar to dreams of US teens: family, house, etc -- but they also expressed dreams of the reality of life here changing, and agreed that if everyone did their part change was indeed possible. I was struck by their desires to make things better and by their sober evaluation of their own society (I`ve received blank stares upon asking Corvallis youth to reflect on their society in a similar way) and by the fact that nonetheless their youthful hope remains. I felt within a renewed desire to help them as I could to realize changes here -- maybe this could be a focus of my work here in the next 15 months (May 25 was 8 months in Chimbote).
On a different Confirmation-related topic, I have a goal of helping these Confirmation youth make connections with youth at St. Mary`s in Corvallis through exchange of letters, photos, stories, etc. I will also pursue this connection with the first communion children/youth here and coorsponding catechism kids back in Oregon, hopefully helping all involved to learn and grow through the cultural sharing.
ENGLISH CLASSES
Due to my upcoming absences (June 1-20, July 2-15) from Chimbote, we have put off beginning a new english class term. Still, we held our end-of-term field trip this past Sunday, taking the 1-hour bus trip to a garden/recreation area called Candamo near the small town of San Jacinto. Nine of us enjoyed the chance to visit a new place, play soccer on actual grass, and just relax.
One final note -- for a couple weeks now we have been enjoying running water in the house, the pump`s problems at least temporarily solved. Showers are warm enough to make it manageable as well.
That`s it for now. I wish you a great week!
MISSING CLOTHES
The first story relates to the title of this post. On Monday night, I left my window cracked when I went to sleep, as I am accustomed to do at times (though less often now with the weather turning cooler). When I woke up and began to put on clothes to go running, I noticed and wondered that the window was wide open. In the next moments, I realized in succession that my pants were and a couple of shirts that I`d worn yesterday were gone (I`d laid them on my desk near the window when I went to bed) and that, though I had only a few soles in the jeans, my house keys had been in the front pocket. At that point, I assumed that the burglar (whose tracks showed they`d climbed along our front wall from the roof of our neighbor`s house) had probably entered the house downstairs with the keys and taken whatever could be found -- my guitar, house money, TV/stereo, etc. Thankfully, though, this fear proved unfounded. To make a long story shorter, my friend Roberto helped bring a locksmith to the house later in the day, who removed the two door locks, changed the key system and made new keys, and re-installed the locks -- all for about $12. In the meantime I stayed at the house with the door manually bolted as a precaution, and we had our handyman Oscar bring a friend to do an estimate for putting in bars over the upstairs windows. Apparently the burglar either saw me sleeping there and decided not to enter further, or planned to grab from my desk whatever could be found (this also solves the mystery of several other missing clothing articles about four months ago, which I`d thought I`d lost but now realize were most definitely stolen as well -- only I didn`t notice the window open, since it was during the hot months). As I will be gone a few weeks during the next two months, we are moving quickly to install the window bars and to close in the open-roofed upstairs hallway as safety precautions. I still have enough clothes to wear, not to worry. :)
BIRTHDAY PARTY HOUSE
Lenin, a friend and member of our JUMIFRA youth council, celebrated his 27th birthday last Thursday and a couple girls from our group asked if we would offer our house as the party location. We agreed, and after our English class we enjoyed a small potluck of snacks and a gathering of 15-20 folks from the parish, all friends of ours. Roger and Elvis played guitar and sang some, those who wished to had the chance to honor Lenin with a few words, we drank Inca Cola, Anis tea, and sangrìa, and of course there was dancing to the radio of our small boombox. All in all, a very pleasant Peruvian evening, organized on a couple days` notice -- though it ended by 11:30 (with a little push). Lenin thought it best to have folks walk home before it was too late, esp. with the next day being a work day, and so we turned down the music and I announced that before everyone left, I wanted to get a group photo. It`s a cultural quirk that few people will leave early unless others do, almost a sign of weakness :) to admit one is tired. Another quirk is that people don`t serve themselves here -- a snack table buffet will basically go untouched unless you put the food on trays and serve it around. Apparently everyone had fun, because we were asked yesterday to host another birthday party tomorrow night, Saturday, for Juan -- also a friend and member of the Lima trip group.
MADELEINE`S FAMILY
At the specific request of the grandmother who came by my house, I made a return visit to Madeleine and her family, who I wrote about last time. They had asked for help for Madeleine with school English homework, so I brought a photocopy of Inglès Para Latinos that Michi had sent me. I stayed this time for an hour and a half (still they asked `Leaving already?`) and visited, though I couldn`t do much with the English worksheet, Madeleine needing a lot of background instruction to help her understand the concepts. Either she has missed days, really struggles, or the teacher did not explain/teach the concept well. The expected help from a local priest to fund their escape trip to south Peru fell through, and unsubtle hints were given as to how much money they would need to all five make the journey. I see their need, but also felt a bit manipulated and cornered. Also, I think the precedent of me being a money source is not a good one to establish. For now, I will visit periodically to help with English if they desire it.
CONFIRMATION CLASSES
I began a couple weeks ago to assist my friend Yuri with the two confirmation preparation classes, Tuesday and Saturday evenings for two hours each. He prepares the lessons (I think he gets a small stipend for coordinating the program), and I am enjoying getting to know the forty (total, both groups) teenagers, 13-17 years old. I`ve even shared a couple of my favorite youth ministry games -- maybe even more than US teenagers, they love to play group games (a few even wanted to extend the classtime on Tuesday to play another game at the end). The lesson on Tuesday I found intriguing. The topic was Moses/Exodus, and Yuri did a good job of relating this ancient story to the students` modern Peruvian experience by first having them reflect on their own reality. To his question of `How do the Peruvian people live?` they responded that Peruvians live in crisis, with a lack of justice, amidst violence, in poverty, show a lack of love/respect for others, and in increasing environmental pollution. He then drew the parrallel between the state of the Israelites in Egypt and many Peruvians today -- who is working to help liberate our people today? Do you think Moses was afraid? Asked about their dreams for the future, some were similar to dreams of US teens: family, house, etc -- but they also expressed dreams of the reality of life here changing, and agreed that if everyone did their part change was indeed possible. I was struck by their desires to make things better and by their sober evaluation of their own society (I`ve received blank stares upon asking Corvallis youth to reflect on their society in a similar way) and by the fact that nonetheless their youthful hope remains. I felt within a renewed desire to help them as I could to realize changes here -- maybe this could be a focus of my work here in the next 15 months (May 25 was 8 months in Chimbote).
On a different Confirmation-related topic, I have a goal of helping these Confirmation youth make connections with youth at St. Mary`s in Corvallis through exchange of letters, photos, stories, etc. I will also pursue this connection with the first communion children/youth here and coorsponding catechism kids back in Oregon, hopefully helping all involved to learn and grow through the cultural sharing.
ENGLISH CLASSES
Due to my upcoming absences (June 1-20, July 2-15) from Chimbote, we have put off beginning a new english class term. Still, we held our end-of-term field trip this past Sunday, taking the 1-hour bus trip to a garden/recreation area called Candamo near the small town of San Jacinto. Nine of us enjoyed the chance to visit a new place, play soccer on actual grass, and just relax.
One final note -- for a couple weeks now we have been enjoying running water in the house, the pump`s problems at least temporarily solved. Showers are warm enough to make it manageable as well.
That`s it for now. I wish you a great week!
Monday, May 19, 2008
Mothers Day and Basketball
Greetings! Some notes on recent events here in Chimbote:
MOTHERS DAY
Photos of our parish event honoring mothers, organized and put on by the youth and young adults of the parish, are ready to view by clicking the photo link at right. The event was a great success: our youth council planned, coordinated and decorated well; children`s catechesis groups, Confirmation youth, and both choirs contributed musical/dance/singing/skits/recited poems, we raffled off a few food baskets, and the moms seemed to have a good time. Nicole, Emily and I chuckled at a couple of the dance acts, knowing they would have caused at least a little scandal in our US parishes. I especially enjoyed the folkloric music by some members of my choir and also by a joint group of parish choir members, and I was proud of the organization by our JUMIFRA members. I helped out, but was by no means in charge. Honoring moms is a big deal here, as most schools held similar type events on Friday or Saturday before Mothers Day.
MADELEINE`S FAMILY
In a story also related to Mothers Day but of a different tone, I had the chance to meet and spend time with Madeleine, a 12-year-old girl, and her family in the days leading up to May 11. On the Saturday previous, she and her grandmother knocked on my door in the evening and asked if I could help her translate a song into Spanish (Hotel California) so she could sing it at her parish`s (San Felipe) Mothers` Day event. Her grandmother also explained to me how they had no food to make anything to eat all day, and she was suffering with obvious neck and shoulder pain. I said I would help, we agreed that I`d stop by their house on Monday, and I sent with them some pasta, dried beans, a little frozen chicken, and a few ibruprofen tablets. On Monday I found their house after wandering a bit, the first impression being how dark it was inside -- only a small window near the door. After my eyes adjusted, they pulled up a stool for me to sit in the small front room with a very cute 4-year-old girl and her nine year old brother, who was busy drawing cartoon figures. His grandmother wasted no time in pulling out a number of his previous drawings to show off for me, and they were pretty good. He was currently in the process of drawing two soccer players in action from a newspaper photo, but substituting cartoon figure heads for their human ones. This front room and a bedroom next to it had concrete floors, but the kitchen behind (and the one or two additional rooms) had hard-packed dirt floor, with a door opening out the back to a small yard where they banished the dog when I came in. Madeleine and her mom, Rosa, brought me a couple cassettes of English rock ballads, one with Hotel California, and I proceded to transcribe first the English lyrics and then translate them into Spanish, with Rosa and Madeleine looking on. They brought me coffee and bread afterward, and I offered to re-work the lyrics to bit the music better and return in a couple days. I had to quite firm to leave without accepting another mug of coffee, as my English class would be beginning soon. During my visit a hush fell on the house during the few minutes that Rosa`s uncle came and left -- he obviously inspires fear and both the mom and grandma mentioned how they couldn`t wait to move out of Chimbote, back to their home area near Pisco in south Peru.
Translating a song is a bit complicated, having to sacrifice exact meaning for rhyme and flow, but I enjoyed the experience and returned to Madeleine`s house a couple days later in the late morning. She was dressed in her school uniform, but soon after arriving I was informed by her mom that she wouldn`t be going to school that day since she was afraid they`d charge them for copies (which they apparently do on occasion) and there wasn`t the couple soles to pay. The little girl with the big brown eyes continued to be fascinated by me, and kept telling me things very adamantly that I could only partly understand. They offered (made me take) some of the fried dough they were having for lunch, and apologized a few times for not being able to offer me a regular meal. I ate as many as I could, then put a few in the bag I was carrying. Though I had been planning to just deliver the song, I soon found myself offered (directed) to sit down, and Rosa began showing me and the family her photo album of happier days, gradually breaking into the story of how she had moved here when she was 11, was mistreated by and hated her father, and had her husband abuse her and steal her young son, who would be about 7 by now. I was at this point feeling a mixture of discomfort at hearing the story of her troubles, a little cramped in the stomach, and just plain tired from the barrage of Spanish that was the story that Rosa obviously badly wanted to tell me. After over an hour and a half, I managed to break in to say that I needed to be going, and the grandma returned in time to send me home with bagged milk and bread that they gave out at the school as part of a government food program. They obviously needed the food more than me, but I was powerless to resist taking it (or a few more fried dough pieces, which she kindly put in a plastic bag for me to take). As they walked with me back to my house, Rosa and Madeleine described how they planned to leave town for the south in the middle of the night the following week, but also that I should come back to visit them if they were still around.
The entire experience left me glad to be out of the situation, humbled by their generosity, and saddened by the story and situation of life. I have not been back yet to visit, but am slowly working up to it.
BASKETBALL
The past couple of weeks I have had the chance to play and coach a lot of basketball, which I have enjoyed. Our Saturday morning sessions with children (mostly a few boys, but one 8-year-old girl named Elizabeth also is consistent and we practice until she gets tired and then just hang out). On Friday afternoons I help my friend Elmer and his friend Jaime coach a group of 13-15 year olds as they hope to form a team that can play other local private school teams. In fact, we had our first scrimmage this past Saturday. I and Elmer need to work out some differences in coaching strategy/philosophy (for example, I think that all who have practiced should get a good chance to play, whereas he wants the best five to play most of the time). I have mostly given in, but we are meeting to discuss things this week and I hope we can work out a compromise. Being around basketball and playing a bit here and there has been a good, fun release. Except for my inability to loudly yell instructions during a game, I think I have a lot to offer in terms of teaching fundamentals and strategy. Communicating to the team in Spanish continues to be a bit of a challenge, though it is pushing me to learn new terms and phrases that just don`t appear in dictionaries.
CEVICHE AND SPORTS
Partly as a celebration of the Mothers Day event`s success, our youth council and the parish put on a morning of sports and ceviche at the parish for our young people. I helped by accompanying a small group to buy fresh fish at the pier at 6:30 am Sunday morning and helping to chop/prepare the favorite local dish of raw fish, lime juice, garlic and ajì (chili). On the side come sweet potato, fried corn kernels, seaweed and onion. A couple of girls from the council directed the operation, and our sub-coordinator organized a number of group games. After ceviche, the guys had a few intense soccer games in the small parish courtyard before we returned home at about 2 pm.
NEXT YEAR
A little news about what next year will bring, as Meg, our assistant director, let us know last week that there will be three new Incarnate Word Missionaries (all women) here in Chimbote next year to replace Nicole and Emily, who will be leaving in early September. Their names are Courtney, Julie, and Jane -- Courtney and Julie have nursing/medical training and will likely be assisting at the clinic or the hospice, while Jane will be a ´free-lancer` like me, seeking to assist in the parish or in other local ministries. I am happy to know that I will again have company to share the experience with, and it also means I will be staying in the same house for the next year as well.
MOTHERS DAY
Photos of our parish event honoring mothers, organized and put on by the youth and young adults of the parish, are ready to view by clicking the photo link at right. The event was a great success: our youth council planned, coordinated and decorated well; children`s catechesis groups, Confirmation youth, and both choirs contributed musical/dance/singing/skits/recited poems, we raffled off a few food baskets, and the moms seemed to have a good time. Nicole, Emily and I chuckled at a couple of the dance acts, knowing they would have caused at least a little scandal in our US parishes. I especially enjoyed the folkloric music by some members of my choir and also by a joint group of parish choir members, and I was proud of the organization by our JUMIFRA members. I helped out, but was by no means in charge. Honoring moms is a big deal here, as most schools held similar type events on Friday or Saturday before Mothers Day.
MADELEINE`S FAMILY
In a story also related to Mothers Day but of a different tone, I had the chance to meet and spend time with Madeleine, a 12-year-old girl, and her family in the days leading up to May 11. On the Saturday previous, she and her grandmother knocked on my door in the evening and asked if I could help her translate a song into Spanish (Hotel California) so she could sing it at her parish`s (San Felipe) Mothers` Day event. Her grandmother also explained to me how they had no food to make anything to eat all day, and she was suffering with obvious neck and shoulder pain. I said I would help, we agreed that I`d stop by their house on Monday, and I sent with them some pasta, dried beans, a little frozen chicken, and a few ibruprofen tablets. On Monday I found their house after wandering a bit, the first impression being how dark it was inside -- only a small window near the door. After my eyes adjusted, they pulled up a stool for me to sit in the small front room with a very cute 4-year-old girl and her nine year old brother, who was busy drawing cartoon figures. His grandmother wasted no time in pulling out a number of his previous drawings to show off for me, and they were pretty good. He was currently in the process of drawing two soccer players in action from a newspaper photo, but substituting cartoon figure heads for their human ones. This front room and a bedroom next to it had concrete floors, but the kitchen behind (and the one or two additional rooms) had hard-packed dirt floor, with a door opening out the back to a small yard where they banished the dog when I came in. Madeleine and her mom, Rosa, brought me a couple cassettes of English rock ballads, one with Hotel California, and I proceded to transcribe first the English lyrics and then translate them into Spanish, with Rosa and Madeleine looking on. They brought me coffee and bread afterward, and I offered to re-work the lyrics to bit the music better and return in a couple days. I had to quite firm to leave without accepting another mug of coffee, as my English class would be beginning soon. During my visit a hush fell on the house during the few minutes that Rosa`s uncle came and left -- he obviously inspires fear and both the mom and grandma mentioned how they couldn`t wait to move out of Chimbote, back to their home area near Pisco in south Peru.
Translating a song is a bit complicated, having to sacrifice exact meaning for rhyme and flow, but I enjoyed the experience and returned to Madeleine`s house a couple days later in the late morning. She was dressed in her school uniform, but soon after arriving I was informed by her mom that she wouldn`t be going to school that day since she was afraid they`d charge them for copies (which they apparently do on occasion) and there wasn`t the couple soles to pay. The little girl with the big brown eyes continued to be fascinated by me, and kept telling me things very adamantly that I could only partly understand. They offered (made me take) some of the fried dough they were having for lunch, and apologized a few times for not being able to offer me a regular meal. I ate as many as I could, then put a few in the bag I was carrying. Though I had been planning to just deliver the song, I soon found myself offered (directed) to sit down, and Rosa began showing me and the family her photo album of happier days, gradually breaking into the story of how she had moved here when she was 11, was mistreated by and hated her father, and had her husband abuse her and steal her young son, who would be about 7 by now. I was at this point feeling a mixture of discomfort at hearing the story of her troubles, a little cramped in the stomach, and just plain tired from the barrage of Spanish that was the story that Rosa obviously badly wanted to tell me. After over an hour and a half, I managed to break in to say that I needed to be going, and the grandma returned in time to send me home with bagged milk and bread that they gave out at the school as part of a government food program. They obviously needed the food more than me, but I was powerless to resist taking it (or a few more fried dough pieces, which she kindly put in a plastic bag for me to take). As they walked with me back to my house, Rosa and Madeleine described how they planned to leave town for the south in the middle of the night the following week, but also that I should come back to visit them if they were still around.
The entire experience left me glad to be out of the situation, humbled by their generosity, and saddened by the story and situation of life. I have not been back yet to visit, but am slowly working up to it.
BASKETBALL
The past couple of weeks I have had the chance to play and coach a lot of basketball, which I have enjoyed. Our Saturday morning sessions with children (mostly a few boys, but one 8-year-old girl named Elizabeth also is consistent and we practice until she gets tired and then just hang out). On Friday afternoons I help my friend Elmer and his friend Jaime coach a group of 13-15 year olds as they hope to form a team that can play other local private school teams. In fact, we had our first scrimmage this past Saturday. I and Elmer need to work out some differences in coaching strategy/philosophy (for example, I think that all who have practiced should get a good chance to play, whereas he wants the best five to play most of the time). I have mostly given in, but we are meeting to discuss things this week and I hope we can work out a compromise. Being around basketball and playing a bit here and there has been a good, fun release. Except for my inability to loudly yell instructions during a game, I think I have a lot to offer in terms of teaching fundamentals and strategy. Communicating to the team in Spanish continues to be a bit of a challenge, though it is pushing me to learn new terms and phrases that just don`t appear in dictionaries.
CEVICHE AND SPORTS
Partly as a celebration of the Mothers Day event`s success, our youth council and the parish put on a morning of sports and ceviche at the parish for our young people. I helped by accompanying a small group to buy fresh fish at the pier at 6:30 am Sunday morning and helping to chop/prepare the favorite local dish of raw fish, lime juice, garlic and ajì (chili). On the side come sweet potato, fried corn kernels, seaweed and onion. A couple of girls from the council directed the operation, and our sub-coordinator organized a number of group games. After ceviche, the guys had a few intense soccer games in the small parish courtyard before we returned home at about 2 pm.
NEXT YEAR
A little news about what next year will bring, as Meg, our assistant director, let us know last week that there will be three new Incarnate Word Missionaries (all women) here in Chimbote next year to replace Nicole and Emily, who will be leaving in early September. Their names are Courtney, Julie, and Jane -- Courtney and Julie have nursing/medical training and will likely be assisting at the clinic or the hospice, while Jane will be a ´free-lancer` like me, seeking to assist in the parish or in other local ministries. I am happy to know that I will again have company to share the experience with, and it also means I will be staying in the same house for the next year as well.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Fiesta de Pariacoto, etc...
Greetings from Chimbote, where again the air smells of fish. Most of my photos from the fiesta in Pariacoto are now posted and accessible through the link at right.
THIS WEEKEND
Here our youth leadership group (JUMIFRA -- Jòvenes Misioneros Franciscanos), mostly consisting of folks that went to the February training in Lima, has a couple of big events planned for this weekend. First, a show honoring mothers of the parish on Saturday evening, 8-10 pm. The various youth groups within parish (catechism, confirmation, altar servers, choirs) are each preparing a couple numbers -- songs and dances mostly -- to present within the show for the mothers. Our group is coordinating the organization, food baskets as prizes, decoration and clean-up, etc. I may be a part of one of the numbers that our choir is doing. I am pround of the leadership various folks within JUMIFRA have taken in organizing this. We recently too have elected coordinators and secretary for the group, and we continue meeting each Sunday morning at 10:00 am. We still need a little work on meeting organization, but little by little. Anyway, the second event is a Pentecost Vigil. Since Pentecost and Mothers Day fall on the same day this year, the vigil is planned for immediately following the mothers day event -- songs, reflections, a bonfire, and finally Mass, all of which will end sometime around 1 a.m. I believe. I also have scheduled sessions with a couple different groups of basketball players -- younger boys and girls, 8-13, on Saturday morning and a group of 13-15 year old guys on Friday and Saturday afternoon. This second group has been playing together casually with a little guidance from a college student here (Jaime), and he and Elmer (my partner in this basketball project) have hopes of forming a formal team and entering a tournament in a couple months -- apparently having a gringo as one of the coaches is a big draw :). `They would be so excited to play in an indoor gym,´ Jaime told me. Last Saturday we worked on playing zone defense and how to run a fast break. One thing I`m learning is that there is a lot of basketball vocabulary that I don`t know, but it is enjoyable to combine youth work and basketball.
PARIACOTO
Brother Tino from the parish here enthusiastically encouraged Emily, Nicole and I to make the two-hour trip last Thursday, 5/1, to Pariacoto, pop. 2500, for their yearly Patronal Feast -- patron of the parish (and therefore the town) is Señor de Mayo, basically Jesus. Each town and city has a patron saint, and the feast day is an opportunity for a town-wide fiesta. Chimbote`s patron, by the way, is the fisherman St. Peter, feast day the 29th of June. In my reading about pre-conquest Peru, I`ve found many references to days-long feasts even in that time, so it is quite possible that these saint feasts were meant to coop the earlier religious feasts and imbue them with Christian significance. Whatever the case, we enjoyed the experience -- the girls had to leave Thursday evening for work Friday, but I stayed overnight at the parish in large room with many bunks, the same place I`d stayed for the November Confirmation retreat. A youth dance group from the nearby town of Yautan was also staying at the parish, and so it was somewhat like a high school boys slumber party :). I did, in fact, enjoy the chance to meet and talk with many of the guys that were there.
We arrived at about 8:00 am Thursday, after negotiating the early morning transit with only a couple moments of confusion -- very few taxis (or anything) on the streets at 5:45 am, and a helpful lady led us to the first of two shared cars that we needed to take. After breakfast at the parish with the high school kids of the dance group, we waited for the 9:00 am start until about 9:45. First, the band was introduced and marched with dancers to the parish. From there began the collection of offerings -- which would also happen Friday morning -- for the city-wide feast to be held on Friday evening. Thursday was the day for collecting cuyes (guinea pigs), rabbits, yucca, oil, sheep, etc. The procession made its criss-crossing, joyously inefficient way through the dirt streets -- the town has just one paved road -- until nearly 2 pm. At each house (pre-registered to donate), the entire entourage of band, dancers, and spectators like us would stop, and the pastor Padre Raùl would dance with the woman of the house in acceptance of their offering, the girl dancers often dancing with male members or they just would dance with each other. Many an individual cuy or rabbit must have been sick to its stomach after being swung around by the ears, neck, back, etc in joyous dance. And litters, looking like portable tents, of multiple-rodent offerings were also girated to the music in joining the procession. After 2 (or 5) songs, the owners of the donated goods would join the journey to the next house, where the ritual would be repeated. Nicole, Emily and I began by watching from the sides but were soon pulled into a chain of the dancers, holding hands and weaving in, out, behind, in front, and through the procession to the very danceable music. It was truly a lot of fun. By the end, Nicole and Emily had taken turns leading the donated sheep and we each had a contingent of younger children vying to hold our hands as we marched along to the beat. Needless to say, we were tired by the end, but well worth it.
After a 3:00 pm lunch at the parish with Padre Raùl and some of his visiting family (he hails from Iquitos in the Peruvian Amazon), we were taken on a short hike while the kids of the village enjoyed their own show/party, which included a mountain of cake. Brother Martìn walked with us to the site where the two Franciscan priests were murdered by terrorists in 1991 (as well as a walk through of the town cemetery), and along the way we enjoyed the tranquility of the irrigated valley, apple trees and other crops thriving below us. With the rainy season only just ended, the hills that were quite brown in November now are touched with a bit of green. The clean, odor-free air was also a treat. Soon after returning to the parish, the girls caught a car home -- Thursday was a national holiday (Feast of St. Joseph the Worker/ National Workers`Day) so they had the day off, but not Friday. Everyone in Pariacoto did, apprently, have the entire weekend free from work.
In the evening, I attend the mass -- which officially opened the celebration, and next had a light dinner in the `kitchen`, an open walled area where they were preparing the food for the celebration. By this time the cuyes were skinned and cooking -- or waiting to be cooked -- and the skinless sheep carcasses were hanging nearby waiting their turn. Next, a dance in the street out in front of the church, first with the (undoubtedly weary) band that had played so much earlier. The second band arrived late from Huaràz at about 11:30 pm, and were set up with their mikes and sound system a little before one to begin their set of dance/cumbia/pop/salsa music. Getting a late start didn`t phase them, however -- they still got their four hours of playing in, finishing up (I heard -- I crashed at about 1:00 am) sometime after 5 am. Sleeping was a bit interrupted by something that must have resembled a pillow fight, people running around, chaperone yelling, etc. Enjoying not being responsible for their group, I put in earplugs and did my best. The dance itself was also quite enjoyable until I got almost too tired to enjoy it. I danced with some of the high school group I`d gotten to know during the day, and also a few folks from the parish there -- one of which happened to be the sister of Oscar, our periodic handyman here in Chimbote. Many times the beer was passed around, and I seemed to be the only one refusing most of the time. Drinking here is done from a common cup -- bottle is passed, followed by the glass. You fill the glass with the amount you want, and pass the bottle to the next person. After drinking from the glass, you dump the dregs on the ground and pass the glass to the person with the glass, and so on.
Despite being a bit groggy on Friday, I joined the procession for the second round of collections. Friday seemed to be the day for donating beers and bulls -- three bulls, to be exact, were donated, as well as what I heard was 150 cases (12 20 oz bottles) of beer. And at each house, Padre Raùl danced and they opened one of the bottles to share with him. He either has a high tolerance or is good about sneakily pouring out his share on the ground, or maybe both. In my view the celebration is marred somewhat by the excessive alcohol consumption, with several quite drunk guys making fools of themselves by mid-day. As Emily commented, the people work hard and also party hard (not everyone obviously, but many). For this reason (and because of my fatigue), I was not too sorry to catch a couple cars back to Chimbote at 2:30 Friday afternoon. I do think I will may return next year, though, if it works out.
Well, I wish you all a great weekend. More stories for next time!
THIS WEEKEND
Here our youth leadership group (JUMIFRA -- Jòvenes Misioneros Franciscanos), mostly consisting of folks that went to the February training in Lima, has a couple of big events planned for this weekend. First, a show honoring mothers of the parish on Saturday evening, 8-10 pm. The various youth groups within parish (catechism, confirmation, altar servers, choirs) are each preparing a couple numbers -- songs and dances mostly -- to present within the show for the mothers. Our group is coordinating the organization, food baskets as prizes, decoration and clean-up, etc. I may be a part of one of the numbers that our choir is doing. I am pround of the leadership various folks within JUMIFRA have taken in organizing this. We recently too have elected coordinators and secretary for the group, and we continue meeting each Sunday morning at 10:00 am. We still need a little work on meeting organization, but little by little. Anyway, the second event is a Pentecost Vigil. Since Pentecost and Mothers Day fall on the same day this year, the vigil is planned for immediately following the mothers day event -- songs, reflections, a bonfire, and finally Mass, all of which will end sometime around 1 a.m. I believe. I also have scheduled sessions with a couple different groups of basketball players -- younger boys and girls, 8-13, on Saturday morning and a group of 13-15 year old guys on Friday and Saturday afternoon. This second group has been playing together casually with a little guidance from a college student here (Jaime), and he and Elmer (my partner in this basketball project) have hopes of forming a formal team and entering a tournament in a couple months -- apparently having a gringo as one of the coaches is a big draw :). `They would be so excited to play in an indoor gym,´ Jaime told me. Last Saturday we worked on playing zone defense and how to run a fast break. One thing I`m learning is that there is a lot of basketball vocabulary that I don`t know, but it is enjoyable to combine youth work and basketball.
PARIACOTO
Brother Tino from the parish here enthusiastically encouraged Emily, Nicole and I to make the two-hour trip last Thursday, 5/1, to Pariacoto, pop. 2500, for their yearly Patronal Feast -- patron of the parish (and therefore the town) is Señor de Mayo, basically Jesus. Each town and city has a patron saint, and the feast day is an opportunity for a town-wide fiesta. Chimbote`s patron, by the way, is the fisherman St. Peter, feast day the 29th of June. In my reading about pre-conquest Peru, I`ve found many references to days-long feasts even in that time, so it is quite possible that these saint feasts were meant to coop the earlier religious feasts and imbue them with Christian significance. Whatever the case, we enjoyed the experience -- the girls had to leave Thursday evening for work Friday, but I stayed overnight at the parish in large room with many bunks, the same place I`d stayed for the November Confirmation retreat. A youth dance group from the nearby town of Yautan was also staying at the parish, and so it was somewhat like a high school boys slumber party :). I did, in fact, enjoy the chance to meet and talk with many of the guys that were there.
We arrived at about 8:00 am Thursday, after negotiating the early morning transit with only a couple moments of confusion -- very few taxis (or anything) on the streets at 5:45 am, and a helpful lady led us to the first of two shared cars that we needed to take. After breakfast at the parish with the high school kids of the dance group, we waited for the 9:00 am start until about 9:45. First, the band was introduced and marched with dancers to the parish. From there began the collection of offerings -- which would also happen Friday morning -- for the city-wide feast to be held on Friday evening. Thursday was the day for collecting cuyes (guinea pigs), rabbits, yucca, oil, sheep, etc. The procession made its criss-crossing, joyously inefficient way through the dirt streets -- the town has just one paved road -- until nearly 2 pm. At each house (pre-registered to donate), the entire entourage of band, dancers, and spectators like us would stop, and the pastor Padre Raùl would dance with the woman of the house in acceptance of their offering, the girl dancers often dancing with male members or they just would dance with each other. Many an individual cuy or rabbit must have been sick to its stomach after being swung around by the ears, neck, back, etc in joyous dance. And litters, looking like portable tents, of multiple-rodent offerings were also girated to the music in joining the procession. After 2 (or 5) songs, the owners of the donated goods would join the journey to the next house, where the ritual would be repeated. Nicole, Emily and I began by watching from the sides but were soon pulled into a chain of the dancers, holding hands and weaving in, out, behind, in front, and through the procession to the very danceable music. It was truly a lot of fun. By the end, Nicole and Emily had taken turns leading the donated sheep and we each had a contingent of younger children vying to hold our hands as we marched along to the beat. Needless to say, we were tired by the end, but well worth it.
After a 3:00 pm lunch at the parish with Padre Raùl and some of his visiting family (he hails from Iquitos in the Peruvian Amazon), we were taken on a short hike while the kids of the village enjoyed their own show/party, which included a mountain of cake. Brother Martìn walked with us to the site where the two Franciscan priests were murdered by terrorists in 1991 (as well as a walk through of the town cemetery), and along the way we enjoyed the tranquility of the irrigated valley, apple trees and other crops thriving below us. With the rainy season only just ended, the hills that were quite brown in November now are touched with a bit of green. The clean, odor-free air was also a treat. Soon after returning to the parish, the girls caught a car home -- Thursday was a national holiday (Feast of St. Joseph the Worker/ National Workers`Day) so they had the day off, but not Friday. Everyone in Pariacoto did, apprently, have the entire weekend free from work.
In the evening, I attend the mass -- which officially opened the celebration, and next had a light dinner in the `kitchen`, an open walled area where they were preparing the food for the celebration. By this time the cuyes were skinned and cooking -- or waiting to be cooked -- and the skinless sheep carcasses were hanging nearby waiting their turn. Next, a dance in the street out in front of the church, first with the (undoubtedly weary) band that had played so much earlier. The second band arrived late from Huaràz at about 11:30 pm, and were set up with their mikes and sound system a little before one to begin their set of dance/cumbia/pop/salsa music. Getting a late start didn`t phase them, however -- they still got their four hours of playing in, finishing up (I heard -- I crashed at about 1:00 am) sometime after 5 am. Sleeping was a bit interrupted by something that must have resembled a pillow fight, people running around, chaperone yelling, etc. Enjoying not being responsible for their group, I put in earplugs and did my best. The dance itself was also quite enjoyable until I got almost too tired to enjoy it. I danced with some of the high school group I`d gotten to know during the day, and also a few folks from the parish there -- one of which happened to be the sister of Oscar, our periodic handyman here in Chimbote. Many times the beer was passed around, and I seemed to be the only one refusing most of the time. Drinking here is done from a common cup -- bottle is passed, followed by the glass. You fill the glass with the amount you want, and pass the bottle to the next person. After drinking from the glass, you dump the dregs on the ground and pass the glass to the person with the glass, and so on.
Despite being a bit groggy on Friday, I joined the procession for the second round of collections. Friday seemed to be the day for donating beers and bulls -- three bulls, to be exact, were donated, as well as what I heard was 150 cases (12 20 oz bottles) of beer. And at each house, Padre Raùl danced and they opened one of the bottles to share with him. He either has a high tolerance or is good about sneakily pouring out his share on the ground, or maybe both. In my view the celebration is marred somewhat by the excessive alcohol consumption, with several quite drunk guys making fools of themselves by mid-day. As Emily commented, the people work hard and also party hard (not everyone obviously, but many). For this reason (and because of my fatigue), I was not too sorry to catch a couple cars back to Chimbote at 2:30 Friday afternoon. I do think I will may return next year, though, if it works out.
Well, I wish you all a great weekend. More stories for next time!
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