Arriving back in Chimbote on the 28th of April, I found it good to be home, and the month back has been a busy and exciting one, even as I am in some sense preparing mentally and practically for the moment when I will leave. Some highlights…
MOTHERS DAY
Celebration of Mothers´ Day, which falls on the same date as in the US, is even bigger – or at least a more public – celebration here. Most schools put on shows, in which youth act/dance/sing in honor of their moms. The parish is no exception: JUMIFRA was in the midst of organizing the parish Mothers´ Day celebration when I returned, each parish group being asked to perform one or two artistic numbers on Saturday, May 9. Members of JUMIFRA took charge of organizing the food that would be served, buying and putting up decorations, and hosting in general. Quite a success apart from the fact that we actually had too many numbers and a couple groups didn´t get to perform their second acts. A sampling: a song by one of the youth choirs, a couple songs by a an older gentleman who is a member of the adult choir, a solo by Father Raúl, a couple songs sung by a pair of sisters from last year´s Confirmation, Confirmation group 2008 did a choreographed dance, the new parish theater group (of which I am a part) did a short play, the Franciscan postulants also did a short skit, a boy and girl 8-9 years old danced marinera (a popular dance of northern Peru), two youth from one choir performed a song with guitar, and a rock band of parish young adults played a few songs to close the evening (see cell phone video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyVOOvwPK8E ). Afterward, we gathered with a dozen friends to celebrate Alex´s (friend and JUMIFRA coordinator) birthday on our back patio.
THEATER GROUP
As mentioned above, a new theater/acting group has formed in the parish, the project of Juan and César from JUMIFRA and directed by Sister Katty, a 26-year-old Incarnate Word Sister who has background and interest in acting. All ages are welcome, and we have participants from 10 to 50-something in the group. During our weekly meetings on Sunday mornings from 10:00-12:00 in the morning, we do excercises in corporal expression and vocalization in addition to rehearsal for upcoming presentations, such as the Mothers Day play and a music-based mime that we will present at this Saturday´s all-night Pentecost Vigil in the parish (also a project of JUMIFRA along with the charismatic renewal group of the parish). I have fun with the group members, and it helps me with my Spanish as well.
CONFIRMATION 2009
We´re up and running with the Confirmation program for 2009, this past weekend being our fourth gathering. Leaders (we are called animadores here, literally ´animators´ or ´encouragers´) are myself, Yuri, my housemate Courtney, Alex, and Consuelo – a 17-year-old from last year´s group. Our meetings are Saturday evenings 7-9 pm and we divide the group of 40 into two – Consuelo and I have one, Alex and Courtney the other, and Yuri as the coordinator goes back and forth. On Sundays we gather for a few games and short discussion on Sunday evening before going into Mass together at 7:30 (I go a bit early to sing with the choir). I really enjoy the experience of accompanying the youth, many of whom have little experience of participation in the church. We had hoped to do more of a concerted invitation campaign that included visiting in the various parish neighborhoods, but to reach that level of coordination will have to wait until next year, just too many other time demands. I won´t finish with this group, since the sacrament is given at the end of November, and I feel it will be difficult to part – especially since this year I have more responsibility as a co-leader and not just helping out.
YOUTH CENTER PROJECT
I have mentioned previously in this space our hopes for a form of youth education/gathering center, and I am excited that in these weeks the hope has taken steps toward realization. Across the alley for the parish a large house, in good condition, has come up for rent, and with Alex (JUMIFRA coordinator) I put together a proposal to rent the house for use by the young people of the parish. Next came presentation of the idea to the parish priests and the Incarnate Word Sisters (Sister Juanita has had this idea since my arrival here), visits to see the house and converse with the owners, and an exploratory appeal to friends and family for funding support. As of last night, May 25, we agreed to rent the house and now it remains finalize the form of the contract, gather the money to start, and tackle the process of making a few small repairs/improvements and furnishing the space for use as a social and education center specifically for young people. For those who are interested in more information or possibly in financially supporting the project, I have posted the draft proposal in the entry below and you can contact me at tschmidt19ARRhotmail.com for more details. A joint committee of one parish priest, one of the sisters, on of the Incarnate Word Missionaries, and one representative of JUMIFRA will oversee the youth center project and finances. The generous individual promises of donations thus basically covers the monthly expenses for a year, and we are now seeking both local and outside help to gather furnishings and materials. For long-term funding, several supporters are searching out grants that would be able to keep the project going after the first year. We haven´t made public the project here beyond a small circle, but I am excited to see what might come from this endeavor.
Relatedly, we have recently learned who will be joining our IWM community here when I leave – Marcelle, who currently works as a nurse in the US and will continue in that line of work here, and Jenn, who is a new graduate from St. Louis University with a theology/international studies major with minors in Spanish and Woman´s Studies. Jenn´s primary work will be at the parish, and I am excited that a new Incarnate Word Missionary will be coming to continue the work we have begun in these two years. Helping coordinate youth center programs could be a part of her ministry here, if all goes well.
EVERYDAY LIFE
In addition to the new projects and groups described above, existing activities and programs have continued and/or re-started in May. I continue to sing with my choir, rehearsing on Friday and Saturday nights from 9:30-11:00 pm. We have been purely a men´s choir for about three months now, as the several girls who were participated have stepped back for various reasons. Aside from occasional frustration with fluctuating commitment of the members, I really enjoy the singing and camaraderie of the group. I also continue practicing music on my own, almost-daily personal practice of guitar and quena (flute), and Roger comes Wednesday and Friday afternoons to teach guitar to Courtney and I. I recently have borrowed a charango (miniature guitar-type instrument) and Roger has given me some pointers to get started with. English classes started again the first week in May, and though numbers are down compared to the summer cycle, we have about 25 students attending weekly in four groups, two nights each. I teach with one of the girls Monday to Thursday evenings (we each take one group) and Fridays we open the house 7-9 for conversation practice, to which 10-15 students come to practice their speaking and listening skills. As I have role of planning the classes and coordinating the course, there is some concern among the students about what will happen when I leave – my hope is the new group of missionaries will be able to continue to offer courses so that those who have begun can keep advancing in their studies. As I also mentioned above, I began dating Susan in January, and most days we find some time together, although usually in the afternoons as my nights are booked and women here aren´t don´t enjoy, as do many of our male friends, the freedom of staying out late very often. Two or three times (such as last Friday) we have joined Jane, Courtney, and Julie with other friends to go out dancing (she, as many Peruvians, loves to dance and says I´m getting a little better). I run four mornings a week, walking downtown the other days to save my knees a bit. Also in the mornings, I write in my journal and read a few pages out loud in Spanish to work on vocabulary and pronunciation. I find an hour or two here and there in the mornings to work on ministry projects/communication and to keep in touch with family via the internet, and I shop/cook on Fridays and Saturdays. Most afternoons will find me at the dining table planning for evening English classes, making a copy run downtown, and when I can I lay down for a short siesta.
Thanks for tuning in again, and I wish you a blessed week!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
April Update
Greetings! My last entry came as we were preparing to celebrate Holy Week, so there is much to catch you up on – beginning with the Way of the Cross in the streets and the visit to Peru of my brother and sister. Returning to Chimbote after the visit to Cuzco, I´ve been involved in our JUMIFRA Mothers´ Day Celebration, the beginning of the 2009 Confirmation program, the first steps in an exciting youth center project, the formation of a new parish acting group, a new cycle of parish English classes, and the standard choir and personal music rehearsals – even warmer showers in the house with the coming of a bit cooler climate (finally). So, here goes an attempt at a concise summary (some new photos are posted a the link at right)…
HOLY WEEK
The central event of Holy Week for me was rehearsal for and the acting out– on Good Friday – of the Way of the Cross in the streets of the neighborhoods around the parish. I was chosen to play, somewhat by default due to lack of others willing to take the role. Despite initial fears that I wouldn´t have the power of voice necessary for the role, the procession – punctuated by short, acted scenes at each ¨station´ -- was a success even given a couple last minute no-shows. My friend Roger served as the main soldier, duly castigating and pushing me around, red water-based paint smeared around my face and over the white tunic I was given. I drug the cross behind me until Simon of Cyrene gave me a hand, and I remember vividly lying flat on the dirt street after one of my falls – youth actors and the general public gathered around in the growing dark – listening to Brother Tino give a short reflection. One arm of my newly-built cross busted as it fell to the pavement at the station where I was stripped of my outer garment, and the soldiers switched my cross for one of those of the two thieves, rapidly tying the other one together. I was a bit scared at the precariousness of being on the cross, picturing going over face first – but the soldiers and other actors successfully kept my cross, wedged into a hole in the ground, from tipping over. The point of view – looking over the assembled crowd in the dark, the disdain of the priests, Mary and John at the foot of the cross crying – all part of a very unique and moving experience that I was honored to have. Had to keep from smiling (I was dead, after all) on the 10-block trip back to the church after being taken down from the cross – friends from JUMIFRA carried me, wrapped in a sheet, on their shoulders, complaining about how heavy I was and even tugging a couple times at my chest hairs to see if I would respond. Will definitely remember the whole experience next Good Friday.
SCHMIDTS IN PERU
While I was being whipped and crucified, my brother Ryan – and his wife Michelle – and my sister Suzanne with her boyfriend Cory were arriving in Lima. The next evening, Holy Saturday, I was very excited to meet them at the bus terminal, where we had a short scare when Suzanne couldn´t find the luggage claim tags. We packed in a great amount of visiting and activity during their four-day stay in Chimbote, as I wanted to help them experience some of the sites, sounds, tastes, and friends that are a part of my Chimbote life. Our time together here included: Easter egg dyeing with friends (a foreign curiously-viewed custom here), a Sunday morning walk to the waterfront and shopping/tour of the chaotic Progreso Market, preparing and sharing Easter lunch here at the house with the Incarnate Word Sisters (they loved the Easter egg hunt, a first for the Peruvian sisters), Easter night mass (I sang with the choir, complete with drumset and electric guitars for the occasion), music and song with friends on the patio after Mass, a climb up the nearby Cerro de la Paz with Courtney and my girlfriend Susan (since January) for a great view of the city and the bay, squeezing seven people in a small taxi, eating hot soup and sweating profusely, a fun en-of-term potluck with our English class, a morning walk out in the fields where I usually go running, a tour of the sisters´ hospice facility, ceviche (no one got sick, and they actually liked it), shopping and Chinese food downtown with friends, and of course the daily afternoon nap to make up for the early mornings. Suzanne just barely tolerated the various smells (lucky it wasn´t full fishing season), and Cory was a good sport about getting up early and compiled a great collection of mototaxi photos, Ryan received a number of ´Oh, un otro Raymundo!´ greetings, Michelle would hear ´chinita´ in the street, and everyone made good efforts with their Spanish. They did manage to avoid hand-washing their clothes and made limited use of the cold showers .
Following our stay here, we traveled to Lima by bus and then by plane to Cuzco. Though I had been there with my mom and aunt Janie, and with Michi, the year before, we had a few new experiences. First, staying overnight in the Sacred Valley town of Ollaytantambo – a small town with a difficult name, more-impressive-than-Cuzco Inca stonework and a substantial set of ruins which we explored in the early morning before the tour buses arrived. From Ollantaytambo, we traveled to Pisac, where we navigated negotiations in the large tourist market and make the substantial climb to the hilltop Pisac ruins on a beautiful Sunday morning, getting the lungs accustomed to the altitude for our four-day Inca Trail trek a couple of days later. As before, the walk through the misty Andes on actual Inca paving, great food and beautiful campsites, all topped by arriving at Machu Picchu on the final morning made for a beautiful shared memory. Our area tour was capped by a visit to Chilean missionary friends Claudia and Teresa in Combapata, a very non-tourist mountain small town two hours south of Cuzco complete both tranquility and the hard reality of life for its inhabitants. Unique memories include high-pitched bus singers in Quechua, a nauseating ride for Michelle on the local bus returning from Combapata, some cool folks from our Inca Trail group, climbing Wayna Picchu with Cory and a couple other guys in just 32 minutes, popcorn at campsite happy hour, hit-and-miss hot showers in our hostal, and tasty vegetarian restaurant in Cuzco as a nice change from the ubiquitous French fries and rice. We spent the final evening navigating Miraflores and downtown Lima, completing a decent introduction to the wide variety of geography, cultures, and demographics that make up today´s Peru (and contribute to a general lack of national unity/identity). I was sad to see everyone fly away, but knowing that I will myself be home in a few months made the parting easier. I am grateful that my family, whom I love, were able to taste a bit of my life experience here.
HOLY WEEK
The central event of Holy Week for me was rehearsal for and the acting out– on Good Friday – of the Way of the Cross in the streets of the neighborhoods around the parish. I was chosen to play, somewhat by default due to lack of others willing to take the role. Despite initial fears that I wouldn´t have the power of voice necessary for the role, the procession – punctuated by short, acted scenes at each ¨station´ -- was a success even given a couple last minute no-shows. My friend Roger served as the main soldier, duly castigating and pushing me around, red water-based paint smeared around my face and over the white tunic I was given. I drug the cross behind me until Simon of Cyrene gave me a hand, and I remember vividly lying flat on the dirt street after one of my falls – youth actors and the general public gathered around in the growing dark – listening to Brother Tino give a short reflection. One arm of my newly-built cross busted as it fell to the pavement at the station where I was stripped of my outer garment, and the soldiers switched my cross for one of those of the two thieves, rapidly tying the other one together. I was a bit scared at the precariousness of being on the cross, picturing going over face first – but the soldiers and other actors successfully kept my cross, wedged into a hole in the ground, from tipping over. The point of view – looking over the assembled crowd in the dark, the disdain of the priests, Mary and John at the foot of the cross crying – all part of a very unique and moving experience that I was honored to have. Had to keep from smiling (I was dead, after all) on the 10-block trip back to the church after being taken down from the cross – friends from JUMIFRA carried me, wrapped in a sheet, on their shoulders, complaining about how heavy I was and even tugging a couple times at my chest hairs to see if I would respond. Will definitely remember the whole experience next Good Friday.
SCHMIDTS IN PERU
While I was being whipped and crucified, my brother Ryan – and his wife Michelle – and my sister Suzanne with her boyfriend Cory were arriving in Lima. The next evening, Holy Saturday, I was very excited to meet them at the bus terminal, where we had a short scare when Suzanne couldn´t find the luggage claim tags. We packed in a great amount of visiting and activity during their four-day stay in Chimbote, as I wanted to help them experience some of the sites, sounds, tastes, and friends that are a part of my Chimbote life. Our time together here included: Easter egg dyeing with friends (a foreign curiously-viewed custom here), a Sunday morning walk to the waterfront and shopping/tour of the chaotic Progreso Market, preparing and sharing Easter lunch here at the house with the Incarnate Word Sisters (they loved the Easter egg hunt, a first for the Peruvian sisters), Easter night mass (I sang with the choir, complete with drumset and electric guitars for the occasion), music and song with friends on the patio after Mass, a climb up the nearby Cerro de la Paz with Courtney and my girlfriend Susan (since January) for a great view of the city and the bay, squeezing seven people in a small taxi, eating hot soup and sweating profusely, a fun en-of-term potluck with our English class, a morning walk out in the fields where I usually go running, a tour of the sisters´ hospice facility, ceviche (no one got sick, and they actually liked it), shopping and Chinese food downtown with friends, and of course the daily afternoon nap to make up for the early mornings. Suzanne just barely tolerated the various smells (lucky it wasn´t full fishing season), and Cory was a good sport about getting up early and compiled a great collection of mototaxi photos, Ryan received a number of ´Oh, un otro Raymundo!´ greetings, Michelle would hear ´chinita´ in the street, and everyone made good efforts with their Spanish. They did manage to avoid hand-washing their clothes and made limited use of the cold showers .
Following our stay here, we traveled to Lima by bus and then by plane to Cuzco. Though I had been there with my mom and aunt Janie, and with Michi, the year before, we had a few new experiences. First, staying overnight in the Sacred Valley town of Ollaytantambo – a small town with a difficult name, more-impressive-than-Cuzco Inca stonework and a substantial set of ruins which we explored in the early morning before the tour buses arrived. From Ollantaytambo, we traveled to Pisac, where we navigated negotiations in the large tourist market and make the substantial climb to the hilltop Pisac ruins on a beautiful Sunday morning, getting the lungs accustomed to the altitude for our four-day Inca Trail trek a couple of days later. As before, the walk through the misty Andes on actual Inca paving, great food and beautiful campsites, all topped by arriving at Machu Picchu on the final morning made for a beautiful shared memory. Our area tour was capped by a visit to Chilean missionary friends Claudia and Teresa in Combapata, a very non-tourist mountain small town two hours south of Cuzco complete both tranquility and the hard reality of life for its inhabitants. Unique memories include high-pitched bus singers in Quechua, a nauseating ride for Michelle on the local bus returning from Combapata, some cool folks from our Inca Trail group, climbing Wayna Picchu with Cory and a couple other guys in just 32 minutes, popcorn at campsite happy hour, hit-and-miss hot showers in our hostal, and tasty vegetarian restaurant in Cuzco as a nice change from the ubiquitous French fries and rice. We spent the final evening navigating Miraflores and downtown Lima, completing a decent introduction to the wide variety of geography, cultures, and demographics that make up today´s Peru (and contribute to a general lack of national unity/identity). I was sad to see everyone fly away, but knowing that I will myself be home in a few months made the parting easier. I am grateful that my family, whom I love, were able to taste a bit of my life experience here.
Reference: Youth Center Proposal
Below is the text of the draft proposal for a new project we are working on with the youth council in the parish (see Resumen de Mayo entry above for more details).
Proposal: Franciscan Youth Center
Chimbote, Peru
I. Mission: To open a welcoming space to complement youth ministry efforts of Parroquia San Francisco en Chimbote, Peru, and allow for increase outreach to young people that live in surrounding neighborhoods.
II. Background
1. The city of Chimbote
Chimbote is a port city of about 400,000 inhabitants in the coastal desert of Peru, about seven hours by bus north of the capital of Lima. The fishing industry flourished here – at the price of substantial environmental pollution and disappearance of tourism – from the late 1950´s through the late 1980´s. The fishing industry remains a central economic activity, though due to overfishing the quantity of related jobs in this sector has shrunk considerably. Even in its 1970´s heyday in which Chimbote produced world-leading volumes of fish products for export, the vast majority of owners and beneficiaries of this wealth were either foreign or Lima-based, and little of the substantial income was invested in Chimbote itself in the form of infrastructure, etc. A general search for good work in recent decades has brought to Chimbote a steady stream of immigrants, largely from the Sierra, the mountainous inland region – a trend which continues to the present day. Especially with the current downturn in employment within the fishing industry and its smoke-belching processing plants, steady jobs are few and far between, poverty is widespread, and many turn to very creative means (legal and otherwise) in order to generate income, create a very large informal economic sector. Socially, the handicaps of corruption, crime, and drug and alcohol abuse stem from and contribute to climate of economic hardship and insecurity faced by many Chimbotanos.
2. St. Francis Parish
St. Francis of Assisi Parish is located in the sector of Chimbote called 21 de Abril, established in the late 1950´s. Administrated since the mid 1990´s by the Conventual Franciscan Congregation of priests and brothers, the parish includes two chapels in the outlying sectors of 2 de Mayo and Santo Domingo in addition to being the primary place of worship for the Catholic majority in the sectors of 21 de Abril A & B, San Isidro, 12 de Octubre, Magdalena Nueva, and San Francisco de Asís. Since total residents in the eight sectors number approximately 30,000, cautious estimate puts the number of young people (15-25 years old) at nearly 10,000 – of which only a small fraction are touched in any significant way by parish programs and services. As of February 2008 current active young leaders, mostly in their late teens and 20´s, came together to form JUMIFRA, Juventúd Misionera Franciscana – Franciscan Missionary Youth. JUMIFRA has served since then with about 15 active members to plan, guide, and motivate ministry to and with their peers within the parish, guided by Father Carlos Gómez, who has the charge of parish youth and children´s programs, and Todd Schmidt, an Incarnate Word Missionary in the parish since September 2007. The Incarnate Word Missionaries are participants in a lay missionary program of the same name that is sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, who have been in Chimbote providing health services (currently two medical clinics and the only hospice in Peru) since 1964. Currently participating in the parish, spread between two youth choirs, JUMIFRA, English classes, a charismatic prayer group, a recently-formed theater group and the current Confirmation preparation classes, are approximately 70 young people.
III. Objectives
1. Help the parish offer to young people a space that they can call their own, along the way encouraging and teaching the responsibility required to take care of and maintain it.
2. Support parish youth groups by offering a larger availability of gathering times and rooms for meetings, projects, workshops, activities, socializing, etc.
3. Offer opportunities, space, and guidance for the development of small business projects by groups or individual young people whom have the desire and determination to do so.
4. Increase our capacity as a parish and youth ministry of bringing to local young people educational and formational activities, including talks and seminars, skill training workshops, classes, retreats, etc.
5. Widen our efforts in the evangelization of our young people by means of creating a space that might generate in participating youth a greater identification with their parish and promoting fellowship among themselves as a community of faith, in such a way encouraging to grow in spiritually as people and as committed members of today´s church.
6. Create a space for safe, healthy fun and socialization.
7. Be a base within the youth community that provokes the and initiates service and social justice projects within the larger community.
IV. Budget and anticipated expenses
1. Monthly expenses
A. House rental: $250 (a lower price may be able to be negotiated)
B. Water and electricity: $35
C. Telephone and internet: $40
2. Kitchen needs
A. Stove
B. Gas (tank refilled periodically for about $10)
C. Plates, cups, pots, utensils, etc.
3. Furniture
A. Tables
B. Chairs
C. Stereo/CD Player
D. TV/ DVD player
E. Whiteboards
F. Second hand couches, etc.
4. Miscellaneous
A. School supplies
B. Art supplies
C. Cleaning supplies (detergent, brooms, mops, etc)
D. Games (table games, chess sets, etc)
E. Ping pong table
5. Computer and printer for ministry use by JUMIFRA (with 3-4 more computers, we could offer them to youth for completion of homework, for computer classes, etc)
6. Musical instruments (guitars, flutes, etc) that would stay in the house for classes and general use during gatherings, events, etc.
To cover the long-term monthly expenses we are researching grant possibilities because the parish will not be able to cover the cost, but for the first year and start-up expenses the Incarnate Word Missionaries are contact friends, family and parishes in the US to seek complementary monetary support in order to initiate the project. We view this first year also as a test period for the center, evaluating progress and success more formally at that juncture in addition to regular ongoing evaluation by JUMIFRA and the administrative committee (see item V below).
V. Administration
1. The Franciscan Youth Center will be a joint project of Parroquia San Francisco de Asís by means of the group JUMIFRA (Franciscan Missionary Youth, the youth council of the parish) and the Conventual Franciscan priests and brothers, the Incarnate Word Missionaries in Chimbote, and the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. Each of these groups will select a representative to participate in the administrative committee for the project, which will have the duty of guiding and overseeing the Franciscan Youth Center. In addition to the groups already mentioned, each parish youth group (choirs, theater, English, charismatic prayer, confirmation, etc) will have on representative on the committee.
2. The committee will meet monthly to accomplish the following:
A. Share budget report for the previous month.
B. Report on activities and events at the youth center since the previous committee meeting.
C. Present plans, goals and suggestions for the upcoming month and farther into the future.
D. Evaluate progress toward goals stated in the annual plan, previously developed by the committee
E. As a product of each monthly meeting, a monthly report will be prepared and sent to individuals and organization who collaborate with the project.
3. Roles of groups represented on the administrative committee
A. Incarnate Word Missionaries – contact person for the youth center, will have the duty of managing the center´s budget and finances in addition to working with JUMIFRA to provide general oversight of daily programs and activities.
B. JUMIFRA – in charge of planning and organizing specific programs and events that are offered in the youth center and of being present as well as providing or arranging for responsible supervision in the center during hours in which it is open (see Section VIII, Rules).
C. The Conventual Franciscan priests and brothers, who have charge of the parish, will designate a representative from their community to serve on the administrative committee in addition to supporting JUMIFRA in their work in the center, providing guidance and spiritual direction as being a contact person for the Conventual Franciscan community.
D. Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word – seeing that the community of Incarnate Word Missionaries has fluctuating membership, the sisters will provide continuity of presence on the administrative committee as well as support the IWM´s in their ministry in the center.
E. Representatives of parish youth groups – will serve as communication links between their respective groups and the administrative committee of the youth center, bringing ideas and suggestions to committee meetings and communicating the committee´s decisions and general youth center news to their group´s members, thus facilitating collaboration of parish youth in communal parish youth projects and events.
4. In order to provide additional security, JUMIFRA members will sleep at the house on a rotating schedule.
VI. The house itself
1. Being directly across the alley from the parish, the house location brings many advantages in terms of maintaining a strong identification of the Franciscan Youth Center with the parish itself.
2. The house has three floors, the first two consisting of a large open room and 2-3 bedrooms that could be used for group meetings and classes. It is equipped with a kitchen, stove, and hot water heater. The third floor also includes several separate rooms, but is unfinished and would be good space for craft, carpentry, or other workshops. The entire rooftop is open as a patio/porch.
VII. Why is a parish youth center needed?
1. It would make the parish more accessible to young people, offering a more flexible and expanded schedule for holding programs with young people without inconveniencing the Conventual Franciscan Community in always asking for keys, wanting to stay later than the current limit of 10:00 pm, etc. Tentative weekday schedule would be to open the center in the mornings, 9 am – 1 pm, for academic programs for youth who study during afternoon shift at their schools. Then, to open the center from 4 pm to 11 pm in the evening as a gathering place, for classes and meetings, etc. Weekend schedule be the same, with the possibility of later hours at night for special events or gatherings.
2. Projects such as workshops and the library that we propose would occupy the current small number of available parish rooms, making them unavailable for use by other parish groups.
3. To generate a greater identification of young people with their parish community through having a space that is more their own, which sends the message that the parish indeed welcomes youth and invites young people to actively participate in parish and community life.
4. Offer the possibility of adapting and customizing spaces for specific uses and ends, thereby creating more opportunity for the development of skill training workshops and projects with youth that require specialized materials, avoiding the necessity of always brings and removing materials each day.
5. To make possible more opportunities for skill training and personal development for young people in our community.
6. In additional to and by means of the programs, fellowship, and fun that the youth center could offer, we can further various aspects of mission of the parish and of the larger church, evangelizing young people and forming Christian citizens that participate actively in society in order to help others and change our current unjust reality. The parish has the unreached potencial to be a base of positive influence and change for youth, and opening a youth center would be a step toward making this potential a reality.
VII. Examples of possible programs
1. Meeting space and resources for existing and new parish youth groups.
2. Spiritual retreats and workshops.
3. Formation and maintenance of a small library for youth.
4. Academic support and guidance by older youth and young adults to younger peers.
5. Informative talks and job skill training.
6. Art and drawing workshops
7. Music classes
8. Movie nights
9. Celebrations (i.e. New Years, independence day, monthly birthdays, etc)
10. Communication and cultural interchange between Chimbote and US youth.
VIII. Proposed Rules
1. For reasons of security and safety, sign-in system for entering and leaving the house will be instituted.
2. No drugs or alcoholic beverages of any kind will be allowed.
3. No violence.
4. Maintain an attitude of respect toward the people, house, materials.
5. No foul language.
6. Each group that utilizes a space within the youth center should leave it clean, and neat, materials stored away in their place in good condition.
7. Groups will have responsibilities to help take care of the house (cleaning, maintenance, etc).
8. There will always be at least three people (one for each floor) present in the center with supervisory responsibility whenever the center is open to the general youth community. JUMIFRA members themselves – or persons of maturity designated by JUMIFRA – will assume this role.
9. Rooms in the center will be opened only when they are going to be used.
10. In the case in which overnight retreats or events are held, men and women will sleep in separate rooms and will be properly supervised.
11. Individuals who don´t comply with the above rules may be restricted from entering the youth center.
Proposal: Franciscan Youth Center
Chimbote, Peru
I. Mission: To open a welcoming space to complement youth ministry efforts of Parroquia San Francisco en Chimbote, Peru, and allow for increase outreach to young people that live in surrounding neighborhoods.
II. Background
1. The city of Chimbote
Chimbote is a port city of about 400,000 inhabitants in the coastal desert of Peru, about seven hours by bus north of the capital of Lima. The fishing industry flourished here – at the price of substantial environmental pollution and disappearance of tourism – from the late 1950´s through the late 1980´s. The fishing industry remains a central economic activity, though due to overfishing the quantity of related jobs in this sector has shrunk considerably. Even in its 1970´s heyday in which Chimbote produced world-leading volumes of fish products for export, the vast majority of owners and beneficiaries of this wealth were either foreign or Lima-based, and little of the substantial income was invested in Chimbote itself in the form of infrastructure, etc. A general search for good work in recent decades has brought to Chimbote a steady stream of immigrants, largely from the Sierra, the mountainous inland region – a trend which continues to the present day. Especially with the current downturn in employment within the fishing industry and its smoke-belching processing plants, steady jobs are few and far between, poverty is widespread, and many turn to very creative means (legal and otherwise) in order to generate income, create a very large informal economic sector. Socially, the handicaps of corruption, crime, and drug and alcohol abuse stem from and contribute to climate of economic hardship and insecurity faced by many Chimbotanos.
2. St. Francis Parish
St. Francis of Assisi Parish is located in the sector of Chimbote called 21 de Abril, established in the late 1950´s. Administrated since the mid 1990´s by the Conventual Franciscan Congregation of priests and brothers, the parish includes two chapels in the outlying sectors of 2 de Mayo and Santo Domingo in addition to being the primary place of worship for the Catholic majority in the sectors of 21 de Abril A & B, San Isidro, 12 de Octubre, Magdalena Nueva, and San Francisco de Asís. Since total residents in the eight sectors number approximately 30,000, cautious estimate puts the number of young people (15-25 years old) at nearly 10,000 – of which only a small fraction are touched in any significant way by parish programs and services. As of February 2008 current active young leaders, mostly in their late teens and 20´s, came together to form JUMIFRA, Juventúd Misionera Franciscana – Franciscan Missionary Youth. JUMIFRA has served since then with about 15 active members to plan, guide, and motivate ministry to and with their peers within the parish, guided by Father Carlos Gómez, who has the charge of parish youth and children´s programs, and Todd Schmidt, an Incarnate Word Missionary in the parish since September 2007. The Incarnate Word Missionaries are participants in a lay missionary program of the same name that is sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, who have been in Chimbote providing health services (currently two medical clinics and the only hospice in Peru) since 1964. Currently participating in the parish, spread between two youth choirs, JUMIFRA, English classes, a charismatic prayer group, a recently-formed theater group and the current Confirmation preparation classes, are approximately 70 young people.
III. Objectives
1. Help the parish offer to young people a space that they can call their own, along the way encouraging and teaching the responsibility required to take care of and maintain it.
2. Support parish youth groups by offering a larger availability of gathering times and rooms for meetings, projects, workshops, activities, socializing, etc.
3. Offer opportunities, space, and guidance for the development of small business projects by groups or individual young people whom have the desire and determination to do so.
4. Increase our capacity as a parish and youth ministry of bringing to local young people educational and formational activities, including talks and seminars, skill training workshops, classes, retreats, etc.
5. Widen our efforts in the evangelization of our young people by means of creating a space that might generate in participating youth a greater identification with their parish and promoting fellowship among themselves as a community of faith, in such a way encouraging to grow in spiritually as people and as committed members of today´s church.
6. Create a space for safe, healthy fun and socialization.
7. Be a base within the youth community that provokes the and initiates service and social justice projects within the larger community.
IV. Budget and anticipated expenses
1. Monthly expenses
A. House rental: $250 (a lower price may be able to be negotiated)
B. Water and electricity: $35
C. Telephone and internet: $40
2. Kitchen needs
A. Stove
B. Gas (tank refilled periodically for about $10)
C. Plates, cups, pots, utensils, etc.
3. Furniture
A. Tables
B. Chairs
C. Stereo/CD Player
D. TV/ DVD player
E. Whiteboards
F. Second hand couches, etc.
4. Miscellaneous
A. School supplies
B. Art supplies
C. Cleaning supplies (detergent, brooms, mops, etc)
D. Games (table games, chess sets, etc)
E. Ping pong table
5. Computer and printer for ministry use by JUMIFRA (with 3-4 more computers, we could offer them to youth for completion of homework, for computer classes, etc)
6. Musical instruments (guitars, flutes, etc) that would stay in the house for classes and general use during gatherings, events, etc.
To cover the long-term monthly expenses we are researching grant possibilities because the parish will not be able to cover the cost, but for the first year and start-up expenses the Incarnate Word Missionaries are contact friends, family and parishes in the US to seek complementary monetary support in order to initiate the project. We view this first year also as a test period for the center, evaluating progress and success more formally at that juncture in addition to regular ongoing evaluation by JUMIFRA and the administrative committee (see item V below).
V. Administration
1. The Franciscan Youth Center will be a joint project of Parroquia San Francisco de Asís by means of the group JUMIFRA (Franciscan Missionary Youth, the youth council of the parish) and the Conventual Franciscan priests and brothers, the Incarnate Word Missionaries in Chimbote, and the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. Each of these groups will select a representative to participate in the administrative committee for the project, which will have the duty of guiding and overseeing the Franciscan Youth Center. In addition to the groups already mentioned, each parish youth group (choirs, theater, English, charismatic prayer, confirmation, etc) will have on representative on the committee.
2. The committee will meet monthly to accomplish the following:
A. Share budget report for the previous month.
B. Report on activities and events at the youth center since the previous committee meeting.
C. Present plans, goals and suggestions for the upcoming month and farther into the future.
D. Evaluate progress toward goals stated in the annual plan, previously developed by the committee
E. As a product of each monthly meeting, a monthly report will be prepared and sent to individuals and organization who collaborate with the project.
3. Roles of groups represented on the administrative committee
A. Incarnate Word Missionaries – contact person for the youth center, will have the duty of managing the center´s budget and finances in addition to working with JUMIFRA to provide general oversight of daily programs and activities.
B. JUMIFRA – in charge of planning and organizing specific programs and events that are offered in the youth center and of being present as well as providing or arranging for responsible supervision in the center during hours in which it is open (see Section VIII, Rules).
C. The Conventual Franciscan priests and brothers, who have charge of the parish, will designate a representative from their community to serve on the administrative committee in addition to supporting JUMIFRA in their work in the center, providing guidance and spiritual direction as being a contact person for the Conventual Franciscan community.
D. Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word – seeing that the community of Incarnate Word Missionaries has fluctuating membership, the sisters will provide continuity of presence on the administrative committee as well as support the IWM´s in their ministry in the center.
E. Representatives of parish youth groups – will serve as communication links between their respective groups and the administrative committee of the youth center, bringing ideas and suggestions to committee meetings and communicating the committee´s decisions and general youth center news to their group´s members, thus facilitating collaboration of parish youth in communal parish youth projects and events.
4. In order to provide additional security, JUMIFRA members will sleep at the house on a rotating schedule.
VI. The house itself
1. Being directly across the alley from the parish, the house location brings many advantages in terms of maintaining a strong identification of the Franciscan Youth Center with the parish itself.
2. The house has three floors, the first two consisting of a large open room and 2-3 bedrooms that could be used for group meetings and classes. It is equipped with a kitchen, stove, and hot water heater. The third floor also includes several separate rooms, but is unfinished and would be good space for craft, carpentry, or other workshops. The entire rooftop is open as a patio/porch.
VII. Why is a parish youth center needed?
1. It would make the parish more accessible to young people, offering a more flexible and expanded schedule for holding programs with young people without inconveniencing the Conventual Franciscan Community in always asking for keys, wanting to stay later than the current limit of 10:00 pm, etc. Tentative weekday schedule would be to open the center in the mornings, 9 am – 1 pm, for academic programs for youth who study during afternoon shift at their schools. Then, to open the center from 4 pm to 11 pm in the evening as a gathering place, for classes and meetings, etc. Weekend schedule be the same, with the possibility of later hours at night for special events or gatherings.
2. Projects such as workshops and the library that we propose would occupy the current small number of available parish rooms, making them unavailable for use by other parish groups.
3. To generate a greater identification of young people with their parish community through having a space that is more their own, which sends the message that the parish indeed welcomes youth and invites young people to actively participate in parish and community life.
4. Offer the possibility of adapting and customizing spaces for specific uses and ends, thereby creating more opportunity for the development of skill training workshops and projects with youth that require specialized materials, avoiding the necessity of always brings and removing materials each day.
5. To make possible more opportunities for skill training and personal development for young people in our community.
6. In additional to and by means of the programs, fellowship, and fun that the youth center could offer, we can further various aspects of mission of the parish and of the larger church, evangelizing young people and forming Christian citizens that participate actively in society in order to help others and change our current unjust reality. The parish has the unreached potencial to be a base of positive influence and change for youth, and opening a youth center would be a step toward making this potential a reality.
VII. Examples of possible programs
1. Meeting space and resources for existing and new parish youth groups.
2. Spiritual retreats and workshops.
3. Formation and maintenance of a small library for youth.
4. Academic support and guidance by older youth and young adults to younger peers.
5. Informative talks and job skill training.
6. Art and drawing workshops
7. Music classes
8. Movie nights
9. Celebrations (i.e. New Years, independence day, monthly birthdays, etc)
10. Communication and cultural interchange between Chimbote and US youth.
VIII. Proposed Rules
1. For reasons of security and safety, sign-in system for entering and leaving the house will be instituted.
2. No drugs or alcoholic beverages of any kind will be allowed.
3. No violence.
4. Maintain an attitude of respect toward the people, house, materials.
5. No foul language.
6. Each group that utilizes a space within the youth center should leave it clean, and neat, materials stored away in their place in good condition.
7. Groups will have responsibilities to help take care of the house (cleaning, maintenance, etc).
8. There will always be at least three people (one for each floor) present in the center with supervisory responsibility whenever the center is open to the general youth community. JUMIFRA members themselves – or persons of maturity designated by JUMIFRA – will assume this role.
9. Rooms in the center will be opened only when they are going to be used.
10. In the case in which overnight retreats or events are held, men and women will sleep in separate rooms and will be properly supervised.
11. Individuals who don´t comply with the above rules may be restricted from entering the youth center.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
