A Peruvian Story of Living Amid Covid-19 - Pt. I

LIVING AMID COVID-19 from Our CSJ ASSOCIATES IN ZAÑA, PERU

PART I

The story of Covid-19 in Peru, as in many countries has many ‘downs’ as well as ‘ups’ throughout January 2020 to the present, June 2021. In the town of Zaña, Peru, there are seven CSJ in Canada Associates who live among their neighbours, and who have also lived through this Covid experience with them. The story in Zaña is one of resilience, strength, hardship, hope, and love; one of caring for families, villages, neighbours, friends, and all those with and among whom one lives; it is a story of being neighbour, helping, serving, giving guidance, prepared to be a voice on behalf of others in need.

Peru has the highest Covid death rate as a proportion of population in the world, according to the latest data. GETTY IMAGES

Through January, but especially by the end of February and the beginning of March, Covid-19 in Peru had begun to show devastating effects. By mid-March, the entire country was in a lockdown, and news of increasing deaths and disease spread was all over Peru. Smaller communities, such as Zaña and nearby Cayalti, were restricted and unable to travel to the larger city Chiclayo. Stringent Government rules and restrictions of trucks/people from outside the communities created widespread problems for workers, truckers, suppliers etc. causing great concern regarding food, medicines, medical aid etc. This also meant that donations from the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph to Zaña could not be received, as all travel outside of the town(s) was prohibited and strictly enforced by police.

By May, there was a growing food shortage in Zaña and Cayalti (nearby) causing widespread hardship for most families who were struggling to survive; as well, the town of Zaña was struggling with outbreaks of Dengue Fever, dangerous and potentially life threatening for people. In June, news about Peru arrived from the Sisters of Mercy (who live in a nearby town) through their e-mail letter: “There is a new crisis emerging. The hunger caused by the coronavirus pandemic is feared more than the disease itself. To add to the complexity, Peru has two experiences of displacement: (1) internal displacement of more than 165,000 people who have requested humanitarian transfers in attempts to leave Lima and return to their hometowns due to job losses, and (2) hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan refugees in Peru who do not even receive the financial support offered to the Peruvian people by the Government. [P.S.: Zana Peru also has numerous refugees from Venezuela].

By June 30th, 2020, Peru had recorded 9,600 deaths. The Health Care system was not prepared; many households could not ‘stock up’ on food as 40% of households do not have refrigeration; market areas were a source of contagion, and 40% to 80% of sellers became infected, thus carrying Covid to their households; working persons had to use public transportation, and so contagion also spread this way, to their households as well; only 30% of Peruvians have bank accounts, so making digital payments OR receiving Government payments was digitally impossible; overcrowded homes also made the spread of the virus/contagion easier. However, on July 28th, the Peruvian President finally lifted the strict lockdown in place since March. It was only in August 2020 that Associates, Delicia and Cecelia could take care of all the people needing medicines and food especially, as donations finally were able to get through the restrictions. Meanwhile, because of the many Covid deaths, the scarcity of food and lack of seeds for growing food, the restrictions on movement in and outside of each town, and the isolation from main trucking routes and food, life was very difficult for Zaña and all Peruvians. 

TO BE CONTINUED

Covid Part I of II, Written by our Zana Associates, Delicia Ampuero and Cecelia Odar, and Sister Janet Zadorsky, CSJ 

Rosa Pola Delicia Carmen Iris Cecelia Fela

 “Milagro de Amor” /”A Miracle of Love” – Associates in Zaña, Peru

Little Design Goes Global - Part II of III

Welcome to the second conversation with Sisters Wendy Cotter and Rosemary O’Toole talking about Little Design Communities.

“Beams of Love” © Mary Southard, CSJ, www.marysouthardart.org [i]

Wendy:  How did your Medaille Online Course begin?  

Rosemary: Well, I believe it was the Spirit! The responses to the Médaille Correspondence Course suggested to me that it was time to share both the research and the reflections online to open up a global conversation. Rudy Camelin, the husband of one of our Little Designers, skillfully set us up with a secure Forum, and with his guidance, I easily handled the registrations and weekly administration.

For fifty-two weeks of the year 2008-2009, I posted a ten-page PDF Lesson based on some aspect of Father Médaille’s writings. Each week the participating students could share their comments and interact with each other. Beyond my expectations, the Médaille Online Course attracted 1,390 registered participants from twenty-six different countries. The Forum is still active today. You can register for free and access the Médaille Online Course[ii] from our Upper Room website.

Wendy: These numbers speak to the real hunger and thirst for ‘the more’ both among the Sisters and associates and so many others to study our spirituality.

Rosemary: Yes Wendy, I have to say it caught on like a wildfire! Active members spread the email link and encouraged others to try it. I heard that many Sisters printed out the pages and shared them with others who did not have computer access. For me, the most rewarding aspect of this online experience was reading the weekly sharing of hearts - sometimes thirty or forty responses posted. A global connection with our Médaillan spirituality happened. And they asked for more…

Wendy: So was it that response that led you to consider creating a website for Little Design Communities?

Rosemary:  Exactly! In 2012, we discerned it was time to create a Little Design Communities website. Since our Ottawa small communities had been exploring the way to live this more contemplative lifestyle for fifteen years, we felt sure that we could share our experience and resources with others who might be seeking a kind of community that could support and enhance their spiritual lives as they lived in their own homes.

The website shares the vision and history of Little Design Communities. To keep the global conversation going, I posted weekly commentaries on the forty-two paragraphs of The Eucharistic Letter and readers added comments. It is loaded with a YouTube video, free downloads, resources, and guidelines for how to start your own Little Design Community. We hope it will become the ‘go to’ place for all information about Little Design Communities[iii]. Check out the FAQ section.

Wendy: Rosemary, tell us about your invitation to the International Center in Le Puy, for sessions on the Little Design.

Rosemary: This was a huge surprise! One fall morning in 2012, I received a phone call from Sr. Valerie, who had just returned from a Board Meeting in Le Puy, inviting me to offer a session at the International Centre in Le Puy, France in June 2013. I knew in my heart I was being called to present on the theme: Little Design Communities Rebirthing: The Eucharistic Letter Revisited. Sr. Claudette, a staff member, and I shared animated Skype calls, and the readiness and warmth of welcome opened wide the door for me to share Little Design in the place of our origins. What a time and place for announcing its rebirthing!  

Wendy:  As you know, I was a participant in the second of the sessions you offered there at the Center. I think all of us felt the charism of the first Sisters as we reflected on The Eucharistic Letter with you Rosemary.    

Rosemary: I have to tell you, Wendy, this was possibly the first time I had spoken without timidity, beyond the walls of The Upper Room, about these Little Design communities. I felt empowered in the Spirit to proclaim such good news to anyone who would ask or listen. I was invited back in 2014 and 2015 to offer the same Little Design Communities Rebirthing ten-day experience. Over those three years, twenty Sisters, twenty-five women, and one man participated. The countries they went back to included: France, the USA, Canada, India, England, Wales, Italy, Brazil, Haiti, and Spain.

Wendy: It meant so much to all of us to include our trip to the Lyon Motherhouse, visit the archives and actually see the copy of The Eucharistic Letter. 

Pilgrims and Sisters in the Archives in Lyon with The Eucharistic Letter, June 2013

Rosemary: My heart leapt with joy! We saw with our own eyes, and read sections of the handwritten text written by one of our early sisters. The only copy ever found, seven and one-half pages in length are preserved here. It was time to bring it into the light of day after 360 years!  

Wendy: Rosemary, was it right after that when you brought the ten-day experience back here to Canada?

Rosemary: Yes Wendy, I consulted Sr. Veronica and she encouraged me to offer a similar ten-day experience at Galilee Centre in Arnprior, ON. The immersion of the Little Design way of life fits in our modern world experience. I invited Sr. Monica Hartnett, SSJ from London U.K. to co-host these days with me. Actually, we presented Little Design Communities Rebirthing at Galilee Centre three times,

in the summer of 2016, 2017 and 2018. And over those three summers, we guided twenty-nine participants – eleven Sisters, sixteen women and two men - through the program (Canada, USA, Mexico and England).

First Session at Galilee Centre, July 2016

Wendy: Well, Rosemary, in our third and last blog, I’m looking forward to hearing about how you see the future of these Little Design Communities!

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[i] Mary Southard, CSJ, LaGrange, Illinois, USA. Gratefully, Mary gave us permission to use Beams of Love for our Little Design Communities website logo in 2012 and all printed LDC materials.

[ii] Visit the Médaille Online Course

[iii] Visit the Little Design Communities website.

A Story of Empowerment and Transformation in Guatemala

Jesus Christ, by His Incarnation committed Himself to the social and cultural circumstances of the people among whom He lived. Through His church, in 1963, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, answered the call of Pope John XXIII, to heed the cry of the poor in Teculután, Guatemala. This was a call and mandate to foster evangelization, dignity, justice, and freedom through the dynamics of education.

In a welcome address by Doña Aida de Cordón, the representative of the local committee who purchased the land for the future school, the founding Sisters were reminded that “they had arrived in Teculután in the favour of the faith and Latin Culture and were to bring the honour of reading and writing to the children of Teculután.”

Thus, the Sisters were prompted to keep in mind that those who learn to read and to write come to a new knowledge of selfhood and begin to look critically at the reality in which they find themselves. They are enabled to take the initiative to try and transform the society that has denied them opportunity and hope.

The Sisters in Guatemala, 1963.

An empty field greeted the Sisters on groundbreaking day. In time, that field gave way to an excellent education facility named “Colegio San José” for our patron St. Joseph. The school was fully approved by the Guatemalan Ministry of Education and offered both elementary and secondary programs. This establishment offered employment for many and hope was born for a better tomorrow.

Because education was the key to that better tomorrow many Sisters who served in Teculután tapped into their own gifts, talents, and insights and in time, education became very diverse according to the needs of the people. Some Sisters saw to the needs of the school which included teaching methodology and religion to the native teachers. Literacy methods of consciousness-raising were provided both through the school and later through a very successful radio program. The Christian Children’s Fund brought help from affluent countries to the poorest of children.

The Sister nurses tended to the needs of the sick with a special focus on pregnant mothers and hungry children. Nutrition, sewing and carpentry classes were encouraged by these Sisters.

Eventually, our own diocesan priests arrived and not only ministered to the sacramental and pastoral needs of the people but also built and renovated churches, chapels and dental clinics. Block making and bakery shops were established. As a team the Sisters and Priests undertook large social programs such as bringing in portable water and electricity to poor areas. Housing projects were developed both before and after the earthquake of 1976. Winning the trust of the people was most important in all of these works.

“Education created the hope to dream, to be free”

In the midst of all this activity, the work of evangelization went on through catechetics in the schools, in the parish and via radio. The Family of God prayer groups were alive as was the Cursillo movement. Benefactors in Canada made possible all these works of charity and co-workers in Teculután supported us in many ways.

As suggested by this brief look at the Teculután mission, education paid attention to the formation of the whole person and promoted the common good of society. Teculután today gives witness to the empowerment inherent in education and “Colegio San José” remains a beneficial presence. Education created the hope to dream, to be free, and be transformed into Easter people!

To have served the Church in Guatemala elicits from all of us a deep sense of gratitude to our Community who sent us, to our benefactors who supported us, and to the gentle people of Teculután who received us. To become part of another culture was an incarnational event in our lives that brought us into a greater awareness of Christ’s Salvific action in the world.

As Jesus did, the Sisters and priests tried to return the world to the father and in doing so some planted, some hoed, some reaped and in this plurality of ways all gave expression to the vocation of the church which proclaims the ongoing Incarnation of Christ in the world.

We praise You, O Lord, for enabling the empty field to be transformed into an empowering people.

-Sister Joan McMahon, csj