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

Paradox

For poet Mary Oliver it was the blue iris that gave her pause.  For me, it is the yellow iris. In her poem Praying Oliver writes: “It doesn’t have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot or a few small stones; just pay attention, then patch a few words together …” As I stood admiring the tall yellow iris, I patched a few words together.  “I see you have returned in full splendour,” I whispered. Last year, I had stood in that same spot admiring the iris.  On my daily walks these past months I watched the iris bloom and die. During the winter months, this same spot was barren and frozen. There was no sign of the lovely iris.  In April, when warm rays of spring sun thawed the ground, suddenly there were tips of green poking through the soil reaching for light and warmth. I watched these shoots grow tall, eagerly awaiting the first buds, harbingers of the return of the bright yellow crown of the iris. On my walks these days, I make it a point to pause and admire the iris now once again in full bloom.  As it does each year, it took the entire cycle of dying and rising for this lovely yellow iris to bloom. 

While I stood admiring the iris, I recalled what the Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, observed long ago: “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”  Like for the iris, how we got to where are today, depends entirely on the past, that which we have lived. However, we know life cannot go on if we constantly dwell on the past and on things not in our power.  Kierkegaard urges us to keep living for the future, and herein lies the paradox - not only does the past keep looking over our shoulders it lurks right here in our midst.  Yes, we all live forwards but can only understand backwards. A case in point is the recent discovery of the remains of 215 children found buried at a former Indian Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia. The news of the devastating history of this tragedy left Canada reeling.  The past is never past; it reaches into the present.  While we struggle to comprehend the Kamloops tragedy backwards it surely may be the catalyst prompting us to move forward, to shape a more just and equitable future for this country.

For the first time, this year Canada claimed the top spot in the annual ranking of best countries for quality of life. This beautiful country purportedly with the best quality of life, has a dark history. What a stark paradox. Vacillating between opposites is what life so often is about.  There is the good, the bad, and the ugly not only in Canada but all over the world.  We, you and I, and all people contribute either to the good, the bad, or the ugly in our world.  We each have a choice. 

On June 6 here in London, Ontario, a 20-year-old chose to brutally mow down a Muslim family with his pickup truck while they were out for a walk.  As I write this, the public funeral of the four members of this family is being aired on TV.  Hundreds of Londoners of all faiths came to support the family of the deceased and of the entire Muslim community.  The presence of so many is a witness and reminder that darkness and light so often are juxtaposed. Out of the dark, seemingly barren earth, the beautiful yellow iris grew and bloomed.  It is evident, many of the people here in London are choosing to bring light into this tragically dark moment to birth something new in this land ranked as the best country. 

“The Spirit of God also hovers over us even during these dark times.  ”

Even in this best country, we will always live with paradoxes. There is no need to look afar. Paradoxes are part of who we are.  Thankfully, extremes like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are rare. For all of us, though, facing the paradoxes within ourselves can be a real challenge.  We all know the struggles and pitfalls when we are faced with choosing between doing the good, the bad, or the ugly.  At times we all stumble. We tend to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and hope to do better.  Change is never easy.  Changing ourselves is a real challenge.  Psychologist Carl Rogers, who had great insight into human nature, famously said, “The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” Easier said than done. 

“isn’t it odd. We can only see our outsides, but nearly everything happens on the inside”

— from the book, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

We can learn from the yellow iris.  Out of darkness beauty can be birthed.  In the first chapter of Genesis, we read that when the earth was “formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”  The Spirit of God also hovers over us even during these dark times.  Life will never be perfect, yet we can change ourselves and help to make our world a better place for all.  Earlier this week I came upon these wise words by Parker Palmer, “As often happens on the spiritual journey, we have arrived at the heart of a paradox: each time a door closes, the rest of the world opens up.”  The tragedy of the pandemic, of the 215 children buried in Kamloops, and of the senseless killing of the Muslim family could be a door closing on a terrible darkness. On this side of the closed door, with new hindsight, may Canada and the rest of the world, in Kierkegaard’s words, “live forward” to a better and brighter future for all.  A glimmer of light and hope is made visible amid the darkness.  

-Sister Magdalena Vogt, cps 

National Indigenous Peoples Day - June 21, 2021

What Celebrating/Recognizing National Indigenous

Day in Canada means to me

Boozhoo, Koolamalsi, Greetings,

My name is Wabusk skweow kahetopit (Polar Bear Woman Who is Looking Ahead). I am Anishinabe Lenaapeew (Ojibway/Lenape woman) from the Moravian of the Thames, known today as Eelunaapeewi Lahkeewiit (Delaware Nation).

What it means to me to Recognize and Celebrate National Indigenous Day and National Indigenous History month comes from the experience as a second-generation survivor of the Canadian Indian Residential School system. For me, to be Indigenous are these three action words; resiliency, reclamation, and intergenerational wisdom, my mother. The original waters I come from: My mother was dismembered from her nation, her culture, her identity, and her language due to the impact of patriarchal colonial structures like the Indian Act, the residential school system. My mother had a really difficult time fitting in when she left the residential school. She felt disconnected from her community, her family, and her culture. This had a ripple effect on the next generation. As a little girl growing up I was dismembered, as well. I was raised in a eurocentric colonial system of racism, bullying that led me to believe that “I am not good enough”, which stripped away my sense of self-worth and my identity. It was in the late 90's I began my process of recovery and reclaiming my Indigenous heritage.

“ resiliency, reclamation, and intergenerational wisdom”

Miigweech (Thank you) to the Sisters of St Joseph Hospitality Detoxification Centre. In the 1990s, it was there at that particular detox centre in London, Ontario that I started my journey to re-member, re-claim, and re-search who I truly am. I may have stumbled here and there on this Red Path. I did start to believe there was a path that has always been charted for me. It is through ceremony, teachings, and sitting with elders. There was one particular life lesson, I value: and that is to forgive and let go.

“It is time to acknowledge that it is Indigenous Peoples Day every day”

I learned it is the act of resiliency within my own intergenerational wisdom that I was able to reclaim who I am. I am an Anishinabe/Lenaapeew kwe(Lenaapeew/Objiway woman) and Ndaa’miigeyaabi maapii (we are still here).

It is time to acknowledge that it is Indigenous Peoples Day every day and it's about all Indigenous People of Turtle Island (North America) to be able to acknowledge ourselves as resilient Indigenous People. It is a celebration of life as we continue to reclaim who we are.

Therefore, every day when we wake up let us give thanks to the Creator for this breath of life, and give thanks to all of creation, the universe, and our ancestors for blessing us this day to live, love, and re-learn.

“Let us give thanks to the Creator for this breath of life”

This wise elder whose name translated in english: Pathfinder baa, he who has passed on, taught me this and it is what I live by: “Life is a Ceremony, Ceremony is all about Life”. This is what it is to me to be Indigenous and to recognize National Indigenous Day and National Indigenous history month.

Miigweech, Anushiik

All My Relations

Wabusk skweow kahetopit (Polar Bear Woman Who is Looking Ahead)

M.Tracey Whiteye

Learn More about National Indigenous Peoples Day here

WORLD REFUGEE DAY - June 20th

WORLD REFUGEE DAY - June 20, 2021

“For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the stranger, providing them food and clothing.  You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”  Dt. 10:17-19.

World Refugee Day, what does that title bring to your mind?  The many Syrian refugees who made it to Canada in the last 7 years or so, or the endless stream of Rohingiya that fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh? Do you know that there are more than 79.5 million refugees and displaced people worldwide?

The UNHCR – the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – established by the General Assembly of the UN in 1951 and ratified by 145 states, works in 135 states trying to help stateless people and refugees displaced by violence, conflict, and persecution. Climate change also brings about more and more refugees but no legal path for their safety has yet been established.

The latest wave of refugees has come from the city of Goma, Province of North Kivu, and its surrounding area, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, an area already plagued by many problems.  There, on June 1st the Nyiragongo volcano erupted, causing some 450,000 people to flee.  The UNHCR is preparing places for some of these refugees in neighbouring Rwanda at the Busamana Congolese refugee site. 

Let us also not forget the over 72,000 Palestinians from the Gaza strip displaced by the Israeli-Palestinian hostility last month. That probably brings the total number of displaced persons and refugees to 80 million.

Half of the world’s refugees are children. In 2019, more than two-thirds of all refugees came from just five countries: Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Myanmar.  Currently, Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees, 3.6 million and Colombia is hosting 1.8 million Venezuelans. In 2019 only half a per cent of the world’s refugees were resettled and last year, because of Covid-19, the number was most likely much less. Over the past decade, just over one million refugees were resettled, compared to 3.9 million refugees who returned to their countries. As always 85% of refugees are being hosted in developing countries. What does that picture tell us?

“Wealthier countries aren’t doing nearly enough to share the cost of protecting people who have left everything behind. Appeals for humanitarian assistance for refugees are consistently – and often severely – underfunded.” (A.I.) “Many wealthier states continue to prioritize policies that will deter people from seeking asylum and finding ways to stop people coming altogether”. (A.I.) This, in turn, leads to desperate refugees having to take greater risks, such as handing themselves over to traffickers, getting into unseaworthy vessels, etc.

Manyovu Transit Camp

Canadians have tried to do their best, especially through sponsoring many Syrian refugees.  That is to be applauded but it is only a drop in the bucket!   For example, 2 years ago, a Karen sponsored refugee family, that had been living in refugee camps for 20 years, – all their children were born in refugee camps – came to St. Michael’s R.C. Parish.  What an endless time of languishing and hoping, hoping and hoping…Thankfully, they are settling in more and more!

Have you ever noticed how some of the Psalms speak of what refugees go through every day?  Pray these Psalms for them to keep up their courage.

How does the lack of money given to UNHCR show in the everyday life of refugees? From personal sponsoring experience with four young adult refugees, regarded as a family, I can tell you how small and extremely simple their food ration is: for one month they receive: 40 kg of cornflower, 12 kg of beans, 1 litre of vegetable oil and 0.4 gr. of salt. That is it for food for one month for a 4-member adult family!  They also receive 1 small piece of soap each for 2 months!  No feminine hygiene products are provided. 

We all know that the UN can only do what its member states agree to.  It seems even worse with UNHCR: UNHCR depends on the goodwill of the country in which it is operating. For example, to get refugee identity papers corrected can take forever if the country you landed in, is not favourably disposed to refugees or to a certain nationality, and who can blame them if they are carrying a much heavier weight than countries that have greater means to support refugees?

We are getting to the root of the problem.  As A.I. puts it: “In short, the world urgently needs a new, global plan based on genuine international cooperation and a meaningful sharing of responsibilities.” Doesn’t that echo Pope Francis’ encyclicals of Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti?

We need to use our power as citizens in lobbying for worthwhile humanitarian causes and bring them to the fore in election periods. We need to be aware of what our federal budget is used for and what Canadian foreign policies can help stem the flow of refugees. And next, are regulations set in place to prevent human rights and environmental abuses, for example in Canadian mining companies operating globally - being observed, controlled, and enforced if not?

We need to support refugee agencies financially, if able.  The Covid-19 recession is expected to push 115 million people into extreme poverty.   During this month of June there is a chance for UNHCR and/or Development and Peace and probably A.I. as well, to win $ 20,000.00 if you donate to one of these organizations on the Canada Helps platform.  Or again, try to be ready to help with government or privately sponsored refugees, as this last part of 2021 could well overwhelm supportive agencies if, to make up for the sponsorships postponed or delayed because of Covid-19, too many refugees arrive all at once. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by your newfound friends!

And in the spirit of anti-racism, if you can, give a refugee a job, no matter from what country they come! Their hard work will please you and will quickly make up for any early language barriers you may have to struggle with.

Through your companionship with refugees or your work for refugees on whatever level, may you experience Christ’s promise:

“Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing….

Lord, and when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?

And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.”  Mt. 25: 34-35; 38, 40.

-Sister Maria van Leeuwen, C.S.J.

 [Basic statistics and information based on UNHCR-Canada, Amnesty International, Development and Peace, plus personal experience.] 

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June 20 is World Refugee Day. See how you can get involved in refugee support with this toolkit from the UN Refugee Agency. #WorldRefugeeDay

https://www.unhcr.org/609553414/world-refugee-day-2021-toolkit-pdf