Monday, August 24, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Herlinda is a charming lady, in her early sixties. She lives with Miguel, her husband in a humble cane/wooden shack, where they have no running water, her bed lies directly on the earthen floor, surrounded by the remnants of a life spent in utter poverty. Last February she was diagnosed with “some” heart defect, (specificity costs money in these here parts) she was prescribed ‘some” form of blood thinner (again speciality drugs cost money in these here parts) which she can barely afford with the help of her extended family and people like you. I left in sadness one day, indeed I do most days, as they relate once again what it feels like to be dependant on a health system (disasterous as it is) that is founded on the principle that only the monied will survive, what it feels like to know that if you were born under a different sky, the treatment you needed would be readily available, what it feels like to read in the face of your doctors, “I’m sorry, but if you had $150, we would do so something”. The pain in her voice as she communicates the helplessness and abandonment she feels as she, from her own Calvary commends her life into the hands of her Maker. “Si Dios quiere” she says, “if God wants”.
Marisol lives in another part of the parish, she is thirty seven years and lives with very severe mental disability. She is immobile due to her weight and as her parents get older and weaker she spends less time in the sunlight and lesser time visiting the medical professionals who could comfort her with empty pronostications while they prescribe the only medicación that her parents can afford, painkillers. When I first met her and her family in their house which resembled a garden shed, I met an exasperated family, weighed down by the cross of their daughters condition and by their inability to improve it in any way. Again, Lady Poverty had eradícated all options. “Si Dios quiere”, they say, “if God wants”. But does He.
I often think that poverty is the lack of choice, you play the hand dealt you by God or those who play God and no other hand is possible. Some would say the real issue in this situacion is becoming increasingly clear today - poverty means death. As Gustavo Gutierrez, the Peruvian theologian once commented “ it means death due to hunger and sickness, or to the repressive methods used by those who see their privileged position being endangered by any effort to liberate the oppressed. It means physical death to which is added cultural death, inasmuch as those in power seek to do away with everything that gives unity and strength to the dispossessed of this world”. I suppose that while it is easy, convenient and and on some level, lazy to say “ sure that’s how God made it”, Gutierrez refers more forcefully to the “institutionalised violence”, a phrase famously promoted by the Medellin conference in 1968. The structures that aggressively seek to perpetuate the poverty and suffering of so many of the world’s population, all the while we guiltily acknowledge, there is enough for everybody (and three billion more). There is no world food shortage, there is a shortage of people willing to train farmers in the developing world modern farming practices, there is a shortage if we greedily continue to build our “butter mountains”, “beef mountains” and “milk lakes” in Belgium’s beautiful capital city.
There is no shortage in our world but in the parish where I have the privilege of working in the slums in the north of Guayaquil, La Parroquia de Los Pastorcitos de Fatima, it is not so obvious. In a parish of 47,000 souls, the vast majority of whom live below the poverty line, some in extreme “absolute” poverty, at times you feel overwhelmed, at times helpless, at times downright angry and at times encouraged, encouraged by the inherent goodness of people and their willingness to stand up, be counted and say, “that’s wrong, what can I do to change it”. It is people like that that make my mission possible here in Ecuador. The Bishop’s Conference in Puebla in 1979 stated that the “ poor are the first ones to whom Jesus’ mission is directed (Luke 4,18-21) and ...the evangelización of the poor is the supreme sign and proof of His mission. (Luke 7, 21-23) To work among the poorest of the poor is a wonderful extraordinary privilege for me, an inadecuate instrument in God’s hand proclaiming His liberating message of Love Justice and Peace, and a channel for the unbounded goodness of my friends and neighbours in my native Erris and beyond.
Herlinda, I know you will want to know, is at present receiving a new treatment which, she says, has improved her quality of life immeasurably enabling her to participate more fully in her family life and Marisol has a new wheelchair (well nearly new) and has literally, taken to the road. She already has 128 penalty poínts. Now she spends much of the day doing things she could never do, either in the sun or visiting her neighbours with her mum or simply a short journey down the street to check up on the goings on. As there is no tarmacadam, I joke with her family that she could have done with a four wheel drive but that is the least of their worríes. They’re not big investments but their effects are in a real and beautiful way, life changing and threaten to loosen, albeit ever so slightly, the grasp of poverty in lives of two very special people.
The life of Reilly, the building projects and these much smaller but no less important interventions are all made possible by the help of people like yourself, totally and utterly. I pray that you will continue to be generous, seek to replace the structures that perpetuate suffering and improve the lives of those who live in extreme poverty in our world.
Marisol lives in another part of the parish, she is thirty seven years and lives with very severe mental disability. She is immobile due to her weight and as her parents get older and weaker she spends less time in the sunlight and lesser time visiting the medical professionals who could comfort her with empty pronostications while they prescribe the only medicación that her parents can afford, painkillers. When I first met her and her family in their house which resembled a garden shed, I met an exasperated family, weighed down by the cross of their daughters condition and by their inability to improve it in any way. Again, Lady Poverty had eradícated all options. “Si Dios quiere”, they say, “if God wants”. But does He.
I often think that poverty is the lack of choice, you play the hand dealt you by God or those who play God and no other hand is possible. Some would say the real issue in this situacion is becoming increasingly clear today - poverty means death. As Gustavo Gutierrez, the Peruvian theologian once commented “ it means death due to hunger and sickness, or to the repressive methods used by those who see their privileged position being endangered by any effort to liberate the oppressed. It means physical death to which is added cultural death, inasmuch as those in power seek to do away with everything that gives unity and strength to the dispossessed of this world”. I suppose that while it is easy, convenient and and on some level, lazy to say “ sure that’s how God made it”, Gutierrez refers more forcefully to the “institutionalised violence”, a phrase famously promoted by the Medellin conference in 1968. The structures that aggressively seek to perpetuate the poverty and suffering of so many of the world’s population, all the while we guiltily acknowledge, there is enough for everybody (and three billion more). There is no world food shortage, there is a shortage of people willing to train farmers in the developing world modern farming practices, there is a shortage if we greedily continue to build our “butter mountains”, “beef mountains” and “milk lakes” in Belgium’s beautiful capital city.
There is no shortage in our world but in the parish where I have the privilege of working in the slums in the north of Guayaquil, La Parroquia de Los Pastorcitos de Fatima, it is not so obvious. In a parish of 47,000 souls, the vast majority of whom live below the poverty line, some in extreme “absolute” poverty, at times you feel overwhelmed, at times helpless, at times downright angry and at times encouraged, encouraged by the inherent goodness of people and their willingness to stand up, be counted and say, “that’s wrong, what can I do to change it”. It is people like that that make my mission possible here in Ecuador. The Bishop’s Conference in Puebla in 1979 stated that the “ poor are the first ones to whom Jesus’ mission is directed (Luke 4,18-21) and ...the evangelización of the poor is the supreme sign and proof of His mission. (Luke 7, 21-23) To work among the poorest of the poor is a wonderful extraordinary privilege for me, an inadecuate instrument in God’s hand proclaiming His liberating message of Love Justice and Peace, and a channel for the unbounded goodness of my friends and neighbours in my native Erris and beyond.
Herlinda, I know you will want to know, is at present receiving a new treatment which, she says, has improved her quality of life immeasurably enabling her to participate more fully in her family life and Marisol has a new wheelchair (well nearly new) and has literally, taken to the road. She already has 128 penalty poínts. Now she spends much of the day doing things she could never do, either in the sun or visiting her neighbours with her mum or simply a short journey down the street to check up on the goings on. As there is no tarmacadam, I joke with her family that she could have done with a four wheel drive but that is the least of their worríes. They’re not big investments but their effects are in a real and beautiful way, life changing and threaten to loosen, albeit ever so slightly, the grasp of poverty in lives of two very special people.
The life of Reilly, the building projects and these much smaller but no less important interventions are all made possible by the help of people like yourself, totally and utterly. I pray that you will continue to be generous, seek to replace the structures that perpetuate suffering and improve the lives of those who live in extreme poverty in our world.
Mass in one of the Cane Chapels which we hope to replace this year.
Our Soup Kitchen where we provide a meal for 120 children every day.
A Parish Mission, where some children from one part of the parish organised to visit and organize activities for children in another part. It included a football championship, a meal and some time in prayer and catequesis.
Various scenes from during the year, Mass in one of our little timber chapels, one of our soup kitchens and a mission to another sector of our parish by some young people.
Some of the children in our "guarderia" , child-minding centre. Because there is a high incidence of single mothers, it is hard to obtain employment if you have a young one to care for. This makes it easier and is an opportunity to break the cycle. Often the kids wear what would be considered respectable clothing because many charities come to the parish at various times of the year but especially at Christmas, to do their good deed, and so often the kids benefit for these gestures.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Christmas 2008 in Los Pastorcitos de Fatima
Christmas is nothing if not the season of hope, hope brought to us by a God-child who loves us for who were are, despite our circumstances or status in life, a God who chose to be born in a cave on the margins of Bethlehem as if on the margins of humanity, impoverished and unwelcomed, a fount of peace and joy in a world, then as now, often too busy chasing its own shadows to recognise His saving Presence. Christmas greetings from a hot and humid Guayaquil. I hope this finds you well as it leaves me.
Is it just me or does it seem to you as well that with each Christmas the activity surrounding the holidays just gets more and more hectic? It is not difficult to lose one’s perspective at Christmas.
I recall the story about an 8-year-old girl who had a most disappointing Christmas. She didn’t get the gifts she hoped to receive. She got into arguments with her older brother. Her mother walked into their play area to find her fighting with him and she was blamed. She took her anger out on the cat and found herself in bed that night earlier than usual. When she prayed the Lord’s prayer as was her custom she said, “and forgive us our Christmases as we forgive those who Christmas against us.”
Christmas has been a wonderful, joy-filled experience in the parish. I have been visiting as many of the communities as I can with donations of toys and sweets. Thanks to a very many people we have been able to provide toys for many many children in the shanty parish. The good will and generosity of people is moving at Christmas time. God bless you all. It is truly amazing the effect a toy has in the life of a child. I’m still not sure if it is just the toy or the fact that someone cares enough to give it. I am beginning to think more of the latter. We all crave someone who cares.
There is also a certain pride. Even in the humblest cane hut you will see colourful flowers and even a scattering of lights, (as you can see in the photo) homage to the God child of Bethlehem and the dignity the we share as brothers and sisters even in the most hopeless and deprived situations.
A brief word about the building projects, at the time of writing, we are busy with phase two of the parish centre (still) which is to cost $85,000. It is a very necessary development which will be used by the doctor, and also to provide meals for the children and catechesis. Last month we started a soup-kitchen in one of the invasions areas of the parish called San Barnebé Apostol. There are 120 children feeding there everyday, Monday to Saturday. It costs between $5 and $6 dollars a month to feed one child. In another area of the parish we are, at present, working on a building which in January will become a medical centre, soup-kitchen and teaching facility (for kids and parents without the resourses to attend the schools in the city). That part of the parish is called Cerro Redondo. It is in a delapidated state, but given time, money etc. etc. The doctor has agreed to come twice a week A lot of time is spent now trying to source the funds to finance these projects and ensure that they become reality. Actually, these projects depend very little on me and almost completely on the generosity of people like your good self. Together we will continue to seek to improve the lives of those who live in extreme poverty in our world.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and until the next time it‘s Happy Christmas from us. Thank you for your support always. May the God-child of the Cave grant you and yours peace and joy this Christmas.
There is an odd little carol which is sometimes sung on this first Sunday after Christmas. It begins:
There's snow on the mountain and ice on the pond,
The Wise Men are home now in the back of beyond. The Shepherd's have left us; the heavens are dumb; There's no one to tell us why Jesus has come. It ends: But God's in His heaven, and Jesus has come To show every sinner he's welcome back home, To be this world's Saviour from hunger and fear, And give us new courage to face the New Year.
The Wise Men are home now in the back of beyond. The Shepherd's have left us; the heavens are dumb; There's no one to tell us why Jesus has come. It ends: But God's in His heaven, and Jesus has come To show every sinner he's welcome back home, To be this world's Saviour from hunger and fear, And give us new courage to face the New Year.
Happy New Year
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Sunset in the mountains of Ecuador
God in there somewhere.
A view of the famous "Salt Lake", the world's largest.
An active volcano on the Argentine border.
With the "Green Lake" in the foreground.
A typical home of the indigenous communities
This is the home of Carmen Saeteros. She has just turned ninty (she thinks). Very often they have difficulty remembering their date of birth. Her very simple house is typical of the indigenous community and made from clay and stray blocks (bloques de adobe) with the luxurious models having tin roofs, (many with stray). These homes are bitterly cold for a man from Belmullet used to the bit hearth full of good black turf. But these are a tougher people. Carmen sleeps on the floor on a large bag filled with animal coat. Inside it is just one room with a table at one end and her bag (bed) at the other. She survives on milk and eggs (dairy products in large quantities being bad and all that jazz, she must have missed that health supplement) With no shoes and no socks, the earthen floor can be well... Recently we have decided to "renovate" her local run-down chapel at a cost or between $2000-2500. She said it was the best New Year present she could have received. She (as the elder stateswoman), and the rest of the community of Rumiurco are very proud of their Christian Catholic faith. Say one for her, she is quite ill at this moment.
Our New Church at Cimientos
Ciemientos is a community in the wilds of the mountains of Ecuador, untouched until recently by the "outside" world. It is a community constituted entirely of indigenous peoples. They speak Kichwa and are intensely uncomfortable speaking in Spanish (as am I, so at least we have that in common). Thanks to the support of the people of my native Erris, Co Mayo, this chapel is nearing completion. Unfortunately because of the incredible effects of the "La Nina" and associated weather patterns, the inauguration will take place in the summer, probably September. But it is a beautiful chapel, built on the foundation of an old Inca structure. (Ciemientos means foundation) They do not rue the loss of the Inca relic because they are decendents of the Canari people who were subjugated by the Inca Empire in the thirteenth century. One back as it were, if not a little too late.
Here we are above the clouds at over 2800metres
