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This story and photos may be seen here: http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2007/07694.htm
October 29, 2007
Changing from the inside out
PC(USA) Young Adult Volunteer helps Peruvian kids find their voice
by Kori Phillips former PC(USA) Young Adult Volunteer
DAYTON, OH - Leaving my family and twin behind in Dayton, I served for a year in Lima, Peru as a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Young Adult Volunteer.
I worked in the office of the Joining Hands Network of Peru - a ministry of the Presbyterian Hunger Program - and with the Presbyterian Church Luz y Vida ("light and life"). I joined church members working with a community of rural people who migrated as a group from the jungle in search of a better life for their families.
They set their homes on the bank of the Rimac River, behind a large hardware market. The community was built of thin, less than plywood-weighted walls and thatched roofs. The children who attended our Sunday morning Bible school often came in worn out sandals or barefoot, and the same faded shirts they wore the week before. But they came and sang and listened and colored with us.
One morning, returning to the church on foot, I saw a man on the side of the Evitamiento highway. He was unconscious, barely alive. His head rested on a bag, mouth slightly open. One hand lay on his stomach, the other fell at his side.
He lay as if he had given up. Given up hope. Given up survival in this tough city, where people are just trying to make it through the end of the day the best they can with enough change in their pockets to feed their children. He had given up on life.
And we - in turn - walked by, stepping around him. We had given up on him, too.
The following days I struggled with what I had seen and done, or not done. This was early in my time in Peru and I didn't feel confident enough in my Spanish to engage a conversation with my family or church yet, so I carried it with me. I carry it still; and now, I carry it on to you.
Conrado Olivera, my boss at the Joining Hands Network of Peru, describes poverty as exclusion. The person who is alone, whose spirit aches for accompaniment, is in poverty.
Attacking poverty is not simply the process of giving money - a gift. It's more than that - it's the whole environment. Conrado says that poverty doesn't come from God. It comes from this exclusion. This means it is a problem of ours. We, as humans, created it and therefore must address it.
The Joining Hands Network looks to address these issues - hunger stemming from the larger problem of poverty - by seeking out and breaking down the barriers of exclusion. We look to accompany as a network, as equals, the marginalized of society.
I failed him, the man on the street, I failed God and I failed myself.
One day in March I got called into a meeting between the Joining Hands facilitator and the Filomenas, a group that focuses on environmental rights in La Oroya, where 97 percent of the children have lead poisoning. A Filomenas-led group was planning a conference for young adults from Huancayo and the United States to join in solidarity with their efforts for a cleaner and healthier city.
La Oroya is the home of a smelter run by Doe Run - a U.S. corporation based near St. Louis - which has contributed to earning La Oroya a sad spot on the top ten list of the most polluted places in the world.
The group was discussing the prospect of painting a large-scale mural addressing the theme of the conference: Juntos Podemos Cambiar y Soñar Como Queremos Nuestra Oroya ("Together we can change and dream how we want our Oroya"). They also discussed the possibility of finding an artist to lead this project.
My interest immediately sparked. I had painted murals before and led youth at summer camps to paint murals. So I shared this with them, and they invited me to lead this project.
Easter morning I traveled from Huancayo to La Oroya to sketch the design, before the rest of the youth joined me. I worked quickly, but as the sun went down and the streetlights came on it became too cold to continue working. Early the next morning, Juan and I continued working. The group, scheduled to arrive at 11, was typically late so I had time to finish my sketching.
As the buses drove into town, they slowed and honked and waved, very excited about the mural project and conference. During three exhausting and amazing days of activities and translating we shared meals and songs and devotionals together. We split the 70 young adults into work teams who gave radio interviews, staged a play, participated in a parade, wrote and sang on the radio a beautiful song about uniting to accomplish your dreams. They also photo-documented the events, and had a first time meeting with the mayor, in which he answered questions from the La Oroya youth.
And my team painted the mural. We painted the leaves in the many trees with handprints, to symbolize the idea that as humans created this disaster, humans can also fix it - by adding measures to improve the health and safety of not only the workers, but also all the people of La Oroya.
After explaining the mural's significance at the dedication ceremony, I painted the mayor's hand and he added it to the mural as a show of solidarity.
These three days of laughter, hard work, and
community-building were powerful to me. They demonstrated how when we work together, reach out to the stranger, and accept new ideas beautiful things can be and will be accomplished.
Entering into the year, my Spanish language skills were very weak. My favorite time of day was lunch. We would go together as an office and talk. I mainly listened. We would laugh hysterically as they taught me new words or new meanings to words that I already knew. Little by little I began to understand more of what was said to me and around me.
The language of the church was new to me, as well. I realized the words used in worship services were very different than I had been taught - words like saving souls, sinner, head of the household, training your children, your wife. At times I felt so lost in the meaning I didn't feel I would ever understand, but like a child I learned to speak.
I worked as a camp counselor for a week in Huanuco. The camp focuses on sexual abuse rehabilitation. To break the ice, we used our names to draw a picture. I asked each of the 11 youth to tell a story about their name, or simply how they got their name.
It was difficult to get the kids to talk, but they each said a few words - until we got to Berta. She had barely begun her drawing and wouldn't say a word, not to me, not to anyone. One of the other leaders shook her head as if to say "she won't speak." It pained me to think of what she had been through in her life. I wondered what had been done to this 13-year-old girl that she could barely even look at me, or anyone.
One night all the electricity at the camp went out. Having planned a movie for the evening activity, we thought quickly what to do instead. I suggested a story-telling game in which each person in turn adds to the story.
As the story passed around the circle, I watched Berta. I was unsure what would happen when the story came to her, because she hadn't spoken for two days. But, in the darkness, she found her voice.
I'd like to think I had something to do with this moment. But, as she began to speak and make friendships with the other girls and boys, I knew it couldn't have been anything but God's hand helping her begin to heal.
I followed my call. At times I questioned myself. There were times when the right words wouldn't come. But I was called to Peru for a specific reason. There were times when I knew I was in the right place at the right time. God asks us everyday to reach out, To step across our boundaries And overcome our fears. By breaking down the barriers of exclusion, Of poverty, We begin to see God's work in our world.
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