Missionary Experiences

Back to Lima where I spent a couple of days. Spending the night in a bed is always appreciated. I was also able to celebrate Mario’s birthday with the family.

But soon it was time again to take another bus, this time to Arequipa where our international CLM community is located.

Arequipa, in the south of the country, is about 18-20 hours away from Lima. This time I did not travel alone but I was accompanied by Rosa and Rosalia, two CLMs from Lima.

This time I could stay a whole week in a row, a real luxury.

Again we stayed at the Comboni Missionaries’ house where we were very well received. Most of the time we would be with Ewelina but we also spent time with the Comboni missionaries to get to know in depth the work they do in the very large parish they are in charge of.

The week in Arequipa was also quite intense. In these trips, time is always short to get to know everything.

In the first place, I would highlight the extension of the parish. We, in particular, develop our missionary service in Villa Ecológica where Ewelina and Rossie live. But in Villa we should distinguish many sectors. Villa is a newly settled neighborhood where the asphalt has been left at the gates and public transport only enters through the main avenue regularly and to reach one of its ends you must do it at rush hour or it does not compensate them, so that the rest of the day you are isolated and the only thing left is to walk.

In these neighborhoods people come from the interior of the country looking for a better life, a job in the city with which to get ahead. When you arrive you have to look for a lot (piece of land) that you can afford, pay for it and build a small house to show that you own it. This money goes to the community who will use it for common work. Saturdays or Sundays are the community work day because if the community does not do this work things will not get done. They have to make terraces on the hillsides, open streets, make sure that water reaches everywhere, build retaining walls to prevent landslides when there is an earthquake or heavy rain….

Life in these neighborhoods during the pandemic has been very hard. Most of the inhabitants make a living from small businesses. What they sell one day gives them enough to eat the next, but when any possibility of going out to sell was closed, the situation became very difficult. At that time the common cooking pots began to proliferate (we saw the same in Lima and other cities). Two or three women cooked for 50, 60 or 70 families. Many of these pots are still maintained because the population continues to need them. And in the organization and support of these pots was always the parish, collecting aid and supporting with food to alleviate this difficult situation.

For us the work has a lot to do with visiting the families in their homes, getting to know their needs and accompanying them. From the work of the cradle (school for children from 2 to 5 years old) we also support and do important work, not only with the children, but also with their families.

Education is the engine of development and dignity of all peoples.

One morning we went with Fr. Conrado and Fr. Valentin to visit the parish by car and we needed 3 or 4 hours to go around and get close to some parts of it, not even all, to know the different sectors, the challenges that are opening as people continue to occupy and reach new lands. The last chapel will be at almost 3000 meters above sea level at the foot of Misti (emblematic volcano of 5800 meters above sea level that guards the whole city of Arequipa).

During the week we were able to accompany Ewelina in her work in the cradle, in the catechetical groups, where 50 adults were confirmed and new groups continue to be opened. Her work with the youth, with the elderly we were not able to be there because it did not coincide.

We were also able to visit his home in Villa where together with Rossie (who was in the USA that week to settle some legal and medical matters) they share their daily life with their neighbors and the many dogs that occupy the streets of Villa. There was plenty of time to talk and understand the day to day life of the community.

We also took some time to visit the city, especially the center, with the cathedral, the Plaza de Armas, the Jesuits, etc. A very beautiful historic center, with a colonial character, which makes Arequipa an increasingly touristy place.

In Arequipa there is also the possibility of opening a new group of local CLM, which for the moment will be animated by Rossie and Ewelina but which Rosa and Rosalia attended in the presentation to present how they are organized in Peru and to establish a first link with the candidates and an awareness that being in one place or another we all belong to the same CLM family and we have a common mission.

Undoubtedly an intense week from which I bring back many images and knowledge to share with those who are preparing in the future to continue our international presence in Peru.

I leave here another video of the reality in Arequipa, it is already some years old but it also orients us in the reality of Arequipa).

On the way back to Lima and after 20 hours of travel I went out to buy some handicrafts to give as gifts on my return and above all to do missionary animation in Spain.

To finish the trip I had a meeting with all the CLM of Peru, those of Lima in person and those of Trujillo or Arequipa by internet, to talk about what the continental meeting has meant and to see how to continue advancing.

I spent the last day with Fr. Joselín, provincial of Peru, to talk about my stay during the month, to learn more about Peru and the Comboni presence and to take a walk for a while.

A month that has flown by between meetings and trips. Now it is time to digest and pray all that I have experienced and I hope it will be of benefit to all the people with whom I have been able to share this time.

Kind regards

Alberto de la Portilla, coordinator of the CLM Central Committee.