Peru

Andrea is a warm and beautiful 3-year-old child who lives in a small house in the poorest region of Arequipa, Peru. She shares her living space with her parents and two older brothers. Her life has always been difficult since her parents are very poor and her house has only one light bulb, no running water, two beds for everyone to sleep on, and the house is missing most of its windows. Consequently, her home is very cold during the days and especially in the nights.

However, things became much worse for her and her family when her father fell and hit his head approximately six weeks ago. He has a history of chronic seizure disorder and needed hospitalization for a hematoma he received after his fall. What little money the family had prior to this injury was spent for medical costs.

The house is equipped with a small propane stove, yet little money exists for purchasing gas and, thus the children are not fed proper meals. A hole in the ground serves as a toilet and the family shares a garden hose with the local community, in order to receive any water for drinking. Andrea’s first words to me after meeting her were not, “I’m hungry”, rather “My father is in the hospital”. I was moved to tears by her strength and acknowledgement that her father’s situation was direr than her own.

In Andrea I can clearly hear Jesus’s words (Mt 5: 3,6):

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Andrea and her family are not seeking pity, rather some of the basic necessities that we all may take for granted: food and water. Karissa, I, Sister Yanibell, and our friends are using some of the funds given to us by Dr. Barbara De Lateur- thank you so much for your continued support of our efforts. We are going to build the family a small kitchen, in order to provide meals and bring water closer to the home. We also hope to do more for these wonderful people in the future, for example construct a proper bathroom, if our funds will permit this. We have also asked permission from her parents, in order to have Andrea visit with us on weekends so that she, too, may share in the comfort of a safe and warm environment.

God bless you all for your prayers for Andrea and her family and please remember equality begins with the first step of sharing.

Peace,

Matt, Karissa, Lydia, and Violet Misner

Hello Everyone!

The Misner family is doing well in Arequipa and are giving aid to several members of the community needing our help.

First I would like to present to you one fried of the Villa Ecologica named Hector. Hector is 86 years old and is a frequent patient in our clinic. He is very strong for his age and is not suffering from many of the same problems that other older patients are. However, he does not have a place to live, eat, or other basic necessities that are necessary for him to live.

Although someone might think Hector is “poor” because he does not have much money, he is not limited in his activities. He is growing a beautiful garden near his home and likes to share with the clinic and his friends. He is very nice person and his love for life is very contagious so we visit him frequently. He is living the words in the Gospel of today’s Mass, reading from the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Colossians in 3: 1-5. 9-11: “Aspire to the things that are above, not those of the earth.” Hopefully, we are all also demonstrating the same faith as Hector.

He does not have a house after a very strong wind knocked over his home many months ago. Therefore, he has to sleep in a shack in the days, which is located above the house to his niece, and is sleeping in an old car at night. He can’t sleep in the house of his niece because it is very small and has little space for his five other family members. We have a little money that we received from Ralph and Polly Winburn who are friends of mine from the States- thanks so much for your help! We will build a small house for Hector to live and hopefully more in the future if we can obtain more money. I will send more photos after the construction when I have them.

We are very grateful for your support and send the peace and love of Christ to you all.

We will be in contact soon!

Matt, Karissa, Lydia, and Violet Misner