Visitors to Chimbote find a community building and dreaming

The full Friends of Chimbote Board of Directors was able to visit our mission in Chimbote, Peru in October for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Todd, Julie, Bill, Randy, Tammy, Lucho, Matt, Margy, Michelle, Pam, Joan, Kim, Brian, three Dans, and I enjoyed a warm welcome, lots of celebrations, thank yous, witness talks, and dreams.

We demolished an estera (panels of woven reeds) shack and dedicated the new home built from wooden panels for a single mother of four, three of whom have serious disabilities. We participated in a Sunday Mass where 28 people—from infant to 14 years old—were baptized. We assisted with two different food distributions that supplement the meals and nutrition for hundreds of households who depend on day labor for their livelihood, much of it located on nearby farms.

We heard about needs for a new chapel, transportation between 13 chapels and the parish center for the pastor in Cambio Puente, meeting spaces, and classrooms. Leaders of six communities showed us the work they are doing to provide a water distribution system to their homes that would save them time and significant money on a monthly basis and told us about the dollars it would take to complete their project.

We dined at the sponsored culinary school after a cooking lesson. We played soccer and volleyball with community residents. We had lunch in the estera walled community center where the local children come to do their homework and learn the faith. We received awards from a Peruvian Congresswoman, and attended a flag raising welcome ceremony. We received a key to the city from the mayor and police chief of Cambio Puente. We were treated to a preschool and kindergarten talent show. We heard from a doctor who has received scholarship support for his education from one of our programs. We heard from a woman who resides in a quinta (similar to a group home for those with disabilities where each has private space) that we developed and support. We heard from a client who had received a home rebuild through Better Home, Better Life.

We watched a micro-lending client make bricks two at a time with a form and a punch, and his employee with a mental handicap. Their bricks are then sold to local building suppliers. We visited a bakery and sampled their breads and cookies made from alternative flours and including ingredients like algae and/or blood that addressed nutritional issues. Many of us brought home some loaves of their traditional holiday breads that are similar to what my grandmother called Easter bread or Hot Cross buns.

We heard about the challenges faced by micro-lending programs when loans are made to the very poor. We experienced living in the same upgraded facilities used by mission trip visitors to Chimbote. We spent many hours on buses and planes. We had meetings to organize our board and learn about our relationship with our leaders on the front lines. A lot of it happened in Spanish and again in English. Video and still cameras were everywhere. We witnessed the signing of a contract by which we will reacquire a hospice facility that has served the community as a local medical treatment and supply center during the pandemic. We got to know each other and the people we serve over our seven days on the ground. We also met the new bishop of Chimbote.

If you’re thinking that this list is approaching endless, you’re right. I’m sure I’ve missed some of our activities. Amid the whirlwind and the dust of this seaside desert community, I was most struck by the progress being made by our employees, programs, and clients. The whole place could have displayed a sign: Excuse our dust and mess, construction underway. Build on! Dream on!

I think we honored Pope Francis’ challenge to reach out to the margins, to show signs of God’s love to those that society pushes to the side or runs over. The ones Jesus challenges us to remember who also call on God as Father making them our brothers and sisters.

Thank you for your prayers and financial and material support for the mission of Friends of Chimbote. For more information, visit friendsofchimbote.org.