PERUVIAN JOURNAL
Resilience, Perseverance and Just Plain Stubbornness BY SISTER SUE SCHARFENBERGER
to that was the inscription for the next school year. In addition, she had put aside almost all that she needed to pay off the debt. I wanted to help. This young woman was serious about her responsibilities and creative in looking for solutions. STUBBORNNESS.
But I asked her if she would be able to continue paying tuition in the coming year. Her answer revealed a whole new reality. Her brother, who is 22, had just started to work. It was his first job. She had been upset with him for years when it never occurred to him to get out and work in order to help the family. Now that he was working, he had more enthusiasm, interest in other things, and felt happy to be able to help the family. Estefani came to me about ten days ago. She looked too young to have a 6-year-old and a newborn. She told me that she was having trouble paying the back tuition and finding money for the next school year. I was anticipating that she needed some huge sum of money, which is frequently the case in January when back tuition has mounted over several months.
Estefani is a single mother whose own mother is a single parent, as well. Estefani lost her job at the beginning of the pandemic, but
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SPRING 2022 | DOME
stubbornly has found work, sometimes for six weeks, sometimes for a month, sometimes only for a week. RESILIENCE.
So, with the brother’s help, Estefani would be able to continue to send her 6-year-old to Saint Angela Merici School.
When we met, I discovered that her back tuition only amounted to over a month’s worth and added
Each story is unique, yet there are common threads: Beatriz, Maria,
And with the money she earns, she puts food on the table for her mother, her brother, her two children and herself. In addition, she pays the lights, water and telephone bills for the family. So, with a minimum wage salary, there was nothing left for tuition.
The “help” I could give to Estefani came from the generous support of our many donors over the years. What was different about Estefani’s story was that she immediately told me that she would “pay it back” (or is it “pay it forward”) so that we could continue to help other people.
