Peruvian Journal: So Much In Common

So Much In Common

BY SISTER SUE SCHARFENBERGER

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As one listens to, or watches the news, it becomes clear how very much we are all alike across the globe, and at the same time, how very different!

Many countries would like to remove their president, but only Peru has been able to do it so successfully—four times in five years! Many countries followed the guidelines of the World Helath Organization (WHO) and had limited problems with COVID-19. Peru followed the guidelines, but has one of the highest death rates due to Covid in all of Latin America.

We did everything right and still got it wrong. Why? Peru is known for its “informality” in the workplace, on the economic front, and in its health care. We have written about this before, but it stands out even more noticeably when a pandemic comes along. Limted resources and a fragile economy are stretched beyond the breaking point and the poor are hit the hardest.

Even in more “developed” countries, the very poor are the ones left out of the picture when there is a crisis, because they have been “left out” long before.

In the face of the recent health

crisis, it is important to recognize the role of the church in Peru. When the health system was collapsing all around us, it was through the leadership of some of our church authorities that oxygen plants and home oxygen equipment became available, even in the most remote of areas. And now, it is the church—certainly not only the Catholic Church, but other churches as well—who have come together and launched “Resurrect Peru.” This is a movement that involves private businesses, nongovernmental organizations, foreign investors and others, to pool resources to respond to the hunger and health needs of the population.

In addition to appealing to large international groups in the country, it attempts to move the ordinary people of society to give what they can, as well. Most of what has been collected has supplied innumerable soup kitchens across the country with food supplies to combat the hunger that thousands have faced.

Other examples of solidarity have also sprung up. Here in Carmen de la Legua, we have a growing number of people affected by the virus. Friends, parents of our students, Associates and neighbors have been affected. But immediately, people contact one another to try to find a doctor to consult, an oxygen tank to be purchased, a meal to be placed on the table, especially when it is Mom or Dad who has been affected.

People remind one another of what to do, the medicines to take and not to take, the foods to eat, the precautions to take so that others are not infected.

We are preparing now for a second year of virtual learning. This has been a huge strain on our teachers and our families. So few have adequate tablets or laptops or internet service to be able to be connected virtually.

We finished 2020 with a huge deficit at Colegio Santa Angela Merici. Our entire school community is grateful for the generosity of many of you, our friends, who have made it possible to pay teachers and offer some support to families.

This year, Peru celebrates 200 years of independence. In place of big celebrations, Peru will be asking itself, “What kind of a neighbor am I?” and, as in the words of Fratelli Tutti (“On Fraternity and Social Friendship” 1paraphrased), “I dream that we can rebirth the desire to recognize the dignity of each person in sisterhood and brotherhood, so that no one has to struggle alone for life. We need community to sustain us, to help us to look ahead together. How important it is to dream together!”

Let this desire be what we have in common!

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