News

St. Marks Youth Group speaks on trip to Peru

By Scott Wagar

03/26/2013

When it come to the residents of Chimbote, Peru, one thing is certain. It is a life of hardships, filled with poverty and little around them to make their lives better. However, thanks to eight teenagers from St. Marks Catholic Church the lives for some residents of this South American coastal town were improved due to their mission minded ways.

From May 29 to June 9, LauraEllen Brandjord, Scott Davis, Courtney Gallagher, Karlee McCloud, Jair Peltier, Magan Saville, Erin Severson and Lauren Vad traveled to Chimbote to assist Father Jack Davis in his mission compound in a number of undertaking to help the residents of a city which is considered to be one of the poorest and most contaminated cites in the world.

During their time in Peru, the teenagers built homes for the Chimbote people, attended school with the young children of Father Jack’s school, organized a storage room on the mission’s compound, and spent time with the residents of the city learning of their difficulties and ways of life.

Unfortunately, on March 16, Chimbote saw devastation when the city received 38 inches of rain in a matter of a couple of hours, which destroyed large portions of the people’s homes (made of bamboo which is weaved together) who live in the poorest part of the city, leaving many children and adults homeless on the streets.

With the destruction, the youth who journeyed to Peru this past summer came back together at St. Marks Social Hall on Wednesday evening to present a symposium of their journey to Peru, and asked those in attendance to assist those who are currently in dire need in a city that they fell in love with and are dear to their hearts.

Through their presentation, those in attendance saw a video, slide show and heard some personal accounts from the teenagers of their experiences in Chimbote.

“These people hardly have any thing to begin with,” Peltier said about the current situation Chimbote is facing with the flooding they are experiencing. “So, to be in the situation where their shelters are gone, and more so to the predicament they are in, they barely had anything, and now they have nothing at all.”

Peltier then turned his attention to his time in Chimbote and stated that even though the people of this community have little, they are satisfied.

“They are very happy people, very content with all they have and they don’t take anything for granted like most of us do here,” Peltier said. “We take everything for granted, we all have homes and we all have running water that is heated immediately. For those down there who have a shower, they have to flip on switch and wait 30 minutes for the water to warm up.

“Their water source is a container on their roof which is filled up each day, but only holds only 40 to 50 gallons of water. That’s all they have for showering, washing, plumbing and drinking water, which I wouldn’t recommend doing, but they have to drink it because most of them cannot afford to have purified water to begin with,” Peltier added. “And, food is perishable down there, so they have to eat it quickly. However, the food is rotting away while people cannot afford to buy it. Father Jack does a lot of good with feeding them. They have soup kitchens, but we were not able to work in them because the people of Chimbote work them so they can earn a meal to eat. But, like I said, they are just happy, they take nothing for granted.”

Peltier spoke about one incident they came upon in the compound where they discovered about 200 women who were all holding brooms.

“They had been sweeping the compound for two hours in exchange for one item of clothing. That item of clothing could be either for themselves or their children. They have to make a decision,” he said. “When it comes to shoes, they have to wait until donations come in. They cherish every little thing that they get. No matter how big or small, they love it.”

As he concluded, Peltier asked those in attendance to be thankful for what they have in life.

“We in the United States, we just take what we want and we don’t cherish it. At Christmas time we expect more than one Christmas present. There, they don’t expect anything,” Peltier said. “So, tonight, I want you to think about what you have and I want you to cherish them, cherish everything you have, cherish your family, your home, cherish this church, cherish this whole community, because in some places all they have is a community. We have no idea how lucky we are. Think about that.”

Brandjord also spoke and told those in attendance about an e-mail she received from Father Jack and what she saw in the devastation the rain did to city of Chimbote.

She went on to explain that for most residents in Chimbote, their bamboo houses only have dirt floors; no insulation, siding or electricity, and at times, only a hole in the ground for a water source.

“When I went to Chimbote I fell in love with this town and its people,” Brandjord said. “I fell in love with Chimbote not because of its poverty but because of its people, the welcoming, friendly hopeful people.”

Brandjord added that on the average mean, the residents of Chimbote only make an equivalent of around $300 US dollars a year and its people normally wear the same clothing each day.

“I remember a common phrase in the Bible, “The meek shall inherit the earth,’” Brandjord said. “I hope that is the case for the people of Chimbote because they have already suffered too much.”

Individuals who would like to make a donation to Father Jack Davis’s mission during this difficult time in Peru, contact St. Marks Catholic Church.
Editor’s Note: Father Jack Davis is the brother to Bottineau resident Tim Davis.