“There is no way you make your way by walking”
(Antonio Machado)
I learned this saying on a Heart-Links work awareness trip to Peru. During Advent, we visualize the walk Mary and Joseph made to Bethlehem. Their circumstances of forced walking play out in the world today.
We know through constant news feeds that our fellow human beings are on the move fleeing from war, environmental disaster, starvation. They are OUR people on the move, desperate for shelter, for safety, and for a hopeful peaceful future for their families. We say there is room for you in me, but is there? We witness the call to walk beside marginalized homeless in our local communities, those struggling with mental health and addiction issues.
With so much darkness both on the international and domestic scene, Advent gives us the symbol of light to illuminate the way.
Image: Unsplash/Mario Losereit
From 1962-1994 the Sisters of St Joseph in Canada from the London area, served impoverished communities in northern Peru. They did so with open hearts, and some went on to give years of walking in Peru with the people. When it was time to leave, to continue their love and an active presence the Sisters of St Joseph in 1994 created an organization called Heart-Links.
I was privileged to be invited to serve on the first Board of Directors when the Sisters transferred this charity to an incorporated independent corporation in 2003 and I travelled to Peru, to the streets of Zaña, Mocupe, Reque, Aviacion, Nueva Arica, Cayalti, and Cajamarca. Walking with the people, I felt a reciprocal exchange of love and connection. I met the dynamic Father Victor, well loved by the religious in London and Windsor. We ate bread from the bakery beside his church. Bread that was shared amongst the poor. Thick soups that were given daily at volunteer-run commodores.
Poverty in Peru continues. Heart-Links support stays strong with the oversight of a small office in London and inspiring partners in Peru, but we are fearful that in an instant the physical gains made can be wiped out as the dreaded El Niño is bearing down on them once again. Flooding caused by a warming of the Pacific Ocean brings with it a dengue epidemic, roadblocks, destruction of homes and livelihoods.
We feel firsthand how a perilous lack of resources
can be for the marginalized in our cities.
I am part of a small group that responded to the need to sponsor refugees. As a group that evolved from the commitment of Benedict Labre (formerly Kings College Chapel) and the Quaker meeting at Coldstream we decided to embrace the idea of refugee sponsorship.
Currently the United Nations estimates there are 110 million displaced people in the world, more with this current conflict in Gaza and Ukraine, and over 36.4 million refugees. There are 43.3 million forcibly displaced children. In 2022, Canada accepted 140,621 refugees. We are proud of the fact that our country is unique in its community support of refugee sponsorship, but now the way of walking with refugees is compromised. Government support at all levels has fallen behind the cost of living. Public support for efforts such as ours is declining.
The path we walk on has become very precarious. I am very worried about our latest sponsorship; one we carried out in partnership with the Catholic Diocesan church refugee ministry office.
This blended support sponsorship ends in a year. We have under our care one of the most vulnerable of family groupings. A very young mother and four-year-old son could be homeless in March, 2024. The only apartment we found for her and her son is over the allowable rate by Ontario Works. Landlords know this is a problem and are now refusing to rent to refugees without an individual from the sponsoring group signing the lease. This is not tenable going forward. Our little group is still walking but we need help… all we see right now is the darkness is coming in.
Image: Unsplash/Marek Piwnicki
The north star is a promise of fixed light for all of humanity. It does not divide or distinguish its gifts according to different expressions of faith, rather it gives hope. It illuminates darkness. Walking strengthens our resolve of how we want to go forward in this world. I have felt in my social justice work that the gift is to the giver. There is a mutuality of walking with.
We share with you the beautiful song below, “Gracias a la Vida “by Mercedes Sosa has a lyric which talks about “the route of the soul from which comes love”.
NO HAY MANERA DE QUE HAGAS A CAMINO CAMINANDO.
-Pat Howe, Kindred Spirits Associate Group
AN UPDATE ON THE SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH WORK IN PERU
From 1965 until today the Sisters of St. Joseph from the Pembroke area have Ministered to the Peruvian people living in the Chincha Valley. This mission continues to respond to the needs of the Peruvian people through the great initiatives of Sister María Choquez and Sister Gloria Muchypiña who are both Chincha Valley woman working among their own people, and Sr. Teresa (a Carondelet Sister of St. Joseph) who continue to minister in the Parish of Our Lady of Fatima, Chincha Alta.
Sister Pauline Coulterman who lived in Peru for 23 years, continues to work for our Peru mission as promoter doing fundraising in Canada for the many projects happening in the Chincha.
Each year she invites interested volunteers to visit Chincha for a two-week experience. These volunteers visit the projects the Sisters are helping out with and get a feel for the needs of the people with the hope that they would be advocates for the mission in Peru.
These trips provided the people an excellent opportunity to experience:
the Peruvian people and their culture
the historical sites and shrines within the city of Lima
the poverty-stricken areas surrounding Lima
the wealthy community of Miraflores on the coast
the city of Chincha Alta (located to the south of Lima) and its surrounding area
the mountain regions of Cuzco and Puno.
Some of the work they assist in involves the formation of the Communities and Training of the leaders in the 58 CEB’s- Basic Christian Communities of the parish. Educational and Spiritual programmes for adults, youth and children. With the help of many dedicated parishioners, they continue to oversee the catechetical sacramental programs introduced by our earlier Sisters.
They work with and oversee the Social Assistance Programme which organizes the distribution of food and clothing to the needy families and attends to some medical needs.
Apart from their work in the parish, the Sisters are responsible for overseeing a number of Canadian supported projects that are happening in the area.
Scholarship Program for Peruvian children whereby a Canadian Family agrees to sponsor a particular child from Kindergarten until the end of Grade 11. Last year there were over 300 children sponsored.
Water Projects, the earthquake of 2007 destroyed nearly all water pipe lines of the area. The main pipes the town replaced but not the lines into the people’s homes. The Sisters work with these families to get their land deed and the documents needed and this project pays for the pipes and the meters. Another part of the Water Project is to build bathrooms inside people’s homes to get away from using the back yard as a toilet. Once an inside washroom is built, showers are also put in.
The Sisters are constantly looking to the needs of the people and doing what they can to respond. If any one is interested in a two-week visit to Chincha, Lima and (Machu Picchu), Sister Pauline would be more than happy to make arrangements for this. More information can be obtained by contacting Pauline at pcoulterman@csjcanada.org.