Message on June 8,
2005
June 8, 2005
Hello family and friends!
We're currently in Trujillo staying at the Comboni priests' house.
One of the parishioners, Arturo, takes us around in his taxi
during the days to show us Alto Trijillo. Our new
parish, Señor de los Milagros, has eight chapels
and we've
had the opportunity to tour most of them. Most have schools
attached to them along with other ministries (soup kitchens, after
school programs for children, bible study, etc).
We had a chance to walk though the house we'll move into when we arrive
in September. Currently some sisters who run one of the
schools
live there, but they're building a new house closer to their school
which should be done in August. The house is adequate and does have
power and water that is delivered every other day.
To view some photos of Alto Trujillo, click here.
Poverty permeates the lives of these people and we see its
fruits
everywhere: single parent families (almost always mom), gangs,
violence, hunger and malnutrition. Yet the people with whom
we
visited welcomed us warmly and are helping us find our way around.
We will leave Trujillo for language school this Saturday, June 11.
That's a change in our plans because we need to obtain our
national identification card from Perú before we leave.
We'll do that in Lima on the 13th and 14th. We
won't travel
to language school in Bolivia until the 15th of June, which means we
will arrive late. Such is life in South America!
Some of
you may have read about the political unrest in Bolivia.
We've
been in contact with the language school and they say that language
school students are managing to get to Cochabamba. Most of
the
problems are centered in the capitol city of La Paz. Our
airline
tells us they will not route us through La Paz, as we were originally
ticketed to do. Thank goodness!
Hannah is adjusting well and seems to love it here.
Interestingly
enough, it's been hard to buy milk for her to drink, but I think I've
figured out how to do it. Milk is not readily
available,
hence part of the reason for the malnutrition among the children!
Let us continue to pray for one another.
In peace,
Ralph and Theresa May