Dear Friends ... Queridos Amigos,

 

Time doesn't appear to move particularly fast until I take account of the fact that nearly 2 months have flown by since Letter # 15. Since then I've spent most of the time out in the campo visiting the "caserios", our small rural communities. They vary greatly in size. The measurement is always based on the number of families. Some caserios have only 20-30 families, while the largest go up to 80 families. It doesn't sound much until you realise that a typical Peruvian "campesino" family will have between 7-10 children.

 a "typical family" ... Mama in front of me holding baby (no.8)

 

It always amazes me when I stay in the houses, the sheer number of people living under one roof. When they put el Padresito to bed at night (sadly no bedtime story!) - always in the most comfortable corner of the house -  the whole family then disappears into another corner of the house where they all huddle into maybe 2 small beds ... all 10 of them!! Then in the early hours of the morning (from 5 am) the ritual begins of being smoked out of my sleeping bag as the fire's lit and the breakfast prepared. The routine is amazingly, and comfortingly, consistent in each place. The family changes, the house is a slightly different shape, there may or may not be rats or fleas to contend with during the night ... but the smoke always starts at 5 am!! The families are, as I've often said, incredibly kind and generous and usually a delight to be with - especially the little ones.

 

Recently I've been accompanied to the campo by Sr Saane (in left of photo above holding little boy). Saane is also a nurse and brings her stethoscope and blood pressure gauge with her. Visiting a very frail and elderly man the other day - the poor man first had me offering him confession, sacrament of the sick and holy communion ..... followed by Saane offering to take his blood pressure and check his heart and lungs. By the end of our visit he was pretty confused but had good results on all fronts (body and spirit) and was smiling and happy!

 

As well as campo visits  we also celebrated Corpus Christi TWICE in Frias (don;t ask me why "twice", I just do as I'm told ... "es costumbre Padre" ) ...

 

 Corpus Christi ... No. 2 

 

We also had a good 5 day retreat for all the priests & deacons with Bishop Dan, in a nice Jesuit retreat house down on the coast in a place called Chiclayo. Always good to be together with the other priests and share stories and support one another.

 

 Chulucanas Diocesan clergy (pick out the 2  x "A & B gringos")

 

One of the difficult features of the past couple of months has been the COLD. Peru has been really suffering from cold, especially at the high altitudes where so many people live. In Puno, in the south, lots of children and elderly folk have sadly died or been hospitalised. Even in the region where I'm based, the Departmento de Piura, I read in the paper that 40,000 people are affected by the extreme cold. Often you see sunshine in my photos but the evenings and mornings have been FREEZING in many of the places I've been visiting. I've had flu & colds on and off for the past 3 months - as have so many of the people. It's hard to shake it off when the temperatures are so extreme! But apart from that I'm fit and well, thank God. I was also bitten by a dog the other week while on a sick visit... me ending up worse than the person I was visiting. The dog made no sound, just came from behind and sunk it;s teeth into my lower leg. I put on some antiseptic and was reassured that if the dog didn't die within 8 days there was no risk of rabies. Praise the Lord, the dog's still alive and kicking (... and probably biting)!

 

I've mentioned before the terrible acts of violence that sometimes surface in, the otherwise tranquil, campo. This week I visited Rinconada de Parihuanas where a month ago a young man was killed by his cousin. The victim was returning from a meeting here in the Church in Frias and attacked en route home. I'm not sure exactly what the motive was - some small family quarrel, compounded by heavy drinking. Amando (RIP) had been stabbed more than 70 times. Lying next to him on the path was an open exercise book with his notes from the Church meeting. His cousin is now in prison and I celebrated Mass to mark the month's anniversary. Lots of tearful eyes in the congregation. In these rural communties everyone is related to everyone - the mothers of both victim and perpetrator are two sisters now sharing the pain of a terrible tragedy.  Please pray for the healing they all need.

 

 

 ... the poor mother of Amando (RIP) on my right

 

Other Peru news - we've had lots of strikes and rioting in recent weeks (teachers, doctors, construction workers) but all, thank God, seem to be on the road to peaceful resolution. Alan Garcia, el Presidente, doesn't appear to hold much trust in the hearts of many of the people ........ memories from his first term in the '80's maybe when inflation hit 3000 %?!  He seems a nice guy to me, but then my knowledge of Peruvian politics (or any politics) is fairly basic. 

 

On a nice light note to finish. It's sometimes very hard to get people to smile in photos. I laughed the other day when I saw the result of the pics below. Photo 1 the dear lady and her g'child looking very serious! So in Photo 2 I join them and set the camera on automatic and point to the camera saying "nice big smile everyone" ... from serious to hysterical laughter in one easy step!!

 

 PHOTO 1: ... don't be shy girls - smile!

 PHOTO 2: ... what fine teeth you have!

 

Another light finishing note. Celebrated my 14th anniversary of ordination the other day. I was visiting in the campo and woke up in the morning in question on very hard tables in a cold primary school classroom. From the photo below I look like I'm about to eat my own hand. Thank you, Lord, for 14 happy and varied years!

 

 the challenge = be up and dressed before the children arrive!!

 

On that note I shall sign off. Take care and please continue to pray for us all here in Peru. It's always good to hear back from you - how you are and what you're up to. Hasta luegito amigos y Dios les Bendiga.

 

con carino,