Ic-Centru Parrokkjali

 
 

The Parish’s Youth Center.

 

The Parish’s Youth Center. The ‘Centru’ as it is known locally, provides a friendly environment for all the local youths.  Numerous activities are organized throughout the year. These may vary from religious, social and cultural.  The Youth Center’s major contribution however is philanthropy.  Various activities like car boot sales, car wash service and bingos are organized to gather money or other goods to be distributed to those in need.  The youth center has managed to collect considerable sums of money for local philanthropic organizations, and also sent a container packed with all types of goods to the missions of Peru.  The youths also do voluntary work of various kinds and this summer a group went to Peru for a missionary experience… Youths that make our town proud!

The Peru Missionary Experience – Living is Giving!

“Our life is a gift from God; what we do with that life is our gift to God”.  Summarised with the words Living is Giving, this theme served as a guideline for a group of thirteen Gozitans that this summer made a missionary experience in Peru between the 23rd July and 15th August.

We had been preparing for this experience for several months.  We booked our plane tickets, had several injections, learned some Spanish, obtained some information about the places we were going to visit, got to know each other a bit better and even prepared ourselves spiritually.  In a way this was going to be an adventure, but our principal aim was to go there and serve the poor even if for a short time. 

Upon our arrival to Iquitos, we were welcomed by Fr. Raymond Portelli, a Gozitan diocesan priest from Nadur that has been in Peru these last seven years, since his ordination.  We hired a couple of motor cars, which are the most common means of transport in Iquitos and went to the Parish of San Martin de Porres.  After leaving our backpacks in Fr. Raymond’s house and grabbing a snack we left for Belen, the poorest part of Iquitos.  It is one thing to see such scenes on TV but another to observe them in the first person.  Belen is a village consisting of several wooden huts built alongside the river Nanay.  These huts were built on long poles sometimes about 6-7 m high which serve to prevent flooding when the level of the river rises after the rains.  Each family which consisted of an average of seven people lived in a hut consisting of one room of about 4 – 5 square meters, however during the day most of them prefer to stay outdoors.  After sunset however, everyone locks himself indoors for fear that the little that they have gets stolen by burglars.  The population in this area is quite high and there is also one of the largest street markets of Iquitos where one could find practically everything.  Any form of hygiene was practically inexistent, and mosquitos and flies surrounded the fish and meat that was being sold.  Later on, during the week we even paid a couple of visits to this market to shop for fruit and meat and after the initial fear of being robbed passed, I even started to get used to this hustle and bustle. 

Upon our arrival to the Parish it was already time for mass.  The church was crammed with people and the mass lasted an hour and a half, however we didn’t even notice the time passing.  Mass was a real celebration, the people sang, danced and participated whole heartedly, something which is a bit missing from our islands.  They made us feel welcome and during peace giving, rather than the usual head nod which we are accustomed to, we got a great deal of hugs and kisses.

After all this we were really exhausted and all we wanted was to have a cold shower and go to sleep.  However, our day was not over yet!  With the excuse of someone wanting to talk to us, we found around a hundred people waiting for us in one of the parish rooms.  Some of them had prepared some local food and drinks from the little they had, and after a welcome speech, they played music and persuaded us to dance.  After just a few hours, we already felt part of this community that although lacking many things, was extremely rich in two important ones, namely friendship and generosity.

During our first week in Iquitos we took part in a summer camp for children below ten years of age.  About three hundred children took part in this camp.  Our work consisted in providing these kids with breakfast and lunch, which we used to prepare with the help of some local helpers, whose children also attended this camp.  Apart from this, we thought the children some songs and rhymes both in Spanish and in English, showed them how to make simple craft work and also played with them.  In the meantime the men of the group went to repair some houses that belonged to poor people, generally old ones that did not have the means or the physical strength to do it themselves.  Our evenings then involved buying food and materials for the next day, preparing the crafts and games and taking part in the Eucharistic celebration.  Sometimes the youth of the parish used to invite us to play basketball or football with them and although we used to be tired after a day’s work it was always a welcome invitation.

In the second week we went by canoe on the river Nanay and in four days visited a total of six villages.  To get to the first one it took us about eight hours.  The population of each village consisted of roughly seventy to hundred people.  One of the immediate things that we noticed was the lack of resources that are present, including a lack of electricity, food, and medicines.  Given that one of the group members was a nurse and that Fr. Raymond himself is a medical student, the first thing that we did upon arriving in a particular village was to visit the huts and inform the villagers that they could come for a medical check-up and for medicines, which practically all the villagers used to do.  In the meantime we gathered the children for some songs and games and then distributed bread, stationary and clothes to them.  After celebrating mass, we would then settle ourselves in the chapel or in some hut that would be available, eat some canned food that we had taken with us, spread our sleeping bags and sleep (sometimes as early as eight o’clock given that it would be pitch dark).

During these four days I really learnt to appreciate our shower at home, for we only managed to take a bath once: in the river and with all our clothes on!!  Apart from the parasites in some areas, it was a bit dangerous to swim or bathe due to the strong currents that are present that could easily take you away if you are not used to them.  I also started to appreciate that fridge with cool water and with food in it, given that due to the space limitations the amount of food we could take with us was limited and therefore we had to ration both food and water and in the majority of the villages we found no edible fruit trees and no water that could be safely drunk.

The jungle area is quite beautiful, however it is hard to reconcile this beauty with the suffering that we saw in these people.  In fact the majority were sick with dysentery, we saw cases of TBC and severe malnutrion and undernutrition effects especially in children.  Apart from the need for food and medicines that are real needs we saw a great need for education, however teachers are not available.  In fact, due to the enormous responsibilities Fr. Raymond has, it is only possible for him to visit each of these villages about once every two years. We noted how the work of the missionary is to point out the simple facts of life such as respect for those around you, caring for your health and that of your children and working together as a community, which are all facts that we hear since we’re children but which for these people do not seem to be so evident. 

Upon our return from the jungle of Iquitos, we prepared ourselves to take part in a solidarity concert that was organised in the parish in aid of the people with TBC.  The entrance fee consisted of food and everyone was encouraged to give what he could depending on his means.  Although none of us was a music expert we managed to set up a medley consisting of a couple of maltese songs and Micheal Jackson’s Heal the World, took a guitar and a native tambourine and went on stage.  I’m not really sure it was a hit, however it was greatly appreciated by those present and they applauded heartily.

When Sunday arrived we were sorry to leave this community of which we really felt part of, but we had to leave for Salamanca, a small village in mountains.  The trip seemed to be interminable.  Roughly it took us two and a half days to get there, making use of a plane and two coaches.  The road was terrible and we were really afraid that the bus would fall off some precipice given that in some areas it was extremely narrow and dangerously close to the mountain edge.  However the scenery was breathtaking, we went 4, 800 m high and passed near the Andes mountain peaks that were covered with ice.  The people welcomed us heartily and they were really glad to see Fr. Raymond again after five years.  Although they were more reserved than the people of Iquitos they immediately made us feel at home and gave us a room in which to settle down.  A number of houses were destroyed due to the recent earthquake and even the church had been severely damaged.  Apart from the fact that here it was extremely cold and that due to the altitude of 3, 800 m we found breathing and moving about a bit difficult especially during the first hours, our working days were similar to those in the jungle. 

By the end of the week we went back to Lima, where we stayed for three days and were hosted by the MSSP community there.  What impressed me most in Lima, was Villa El Salvador which is an area consisting of over one million people.  These arrive there either from the jungle or from the mountain areas, invade a piece of land and surround it with cardboard and then if they manage to find work they start to slowly arrange their new home, brick by brick.  The conditions in which these people live are quite difficult and many basic amenities are lacking.  There we distributed some things and then celebrated mass in the chapel that was built by Fr. Raymond a few years ago.

We spent our last working day in La Parada with the nuns of Mother Theresa.  In this area that is one of the poorest and most dangerous (due to delinquency) of Lima, these nuns have a home for elderly men and for people with special needs.  We helped with the cleaning and it was amazing to see how these nuns and other volunteers that work there dedicate their whole life to doing this service with a lot of love.

While in Lima we also got a chance to visit Miraflores a rich commercial centre and we couldn’t help noting the huge discrepancies between the huge villas and shopping malls overlying the Pacific ocean and the immense poverty, less than ten minutes away.  For us it was sincerely hard to sit down and eat, without that nagging feeling that while we were eating we had left many behind us who would be lucky if they manage to scrape a fruit or some rice to fill their bellies. 

Our stay in Peru’ lasted only a few weeks after which we returned to the relative comfort of our small island.  However, those people that we met had no option but to stay there and keep on struggling daily to survive.  Now that we have touched this reality and became more aware of it, we cannot close our eyes and ignore it.  This experience has helped me realize that we take too many things for granted and that we are not grateful enough for the things we have, while there are many who have nothing.   An idea could be to make an option for the poor and rather than wasting carelessly, sharing what we have with those who are in need, starting with those around us, and in our own small country which sometimes we prefer to forget.  I think we have to help in changing the mentality in which the poor are considered a burden.  Poor people are asking for the right to share in enjoying material good and to make good use of their capacity for work, thus creating a world that is more just and prosperous for all. 

In January we are going to send a container to Fr. Raymond.  This shall consist of medicines, new summer clothes, stationary, new toys that are not battery operated, mattresses and preserves (with expiry date 2003 or later).

Therefore if you would like to help in sending this container and Fr. Raymond’s mission in Peru, you can contact us at the Nadur Parish Centre on 558828 between 7.00 and 11.00 p.m. or deposit your donation on BOV account number 40010893335.