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Profiles of our lay missionaries

Brigid MacCarthy, from county Tipperary is a Viatores Christi volunteer in Lima Peru.

"I’m living here in Puente Piedra a district north of Lima – the capital city of Peru. It’s one of the poorest areas of Lima and is dry and dusty, being semi desert.

I came here in 2001 to work at a home for children who were orphaned, abandoned or simply from families who couldn’t support or educate them. While there I worked as artist in residence / teacher, education coordinator and spent a year as administrator.

In 2005, having finished my assignment there

I stayed on in Peru and together with some local women began a small income generating incentive.  This took the form of providing training for some local people in T-shirt printing. As a result of the training we established a printing workshop to further training and become a little business center.          

 

In March of this year (2007) I began my current assignment – aimed at raising awareness in the local area of environmental issues. Although first world countries contribute to the bulk of environmental contamination, here in the third world, pollution is very visible. The air is full of fumes of old and un-serviced vehicles, back-yard burning, illicit businesses and factories that aren’t in line with international standards. Sanitation is poor and water is a scarce resource and it’s difficult sometimes to walk a few metres without having to step over papers, plastic, food residue etc. Taking all this into account it’s exciting to be starting work and laying some foundations that will help solve some of these problem issues at some future date.

I’m aware that this type of work is long term but am delighted so far with the level

of support locally. With my Peruvian co-worker we began researching and putting together an educational programme for schools and we set up meetings locally of people interested in the environment. This group began to analyse the problems and seek solutions. There are also lots of meetings with local authorities and schools to ascertain policies and seek support and acceptance for our initiatives’.

We’ve started a series of workshops in one of the larger local schools – coordinating with teachers and working directly with a group of students whose aim is to become environmental leaders within their school. Some people working with the local authority in the departments of parks, waste management and education have been very helpful in sharing their experience and seem delighted that there exists a group of people who are trying to make a difference. 

Our community group is now named Cactus Ecological Association and the members meet twice a month. Initially they participated in different exercises in order to develop awareness within the group itself on such issues as water consumption and the disposal of household waste. They’ve identified three areas of concern – namely (1) litter reduction / recycling, (2) water, and (3) green areas. Little by little everyone is gaining confidence and is just about to launch their anti-litter campaign and have

a follow up plan to install litter bins and organise a clean-up day involving as many people as possible as well as the local schools.

Due to the nature of the problems and realising that we’re trying to change people’s habits I realise that progress will sometimes be slow but the important thing is that we’ve started and please God the work will continue."

Peru - Country Profile

Peru - Angela Keane