How privileged I have been to “expand my understanding of interculturality and commit to develop skills for intercultural living.” I have had the privilege of ministering in Bolivia for nine years, in Peru for 33 years and in Paraguay for nine years.
The women played a great role as a sign of HOPE, a promise of spiritual liberation. I walked with them, marching and demanding their rights, making Jesus visible, reading the signs of the times and producing changes never dreamed of in 1961 when I first went to Bolivia.
In Comas, outside Lima, Peru, where only a few inches of rain fell each decade, a desert setting became home for 5 million campasinos with a literacy rate of five percent. Here they erected straw and bamboo huts. Our programs convinced these people that they could improve their lives. They planted 500,000 trees. They built cinder-block schools without help from the national government.
Through peaceful marches, we pressured the municipal government for electricity and for water piped in from Lima. It was this enthusiasm that moved women to joined forces (15- 20 families) to organize communal soup kitchens. I helped them pool their resources to make a healthier soup aided by some grains from Caritas. Later AFEDEPROMA - Feminine Group in Defense and Promotion of the Woman - organized themselves into more than 200 soup kitchens. This kept their expenses to the equivalent of 25 cents a day for two or three servings of potatoes, rice or cornmeal with vegetables and a bowl of watery chicken soup. Because they organized themselves to do the cooking, many women were free to learn to read, do their accounts, sew and knit. This group organized marches for local food co-ops, and self-help projects. They faced tear gas when they demanded teachers and health care. Church-backed programs had convinced them that the slum dwellers could improve their own lives.
I am thrilled that Blessed Theresa Gerhardinger’s spirit has taken root and blossomed in so many Peruvian women, mothers wanting the best for their children. SSNDs have helped empowered the Peruvian people - especially the women - to demand a better quality of life.
Another blessing is that we have four Peruvian School Sisters of Notre Dame. Sister Lili Coral Davila is celebrating her 25th Jubilee this year!
