Santa Ursula Canteen in Pachacútec in Peru

11/12/2020

When the pandemic in Peru began and many people found themselves in a difficult situation, we wanted to help them somehow. We wanted to recognise what God wants from us at this point and put it into practice.  After all, we know Jesus' words of blessing: I was hungry and you gave me food, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me.  So we could not just sit at home.

With the help of a teacher we know called Jacky, we learned about the poverty in which people live in the high, sandy hills of Pachacútec-Ventanilla.  Here, poverty is extreme, because people lack both light and water.  Most often they have come from the distant jungle or from the mountains and cannot afford to live closer to Lima.

After contacting Mr. Giraldo, who is responsible for people in a place called Papico, we initially offered each family 3 kg of potatoes.  Sister Erika bought a total of 7 tons of potatoes brought from as far as Huancavelica.  We then shared clothes and toys offered to us by parents from our School Santa Ursula.  Next time, thanks to the collection of money from Poland, we managed to give food to more than 60 most needy families. 

Providing this community with systematic help, we quickly realised that these people did not simply want to ask for help, but were able to stand on their own feet. Many residents lost their jobs due to the pandemic and did not have the means to feed themselves, but wanted to remedy this somehow. An idea emerged of creating a common kitchen and dining room.  Materials were needed to build and renovate the room, as well as pots and pans and kitchen equipment.  We realised that these were people who only needed help to take off.  We saw that this was a united group that supports each other in achieving a goal. 

Sister Barbara received a donation of money from the parents  of the Ursuline school in Krakow and it was with this money that we decided to support the dining room project. So at the beginning we gave the amount of 1000 new soles for the purchase of pots, and then we helped to create the dining room.

Grateful residents decided that the canteen should be named after St. Ursula - our patroness. Every time we visited, we saw that the construction was moving forwards thanks to the joint work of many people. The building was renovated to create a new kitchen, washroom, food storage room and dining room. Everything was painted white and then green.  Two more bathrooms were then built - for women and for men. To finish, the residents of Papico, brought a water tank and sowed grass to cover a mountain of sand, which is in front of the dining room.

To give this new project a good start, we supplied them with a bag of rice and other products donated by the parents of the students of our school, St Ursula.  The inauguration of the Santa Ursula Canteen took place on 4 November 2020.

We thank God for giving us these people who wanted to do something for the good of their community.  We are glad to have had our benefactors who supported so many of them through their donations. We thank our Ursuline Sisters for allowing us to go to Pachacútec to meet with the poorest. We thank You God for everything, because being an Ursuline is becoming better and better every day.

sr Barbara Zaba OSU and sr Vicky Vásquez OSU from Peru