February 15, 2010,
We are frantically trying to pass stuff around to the people it should go to and get packed and finish up a few things today. Glenn is working at the office today finishing up a few things and we have a few people coming by to say goodbye. We leave for the airport about 10 p.m. I hope the airports aren’t backed up or closed with all the snow at home. I am posting this today because we will probably be tired and busy as soon as we get home and I wanted it to go out. I will probably do one more posting when we get home before we close down our blog. So, that’s it for today.
Earlier: We have 9 days to go.
This week we did do a couple of nice things that made the time go quicker. On Tuesday we went to see the movie Avatar. It was expensive but it was good to get out of the house and I liked the movie.
Wednesday we went down to the Employment office early because Glenn thought he had an appointment with Napoleon Quispe and Samuel Gomez to have a meeting about the vocational test, but when we got there (40 minutes on a bus) they were not there. But it turned out to be okay because we talked to the two BYU interns who are here teaching the TAE, the church’s self-employment workshop. We invited them to come with us to dinner at Nancy Chuan’s and see a part of Lima that isn’t upper middle class. We ended up having a very good visit with Nancy’s family and they heard what she had to say about how things really are here in Peru. And we had a very good meal and a nice visit. And the day went fast. Nancy and her family have become our friends.
Today, Saturday, we again invited these two young men to go with us, first to the open market, which is just interesting. There are all sorts of meat hanging out, chickens with head and feet and the eggs showing inside, guinea pigs cleaned with their little feet sticking out, and fish. And there are fruit and vegetable stands, along with various other offerings of all kinds.
It is good to see what some real small businesses are like. We met a woman with a meat stall who is a member of the church. She told us that her bishop said she should not work on Sunday, and they make as much now without Sundays as they did in the past. Her husband also has a business, and they currently have a son on a mission in Venezuela.
Then we rode the bus out to Manchay. I especially wanted them to see that there are members that are not middle class, that live in poverty and they need some help and church resources too. We rode the bus past the church and it is too much to take in, really. It is so different that it is hard to really understand it. These people live in wooden structures the size of a tool shed– really many people in the US have tool sheds that are nicer–lots without running water, etc. It is real poverty.
We visited Br. Lucio Dipaz. He was nice enough to recount in detail how his brother and parents were killed in Ayacucho during the time of terrorism in the 80’s. There were 14 children in his family. 7 are still alive. Some died as infants or small children and he never knew them. But he watched as one of his older brothers was executed by the communists in the town square in his village.
He said that the first time the communists showed up there were only two of them. They planted a flag above the town. His father was upset with his brother who helped them because he knew it could cause attention and trouble with the government. He said to take the flag down. The communists went away for a year.
The next time they came there were 5 of them. They wanted the people to attack a police station, but the people pointed out that they had no guns. They said they should attack with rocks. The communists used his village as a kind of armory. They made bombs and grenades, which they were using on attacks against other places. They organized the young men of the village to guard the arms. One Friday, it was feria, market day, the police came to capture the terrorists, but they didn’t surround the market; he thinks the police were afraid and didn’t make much effort, and all the terrorists got away. That was 10 or 11 in the morning. That evening around 6 or 7 o’clock the terrorists came back. They rounded up everyone in the village and had them sit on the ground. Anyone who had a rock or a stick in their hand was singled out—21 people were executed. Lucio’s brother who had just gotten back into town from working in the selva was one of the ones executed, because he picked up a stick or a rock to defend himself. Lucio said they almost killed his mother that day, because when they killed her son she screamed and cried. The people were told to not get up or do anything for an hour after the terrorists left.
I should explain at this point that his village was a small village up in the mountains. These were farm people without guns, without electricity, 3 hours from the nearest police post, campesinos living from subsistence agriculture. I don’t know how they felt about the communists, but they just wanted to stay out of the trouble and be left alone.
During the next month the people in that village did not sleep in their homes. His family and the other people slept out in the hills changing places each night because they were afraid. His father made money by going through the countryside buying and selling animals. He was gone for two weeks on a trip and when he returned home he decided to sleep at home for that night because he was tired from this trip. His mother said that if he was going to stay in the house she would stay too, with the little children. Lucio was at his grandmothers. That night the communists came to their home and asked his father for animals to take for food. (This is the account of the younger brothers and sisters who saw what happened). His father said to take the animals. But they killed his father and mother. Lucio said he heard the gunshots from his grandmother’s house.
He traveled three hours the next day to the police post. The police came back and buried the bodies. Lucio’s parents were not the only ones killed that night. He took all his younger brothers and sisters, all the people of the village went to live close to the police because they were afraid. The people of that village helped them some, and they went home during the day to get food, but they slept outside in the cold close to the police post.
Eventually, the government sent police to their village to protect the people and they were able to go home. But the police raped women and would bring in boys who were tending animals in the fields and execute them, saying they were terrorists, young men that the people knew were not involved with the terrorists. The police had a quota of terrorists they had to meet and it was easier to round up innocent people than catch the real terrorists. He got a job at one point working on a farm in the selva planting coca and various other crops but they paid him very little. And he was trying to take care of his younger brother and sisters. I think he has 15 at this time.
He eventually was able to come to Lima with a relative. But because he has underage and didn’t have an official government identity card he had a hard time finding a job. He could work three weeks and then had to not work one week because of the law. When he finally turned 18 things got better, because he could work legally. When he could he brought his four younger siblings to Lima to take care of them.
He went on a mission for the church. His older brother said he would care for the younger children but he didn’t, but his younger brother was able to get a job and care for his three little sisters while Lucio was on his mission. He said he had to leave a good government job to go.
We had been talking a long time at this point in the story, and we had to leave. But I know that he met his wife during his mission. He was the bishop of the Musa Ward before the Manchay branch was formed. His wife said there was no road between where they lived and Musa so they had to walk over the mountain to get to church. Lucio went early and she had to bring her three little children over the hill alone. She said you had to be very faithful in those days to be active in the church. He served as bishop for many years. He now works for the temple as a guard, which is a relatively good job. But his house is not anything to brag about. I think he spends his money to keep his children in decent schools.
Once again, I don’t know if I got every detail of the story exactly right. Or if I have written it well enough for you to understand the feeling of what it was like for his family. But I have great respect for Lucio Dipaz and his family. He managed to come out of that experience a great person with a strong testimony of Christ. We met them when we first came to Manchay because he brought his kids to a little English class I was teaching. His kids love both him and their mother.
Friday night.
This has been a busier week. After being basically ignored for our mission, we had an appointment with the mission president, Pres. Leyva, who previously worked in Trujillo in employment, so he has some feeling for self-employment. When we explained how frustrated we are at not getting any interest or support, he made an appointment with one of the area presidency. He and Glenn went in to talk to Elder Gavarette, and when Elder Gavarette saw one of the pictures in the presentation of Sr. Baglietto and her little wooden house in Manchay, he was surprised and asked where that was. When Glenn said Manchay is a 20 minute bus ride from the area office, Elder Gavarette was surprised and wanted to go see it. Long story short—they went to Manchay, visited this poor family—and I hope they now have some understanding of needs of real people in Peru. Too bad people from Salt Lake who are making decisions never see that part of Peru; maybe they would begin to understand the need for the small business workshop and how some people are too poor to go to school, even with the PEF. And that for many people in Peru, starting a small business is their only option for income, that or working as a cleaning lady for rich families, working very long hours at little pay. Or picking through people’s trash for recyclables to sell.
Then we got called in to talk to Brother Ramos because Glenn told Elder Gavarette that we were not very happy with the support—no support that is—that we got from the paid employees in the area office. Ramos is the DTA and so is in charge of the running of the office in the area so Elder Gaverette told him to talk to us. I think the most discouraging part of this whole affair is that so many people are making decisions that affect the lives of ordinary people, and they are working without all the facts, or based on their particular prejudices, or their own egos. They are not bad men, they just are making decisions without bothering to understand the true situation. In the end, all you can do is forgive them. I personally though think that leaders have a responsibility to try find out facts and understand the situation they are making decisions about.
We have seen the “important people” who come in for a visit; the local people, because they want to impress or put a good supportive face on everything, won’t speak up about the facts and problems and take visitors only to the nice, comfortable places, so how would the people from Salt Lake know what is really going on. It’s a curious thing about the church culture. No one wants to be seen as a complainer, or murmurer, which means you can’t say anything bad. God is no respecter of persons, yet we are to respect the leaders. I understand the need to respect leaders, but we don’t need to worship them, and never disagree with them when we feel that they are wrong. It is a very frustrating situation that is a cycle encouraging poor decision making because there is no free exchange of ideas. And of course that is complicated because it is the nature and disposition of almost all men when they get a little power to exercise unrighteous dominion. That is you can try to tell them and they don’t choose to listen. Maybe you understand what I am talking about because you have experienced it yourself. I wish not. I expected better.
December 11, 2011 at 9:39 pm
Stumbled across your blog and very much appreciated your perspectives and honesty. It is difficult to do this and I understand. My wife and I are currently in Peru as missionaries.
Kindest regards to you