Sister Parish

THE PARISH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

                     Colquemarca,   Chumbivilcas,  Cusco .   Peru .

The parish of Colquemarca in the province of Chumbivilcas is one of the poorest areas in mountainous Andean region in southern Peru which reaches 11,000- 14,000 feet above sea level . The soil is volcanic in nature and rich in minerals, but agriculturally poor. The main crop is potatoes, which is the staple diet of the people.

There is a population of about 9,000, scattered over a wide distance (up to seventy miles) in small communities. Reaching some communities can be dangerous because of poor roads especially in the rainy season. The majority of the population is women of which 80% are illiterate and speak Quechua, an Indian language. Both men and young people leave the area to find work in the mines and the cities.  The face of poverty is expressed in poor levels of education, little or no health provisions, and above all a people who have largely been sacramentalized but not evangelized.  Fr. Ruel Arcega of the Society of St James the Apostle has begun attending the area which had been left abandoned for quite a considerable period of time.

The evangelization program consists of recovering and rejuvenating 6 communities that have been neglected and the formation of 8 new small Christian communities. Following the policy of St. James Society, it is planned to establish family based catechetics where the parents take responsibility for forming their children in the faith. The community leaders, who are representatives of the parent groups, meet regularly for instruction and faith formation. In addition, there is a radio service provision and through the provision of media material produced by PROSAN, a service offered by one of the Society priests, the Word of God in Quechua can reach people living in distant areas of the parish. This medium of evangelization has great potential and it would be in the interest of the parish to hire a permanent journalist. The costs of hiring radio programs also have to be covered by the parish.

The parish lacks the infrastructure of a hall in which to carry out catechetical and social programs for 50-70 people. The building should consist of a meeting room, kitchen, bathrooms, together with male and female dormitories for overnight stay. It is estimated to cost $30,000.  Equipment for soup kitchens to be located in the schools, together with food rations is estimated to cost about $500 per month. The government has health workers employed in the region, but to be effective they need medicines and other resources. A group of volunteer medics visit the area twice a year, but ideally the community needs a permanent doctor and nurse who would be able to visit the communities on a regular basis.