St.
Mary's continues to help support its sister parish in Huarmey, Peru, by
providing renewable energy systems in the parish for medical clinics,
schools, and churches in the remote mountain villages. (Photos)
These systems
include vaccine refrigerators, transceiver radios, lights, lanterns, water
purification, and hot water as well as battery charging stations for the
communities.
In the parish villages, with altitudes up to 11,000 ft, there
is no electricity, no indoor plumbing, no space heat, adobe houses, and
subsistence farming for the inhabitants.
Twice a year,
in January and July or August, parishioner John Duffy, a professor at
UMass Lowell, leads a group of volunteers and college students (through
service-learning) to design and install these systems which have been
requested by the townspeople, descendants of the Incas. The Catholic
chaplain at UMass Lowell, Fr Paul Soper, started the project. Fr. Soper
has since been assigned to a parish in Revere,
MA.
The Society of James the Apostle has officially moved
out of the parish in Huarmey because of a shortage of priests. Father
Gabriel, a Peruvian, is currently ministering to the remote villages. The
parishioners in the mountains need our help now more than ever.
The
donations from St. Mary's have helped provide:
-
Photovoltaic systems;
for fluorescent lights for two churches (each
town has its own church building), for lights in a dorm in the parish
house for students (who will have more time to study from not having to
walk four hours a day to and from school from their distant small
village), for laptop PCs in three schools;
- Newer radios and antennas for better
communication among the eight medical clinics and the base hospital in
Huarmey. Two
battery charging stations (that provide some income and electricity for
the schools),
-
A microhydro system to provide
lighting in and around the town hall.
Three new vaccine refrigerators and
a nebulizer for children with
asthma, a common health problem.
-
Clean, potable water
for several villages
To see photos of the people, places and
projects, click here
