Thank You, Muchas Gracias, Merci, Grazie

The 2019 Mission Trip would not have happened, or been as successful, without the support of all people and organizations listed below.

Thanks to…  St. Paul Parish, Father Dan, Mary Kral, and the Human Concerns Ministry. They have been supporting the Connecting Hearts and Hands ministry since 2013.

Special thanks for St. Paul’s Annual Lenten fundraiser for Water Purification. During the 2019 collection, our donors provided enough funding to purchase 108 water purifiers and purchase 160 buckets/covers. We couldn’t have done it without them.

St. Paul Parish for the many things they’ve done for this 2019 mission trip. Thanks for paying for all the kitchen supplies, electric skillets, waffle iron, egg maker, paper plates, plastic cups, kitchen knives, flatware, coffee pot, etc., for providing the funding to ship the 18 large bins of supplies containing the kitchen, medical, and water purification supplies, for providing $1,000 for our transportation, for all the website and bulletin coverage and for all the prayers.

Charlie Spindt, for planning the medical mission over the past 13 months. Thanks for her involvement in ordering supplies, arranging for shipment, writing letters to the Peruvian Health Ministry Department and the Peruvian Customs, driving to the Peruvian Consulate, coordinating tasks with Sister Paula, printing the labels, coordinating our trip to Machu Picchu, and much more. We couldn’t have done it without her. Also, thanks for partaking in the 2014, 2016, and 2019 mission trips. You are appreciated!

The Safeguarding Team, Amy Golden for accommodating our college students with another Safeguarding class, Sherri Meyer and Nancy Bastian for monitoring the completion of the class by our 23 travelers.

School Sisters of St. Francis Mother House. They provided us with the ability to fundraise, using their name. They kept track of all the donors, sent out thank you letters for the donors’ taxes. They also had a network of Sisters praying for us.

School Sisters in Peru. They were busy, planning this trip, since May 2018. They had to pick up our two shipments, unpack some of the shipment, buy the water purification supplies, communicate with many different organizations such as the Peruvian Customs, the Peruvian Health Ministry, and the local hospital. Charlie and I had a lot of communication with them over the past 13 months. They’ve done, much, much more. Even though Sister Monica is no longer in Peru, her leadership during the first five mission trips helped to pave the way for our successful 2019 mission trip.

Our many donors, for donating $21,000. Of this $21,000, $10,000 was given to the Sisters in Peru to purchase some necessities they’ve done without for years.

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Edmund, OK, Cheryl Pierce, for shipping our supplies and packing some of the supplies for the March 2019 shipment.

The Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints. They volunteered translators for our medical clinic – a critical need that the gladly stepped up to.

Rosary Man for providing rosaries for the school.

St. Paul Parish semi-truck driver who provided the transportation of 13 bins of supplies to Edmund, OK so that these supplies could be shipped to Peru

Bible Man for providing 300 bibles. They’ll be shipped to Peru by Cheryl Pierce in December 2019.

Our Prayer Partners. Their prayers were very important to us and lifted our spirits.

Berkey Water Filters for our awesome discount. The discount allows us to purchase many more filters and provide many more families with pathogen-free water.

Last but not least…to the Connecting Hearts and Hands team of 23. Thank you, for all the sacrifices you had to make in your lives, to partake in this mission trip. A few of these sacrifices…attend many meetings, complete paperwork, participate in a fundraiser, pay for your own hotel rooms and airfare, write blog articles, and provide a donation to the School Sisters of St. Francis. During the week of Father’s Day, each person humbly served our Lord, by serving our Peruvian Brothers and Sisters, with love and patience, and participating in service wherever you were needed. You are all excellent team players. 

Thanks and apologies to anyone I may have forgotten. They were all very important to this mission.

Here's how we Served our Brothers and Sisters in Peru

Twenty-three people were called to serve our brothers and sisters in Paita, Peru during our June mission trip. Our volunteers could have either served in the medical clinic, provided clean water systems, or taught at the school.

• Our medical outreach was a huge success. Over 700 people were seen by our medical providers and 1,600 people were treated for intestinal parasites. 
• St. Paul Parish has been providing clean water systems since 2015. This year, 80 families were provided with new water systems. Twenty older systems needed replacement filters, and eight sets of replacement filters were provided for future failed systems. A huge thanks to the parish for collecting donations during Lent so that 108 sets of water filters could provide pathogen-free water, preventing people from getting intestinal parasites. 
• Over 120 high-school students at St. Clare School were taught self-defense. This training is really important to the young woman who are often victims of abuse, assault and rape.

Our next mission trip will be August, 2020. We plan to:

• Build, assemble, train and distribute 50 water systems. We would like to send, in advance, the Berkey water purifiers, so that we don't have the painful task of getting through customs every time we bring in these water purification systems in our suitcases. 
• Provide self-defense training to:
• Students at St. Clare School
• Women in the Paita community

Please feel free to contact St. Paul Parish if you have an interest in helping.

Water Purification in Peru

Written by Deb P.

Thanks to St. Paul Parish in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin, the 2019 Outreach Team were able to provide 80 water purification systems  and 20 replacement filters for systems that already existed.

How important are these systems to families? We are very fortunate to have somewhat pathogen-free water where we live in the United States. In Paita, Peru, the water is obtained from the Piura River. It contains many chemicals used in farming rice, bananas, grapes, etc. This water is processed through the water treatment plant located between Paita and Piura. In 2015, we had the opportunity to visit the plant. According to Professor Doug from Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), it is a similar process to that done in the USA. The state of Piura does the best they can do with a 30-year-old water system.

Click on any picture below to enlarge.

Process of Cleaning the Water from the Piura River

Manager Explaining how it Works

Testing the Water Every Two Hours Before Leaving the Plant

Water Coming In From Piura River

The water comes out of the water treatment plant pathogen-free. However, there are many problems once it leaves the plant. People steal water by drilling a hole in the water pipes that are located above ground. Pathogens enter the system through these openings. Also, the water is only turned on for several hours a day, allowing the pathogens to also multiply from water backwashing and sitting in the pipes.

When the city water is available for use, homes must collect their water in a tank located on their roof tops. When needed, it runs down to a concrete cistern located  somewhere in  their home. In the home of the Sisters, it is located in  their laundry room,

Some people do not have running water and the water has to be delivered to their community in tank trucks. This is another possibility that pathogens will enter the water. They must purchase the water in their own 5-gallon buckets and walk these buckets to their home. Sometimes, they purchase 6 to 8 buckets at a time.

One of the Cisterns, Water is Delivered by the City and People Buy it.

As in Mexico and Central and South America, DO NOT DRINK THE WATER! You will get sick. Our medical team treated 1,600 patients for intestinal parasites. One can obtain these parasites from water, food, through your feet by walking in sand (hookworms), the toilet and unsanitary conditions.

One way to prevent intestinal problems is by drinking purified water. One system cost St. Paul Parish about $125. Each system provides about 6,000 gallons of purified water. With our experience over the past six years, each system lasts about 2 to 3 years.
Each family provided with this water system must clean it once or twice a month. They must test it to make sure it is purifying the water properly. It takes some work to maintain their system but must be done in order to get purified water. The people who have received a system are really thankful for the system. (The sisters look at the needs of each family and decides which family is to receive a system.)

Click on any picture below to enlarge.

Water Systems in the Hall of the Convent

Doug Filling Bottles With Red Food Dye for Testing Systems

Marc Getting Help From a Student after Systems are moved Outside

Marc and Michael Drilling Holes in Covers

Other Students Join Marc and Jon

1. How does this water purifier work? (Two bucket system on table below.)
1. Take a 5-gallon bucket and fill it up with unfiltered water.
2. Pour the unfiltered water into the top bucket of this two-bucket water purification system. Put cover on top of bucket to keep out bugs and dirt.
3. Let the water drip to the bottom 5-gallon bucket containing the purified water.
4. Obtain the purified water using the spigot on the bottom bucket. 

Deb Training Mom With Baby, Who was Late for Training

IT'S THAT SIMPLE!!

Thanks to the team,  and especially to Marc S., who worked so diligently to finish drilling the bucket and cover holes after being without electricity for two days. Everyone was tired by Thursday evening. God gave Marc the gift of energy and he and a few others were able to complete the assembly and testing of these systems.  Also, thanks to Nancy and Michael for helping. I know how tired and/or sick you were that evening. Y'all  are awesome team players. It was a pleasure working with you!.

On Friday, we had to carry all the systems outside, where we were going to hold the training for all the families. Thanks to everyone who helped and especially to Jon for helping to carry the buckets outside. I know you had some back problems and yet you continued to help. Thank you!

Woman Receiving Replacement Water Filters

Mom Receiving System from Jon

Mom Receiving a System from Deb

Brothels and Sex Trafficking Worldwide

Written by Deb P.

Wherever we are, we are always doing networking with other groups. We met a group of 34 people from Pennsylvania, doing a medical mission in a remote village in the state of Piura, Peru. They saw over 1,000 people in their clinic and performed over 40 hernia and cataract surgeries. They told me about how the community they helped and described to me that many young girls are involved in prostitution. How did they get involved in prostitution? The parents forced them into it so that their family could have money for food and shelter. Yes, the families are so desperate for their lack of everything, that they give their girls to a brothel to earn money. I'm sure that their earnings are almost nothing. As parents, we are here to protect our children! I have never walked in their shoes to understand their life.  I can't judge because I have never been in that situation.

It has been many years since I've studied about Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Needs lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before individuals can attend to needs higher up. The needs in the lowest part of the triangle are food, water, warmth, rest. The children of these extremely poor families do not have those needs met. How sad! These families will never experience any level of the Maslow's hierarchy of needs!

Click on image to enlarge

This mission group shared a story about one young, 14-year-old girl, who was pregnant. It looked as though someone beat her in the stomach so that she would have a miscarriage, but she didn't. I'm not sure what was going to happen with this pregnant teenager once she returns home to her family. I can only imagine. 

This story brings up another thought - sex trafficking. When I was in 8th or 9th grade, I had no concerns about my safety.  I would ride my bike, alone, over to my grandparents' home in Franklin, about 8 miles from where we lived in Muskego. Today, nobody should ride their bikes alone. Why? Milwaukee is among the top cities in the USA for sex trafficking. We know that sex trafficking is a major problem all over the world. In Lima, 3-5 young women go missing every day in their capital city. 

I was reading on a site: Human Trafficking

"Human trafficking is considered modern-day slavery, and there are more slaves today than at any other time in history. It is estimated that there are more than 21 million human trafficking victims worldwide."

Please pray for all of the people who are missing and forced into human trafficking...

Prayer for an End to Human Trafficking

Oh God, we didn't see them.
But you did-
The hundreds and thousands of human beings
Trafficked each year to join the millions who are trapped in
modern-day slavery.
Under terrible conditions, they work in factories, plow fields,
harvest crops, work quarries, fill brothels, clean homes and haul water.

Many are children with tiny fingers for weaving rugs
and small shoulders for bearing rifles.
Their labor is forced, their bodies beaten, their faces hidden
from those who don't really want to see them.

But you see them all, God of the poor.
You hear their cry and you answer
by opening our eyes, and breaking our hearts
and loosening our tongues to insist:

No más. No more.

Prayer obtained from Catholic Relief Services at:
Prayer to an End to Human Trafficking

Self Defense Training

Click on Picture to Enlarge

Written by Michael Passino

When the Sisters visited us in 2018, they learned that I am a member of the Martial Arts Veterans Project ( http://www.themavp.com/). MAVP is a team of Black Belts teaching martial arts to veterans undergoing treatment and therapy at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center in Milwaukee.

As part of our medical mission to Paita, Peru, the Sisters asked me to teach self-defense classes to the high school students at Santa Clara School.

The Sisters viewed the training as a very important part of our mission. The World Health Organization reported that 69 percent of Peruvian women said they had suffered from some form of physical violence in their lives. Wikipedia notes that in Peru “…traditional attitudes toward women aggravated the problems of rape and sexual abuse - particularly in rural areas.”

Working with the Santa Clara high school students was very rewarding for me. These young men and women were amazing to work with - such energy, enthusiasm and laughter! 

Thanks to Jon W. for his invaluable assistance - although he DID prove to be a significant distraction to many of the young ladies! 

The young ladies took the classes very seriously - it's a sad comment that regardless the country or culture, young women are at such risk today.