Getting Ready to Welcome the Sisters

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In two weeks, Sister Monica and Sister Paula will be arriving in Chicago. This is Sister Paula's first visit to the USA.

We've decorated  a section of the Human Concerns bulletin board. We can't wait to see them!

Meet Sister Monica

I am Sister Monica Olguin from Lima, Perú. I am 50 years young (September 2nd is my birthday). I live in Paita, Peru, a large port in Paita.

I worked for many years at St. Clare School, as an English teacher, then as a manager,  and then as a principal until March, 2018. I also worked at our parish In Paita, on the Liturgy team. I was also responsible for the Confirmation Program at the parish. 

I like my religious life. Next January,  I am going to celebrate my 25th anniversary as a sister in the Franciscan order of the School Sisters of St. Francis. I recognize many gifts that God has given to me and I am very happy to serve people at my local parish and to serve the students at St. Clare School. 

I hope to see you soon and answer all your questions about Peru and how we live there!

Sister Monica

Meet Sister Paula (English)

My name Paula Girón Parrilla, from the Franciscan religious order School Sisters of St. Francis; I am a teacher of religion, history, geography and economics at Santa Clara School in Paita, Peru.. I am in charge of the administration of a pharmacy for the dispensing of medicines and training for people from different human settlements. For this reason I studied pharmaceutical chemistry, which I am currently completing. The objective of my second career is to continue offering a better service in health, pharmaceutical accompaniment and medical campaigns offered by the parish of Saint Paul Parish, Genesee Depot, WI.

I like to work with people from different human settlements because they are people who in many cases need training in the field of health, an aspect forgotten by the authorities.

My goal is the implementation of a larger pharmacy where there can be variety of medication and preparation of them to satisfy more needs, I hope in God to achieve it with the support of good people.

Conocer a Hermana Paula (español)

Mi nombre Paula Girón Parrilla, religiosa Franciscana, soy profesora de religión y de Historia, Geografía y economía en el colegio Santa Clara.

Soy la encargada de la administración de una farmacia para la dispensación de medicamentos  y formación para la gente de diferentes asentamientos humanos. por esta razón estudié  química farmaceútica, carrerra que la estoy culminando actualmente. El objetivo de mi segunda carrera es para continuar ofreciendo un mejor servicio en salud,  acompañamiento farmaceútico y campañas medicas ofrecidas por la parroquia San Pablo USA.

Me gusta trabajar con la gente de diferentes asentamientos humanos porque es gente que necesita en muchos casos formacion en el campo de la salud, aspecto olvidado por las autoridades.

mi objetivo es la implementación de una farmacia mas grande donde pueda haber variedad de medicamento y preparación de los mismos asi satisfacer mas necesidades, espero en Dios poder lograrlo con el apoyo de las buenas personas.

Delay in Shipping to Peru

Shipping donations to Peru is never easy. We are a small ministry. We don't have the money to send a container to Peru. However, St. Anthony on the Lake sends to Peru each summer or fall. Over the years, we've asked them to help us get our donations to Peru.

This year, St. Anthony on the Lake was busting at their seams with donations from parishioners and non-parishioners doing  missionary work in Peru. Since so many people had donations to send to Peru,  the shipping container filled up quickly. Some donations didn't fit in the container.  St. Paul's donations were some of the donations that didn't fit in the container.

What are we going to do now?

St. John the Baptist Church,  outside of Oklahoma City, has shipments going to Peru three times a year. St. Paul Parish has shipped with them in the past. We have asked Cheryl, head of their Peru Ministry, if they could help us again by sending our donations. She said, "Yes, we'll help you."

In October, St. Paul Parish will be driving to Oklahoma City, to drop off all the donations that'll be used during our June, 2019, medical mission trip.

In a few weeks, Charlie S., the physician assistant who oversees the medical staff and clinic activities, will be ordering all the medications needed for our clinic.

Please pray that all donations are shipped to Peru and available for our  June, 2019 medical mission trip.

Dear Lord,

Give us hope  that all things will turn out alright, and the way you intended it to be.
While we are doing our best to be strong and optimistic and true to Your teachings, please surround us with Your Love.

Your will be done!

AMEN

Shipment to Peru...THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Thanks to St. Paul Parish for taking a collection during Lent, 2018, and enabling our ministry to purchase 55 sets of Berkey water filters. Thanks to all the donors, large and small. You are giving families the opportunity to drink clean water.

Some of your donations were used to purchase miscellaneous supplies that'll be used when the team of missionaries goes to Peru in June, 2019. Thanks for your generosity to provide money to purchase these supplies.

Thanks to St. Anthony on the Lake in Pewaukee, for shipping these items to Peru!

Michael P. marking the St. Paul containers

Thanks to the people who have provided some unexpected donations. These donations will make a difference to many people.

• Nicholas S. for purchasing over 100 flip-flop sandals. Thanks for sharing the money you had raised and for providing sandals to those in need in Peru.
  
  

  

  Blue container filled with flip-flop sandals

   
• Lynn B. for sewing and donating over 100 sundresses. 

Sundresses made with Pillow Cases

The shipment will take anywhere from four to six months to get to Peru and to get through customs. Please pray that all the donations make it to Paita, Peru.

Thank you Everyone, for your Time, Talent, and Treasure!

WELCOME THE SISTERS INTO YOUR HOME

St. Paul Parish will be hosting two Peruvian Sisters from St. Clare School in Paita, Peru.  Can you provide a comfortable bed and transportation for a few days of their stay? They will be here from September 10 - 21, 2018. You don’t need to host them the entire time nor do you do not need to speak Spanish because they speak English!

Sister Monica

Sister Paula

The Sisters are Sister Monica, director of St. Clare School and Sister Paula, a new graduate in the field of pharmacy. They are both Franciscan sisters from the order of the School Sisters of St. Francis.

 

They will be very busy connecting with our parish and other organizations. We don’t want them to experience all work and no play! Do you have any suggestions or would like to host a fun activity? (e.g. boat ride, picnic lunch, site seeing, etc.) Please email us at peruoutreachstpaul@gmail.com if you'd like to help.

PERU MEDICAL MISSION TRIP PLANNED FOR JUNE 15-23, 2019

The Peru ministry called Connecting Hearts and Hands invites you to partake in the 2019 medical mission trip. This is our third medical mission. An informational meeting will be held on Sunday, May 20, 2018, in St. Paul's Family Room, after the 9am Mass.

Trip Goal: To provide basic medical care to the families living around St. Clare School in Paita, Peru.

When: Tentative dates are June 15 - 23, 2019. An additional side trip to Machu Picchu, an ancient Inca ruins, will follow the mission trip. Three days will be spent traveling around Cuzco and seeing Machu Picchu with a tentative return date of June 26th.

Who: We are seeking the skills of Spanish translators and medical professionals such as doctors, physician assistants, pharmacists, nurses, and people to cook and serve the medical team.

Please email us at peruoutreachstpaul@gmail.com with questions or if you're interested in attending.

 

The 2016 Medical Team

Books for Peru

Every year, St. Paul School has a fundraiser for St. Clare School in Paita, Peru. It is held during their Scholastic Book Fair. The theme this year was Wild West Book Fair.

 

The money raised during the Scholastic Book fair was used to purchase Spanish books for the library at St. Clare School. This year, the coin drive fundraiser ran from October 2 through November 3. They were hopeful that they could raise $200.

Each week, different coins were collected in each of the classrooms.

• Week 1 - pennies
• Week 2 - nickels
• Week 3 - Dimes
• Week 4 - Quarters
• Week 5 - Paper money (and coins)

The students were motivated to raise the most money for their class because they wanted to win one of the prize such as a casual day pass, warm, chocolate chip cookies, and for the younger children a special dress-up day. Individuals had their names posted on a boot when paper bills were donated.

Fifty children from St. Paul School donated a total of $440.96. Isn't that amazing!?!?

The  Student Council had the fun task of selecting $440 of Spanish books for St. Clare School.

Many people purchasing books for their families also purchased a book for Peru. Thanks to all who purchased books for Peru.

Muchas gracias.

Future Plans

Our committee, Connecting Hearts and Hands, and St. Paul Parish is going to be busy over the next few years.

Here's are some of our future plans for Peru.

• Eleven families from St. Paul Family Program have signed up for the Families Praying for Families Program. Their pictures have been sent to Peru and 11 families in Peru will send a picture to our families and they will pray for one another. 
• The children from St. Paul School will raise money to purchase books for St. Clare School during their Scholastic Book Fair held in November.
• During Lent, St. Paul Parish, Genesee Depot, WI, will be collecting eye glasses and mobility devices. We will send them to Peru in July. The second collection during Lent will provide funds to multiple Human Concerns ministries. Peru will be one of the ministries.
• We're hoping to connect with the Lion's Club so that we can get eyeglasses for future trips to Peru.
•  In September, 2018, Sister Monica and another sister will be coming to Wisconsin to visit with our parish. We're talking about having her speak to our parish after the Masses and possibly have a fundraiser while she's here. Sister Monica has a 1980 Explorer. It is in terrible shape. The sisters need a new vehicle. We may possibly use some of the money from the collection to help the sisters fund a new vehicle.
• St. Paul Parish will continue to provide water purification systems. Each system costs around $100.
• Last but not least, we're planning another medical mission in June, 2019. More information will be provided soon about this medical mission.

We are always looking for volunteers. If you have an interest, please email deb_passino@yahoo.com. Thank you for reading the blog.

Deb

We're Getting Ready to Return to the USA

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

This is our last day in Paita. We met a lot of people, asked a lot of questions, and we're ready to return to our US home. We're leaving for the Piura airport at 3:30pm. We'll be eating Papa John's pizza before getting to the airport at 6:45pm. Our flight to Piura takes off at 7:45. It's a small airport and we need to arrive an hour before our flight to check-in, get through security and board the airplane flying to Lima.

We'll be home on Wednesday evening at 7:45pm. Our flight to Lima will arrive at 9:45pm this evening and we'll be spending the entire night in the airport, connecting with an American Airlines flight at 6:45am on Wednesday morning. We've got some time to think about all that we've learned this week.

Here are a few of the pictures we took today. Some of the things we did today, visited with some classrooms at St. Clare School, took a moto to the PRONOEI school where there are 4 and 5 year old students, visited a new hotel in the area (checking it out for the next team going to Peru), went to market looking for another plastic bucket for a water purification system, ate lunch and packed our suitcases.

4th Grade Students at St. Clare

Children at PRONOEI - 4 yr. old Program

Children at PRONOEI - 5 yr. old Program

Getting in Moto at PRONOEI School

New Hotel in Paita

Standing on Balcony in Hotel of City Roofs

Meet at the Market



Picture of the Sisters
Left to right S. Paula, S. Maribel, S. Monica, S. Paula and S. Matilde

Written by Deb

Last Full Day in Paita

Monday, July 17, 2017

We had visited each classroom briefly this am, took a photo of each class, and were treated to their joyful Monday assembly, complete with dance and greeting of us!!
This assembly is done every Monday morning.  There was also a short dance program done by the high school.

 

 

 

We are taking pictures of every classroom so that the corresponding grade at St. Paul School can send a picture of their grade and both schools will have a prayer exchange between the classrooms.

We knew that the medical team was exhausted when they finished last year, so today we opened the boxes and suitcases of supplies left behind, placed like with like, inventoried and consolidated everything, ready for June 2019!

Whew, last box to inventory!

Charlie S. coordinates these medical trips. If you know of anyone interested in doing medical outreach in another country, they should consider Peru. THANKS, CHARLIE, for everything you do!

Hi To Charlie and Miranda

Sr. Paula will be visiting the 25 families who were the first recipients of the Berkey Water Systems. These systems were installed in 2015 when Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) collaborated with St. Paul Parish. The people using the water systems may filter anywhere between 25 - 50 gallons of water each week. Sr. Paula will be testing these systems, making sure that they're still working properly. If they are failing, the families will receive new filters. Sixteen systems have been saved as replacements for those no longer working.

Earlier today, we walked two blocks to a store which sold mostly plastic household items (for buckets for follow up testing), then made our way to the very fortified entrance to Santa Clara school to see the children off.



Children Standing at Door Waiting for Parents

Hola!



Mom Picking up Child from School

Dad Picking up Daughter on Motorcycle

We are sort of intrigued by the Mototaxi which is common, inexpensive transportation used by all, and completely unknown in the United States. Part of our intrigue is related to our knowledge of the dangers these commuters face--no American would feel comfortable on these roads, but the citizens of Paita contend with them multiple times daily.

A Line-up of Motos in Front of St. Clare School

 Written by both Lisa and Deb

Giving Drink to the Thirsty

Sunday, July 16, 2017

What a day! We have been so blessed serving God's people in the tent town outside of Catacaos. This tent town has 32, very small, tent homes. Families have been moved to this location, with the help of their government, at the end of March.

We were told that the flooding occurred because of  a sudden and abnormal warming of Pacific waters of Peru. This warming had unleashed the deadliest downpours in decades, with landslides and the raging Piura River destroying everything in its way including people, cars, homes, and crops.  Here's what we saw when we first arrived. Click on a picture and you will be put into the scroll mode and see each picture in a large, screen-size format.



Street View of  Tent Village

One of the Homes




S. Monica Standing in Front of one Home

 

Kitchen - Located Outside of Tent

Inside of a Tent - Sleeps a Family of Four



Family in Living Room Outside of Tent

Common Meeting Area

Water For Community

After we arrived, word spread quickly that we were there. Everyone came out of their homes and greeted our group of nine;  the group included the five sisters, S. Monica, S. Matilde, S. Maribel, S. Paula, and S. Dora, two drivers, and Lisa and me.



Meeting the People Outside of Catacaos



Deb Training the Group on Using the System

 

S. Matilde Giving Water Purifier to Disaster Victim

Lisa



 

S. Monica

S. Dora

S. Maribel



Beautiful Woman and her Baby

We distributed the buckets to 31 families. They were all very appreciative to receive this gift of clean water. They have some very big needs besides clean water...food, milk, insect repellent, beds, pots and pans, extension cords, solar flashlights and much, much more. They lost everything in the flooding!! Whatever you would need, they also need.

Even though these people live in a tent, the people keep themselves very clean. They are very proud, handsome/beautiful people. Look at how happy and clean these children look.

Children of Tent Town

The government has been giving the people land so that the flood victims can make a small, prefabricated homes in these safe, flood-free area. Many people have already moved and made new homes. The people who have moved have had enough money to purchase the supplies for a small home. The people left at this tent town just don't have the money to build a home and move. They lost everything. If they owned a home, the insurance does not cover the loss of their home and everything that was in it. They don't have a dime to their names. One picture above shows the inside of their home. What you see is what they own!

Thank you, donors for your generosity. You have helped a lot of people stay healthy by giving them a gift of clean water. Each donor will receive a picture of the recipient of a water purifier. The people in this community were told that their picture will be given to their donor and that their donor will pray for them.

Deb

We're All Done Assembling, Testing and Getting Everything Ready for Transporting

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Ourselves and our bucket project are the only "goings on" upstairs in the sisters' house, so Deb and I got up this morning, and, still in our pajamas, started to cycle our individual system tests. We wanted to dump the water from the systems which "passed" the red food dye test overnight and use it to test the next ones.

Testing a Batch of Systems

Our wonderful helper from yesterday, Nils, reappeared, ready to work, so we just kept on going to make use of our volunteer. Finally at 1:30 pm we were called to lunch!

(Nils wanted us both in a selfie with him before he left, but I declined).

We worked our way through all 50 of the systems by late afternoon, got rid of all of the water (and didn't waste any because we were able to dump it into the cistern), and then called it quits once we had put the finishing touches on the 32 we plan to use tomorrow. We had to write in Spanish "unfiltered water" on the top bucket of the system, and "filtered water" on the bottom one. We also had to condense the travel size of the buckets, and place some written instructions and other essentials inside the bucket sets. I got the easy job, (writing legibly in Spanish) and Deb did the other tasks, (but she didn't complain--except about the taping of the lids--which is unfortunately necessary--they will be hauled in the back of a truck tomorrow and we want to keep the filters clean).


38 Systems Done - 12 More To Go



Taping Lids and Special Instructions Onto Buckets

 

Adding Agua Sin Filtrada and Agua Filtrada



32 Systems Ready for Families in Catacaos

 

The sisters eat a hearty meal at lunchtime and then have a sandwich or small meal later in the evening, so we were able to finish all of this by around 9pm and then get a bite and relax with the sisters. Off to bed, we have a big day tomorrow!

Lisa