| | |  | | On the outskirts of the large city of Trujillo in northern Peru, thousands of poor families have come to the desolate sand hills overlooking the city in a search for a place to live. This hillside town which is named Alto Trujillo is often described as a pueblo joven (a young town). It is an urban slum, a desert-like hillside where thousands of poor and desperate families are attempting to build a home and find work.
Many of the families have left their hometowns in the mountains or rural areas in search of a better life. They have left the places where they had family ties and a sense of identity and community to come to a barren hillside where there are no trees or shrubs -- not even a blade of grass. There they build little houses of adobe bricks and begin a long struggle for the basic necessities of food, water, sanitation, transportation, and above all, a job.
Despite the grinding poverty there are signs of hope , as women plant flowers outside their doors and leaders organize the community to press the government to provide the basics of water, electricity, latrines, and schools. The church is there, too, helping with soup kitchens, a school for handicapped children, chapels, and plans for new job training programs. There are signs of hope, too, in the children - ever resilient - laughing and playing games in the dirt streets and climbing the hills of sand.
Please click here to see photos of the school's recent visit to Trujillo.
St Kilian's School Trujillo
There are four rooms. Two class rooms, a small meeting room, a library and toilets. The building is being used for the immediate community and for the area. It services an area that has a population of approximately 50,000.
Letter from Sister Doraliza Castro Alayo
Centro Pastoral – Senora De La Misericordia
Barrio 4 – Alto Trujillo – Peru
Mr Cian Hogan & The Project Peru Committee,
St Killian’s German School,
Roebuck Road,
Clonskeagh
Lima, 22 January 2010.
Dear Friends,
I greet you from Peru on behalf of myself and the community of Barrio 4, Alto Trujillo. After a long silence from us, we are delighted to communicate with you once more with the wonderful news that the construction of the project in our area is now completed.
The people are absolutely thrilled with how the building has turned out. We contracted a local builder and the quality of the work that he gave shows in the finished product. His attitude was, ‘if people so far away have the goodness in them to think of us, it encourages me to put my whole self into the building and make it something to be really proud of. As you will see from the attached report on the work, we now have a library, two class rooms and both male and female bathrooms.
Since we have opened the doors, the poor building has had no rest; it is in constant use for different groups. The youth group uses it for the workshops and meetings. There is a psychologist attending for group work with families and personal interviews. All the local groups who wish to use it have access, but not only that, the wider community of Alto Trujillo have meetings there when there are coordinated activities. For example, medical campaigns, the finishing celebrations for all the literacy groups in the area, a celebration for all the elderly, a meeting to organize building projects which the government is offering. It was even baptized St Kilian’s with a new year’s celebration by all the youth of the different communities!
In January and February of this year, 2010, it is the summer holidays, and there are various holiday activities offered for the students – dance classes etc. I really feel that words cannot express how grateful we are to all of you in St. Kilian’s – we are overwhelmed to that you have been so generous with us and that you, from so far away, have made such a difference to our life here. Without you we would not have and would never have this beautiful building. You are spoken of and remembered everyday in Barrio 4 – Alto Trujillo and we cannot wait for the group to come in a few months time to meet you all and be able to thank you in person.
I attach an explanation of the expenditure in the project, a copy of which has gone to our Provincial Office Treasurer in Cork, if you have any queries please let me know.
Sincerely,
Sr, Doraliza Castro Alayo,
Sisters of Mercy,
Peru Region
Thank you very much for supporting Project Peru
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