Greetings from Peru!
In February 2006, Dr. James Keane, founder of the Blessed Edmund Rice Solidarity Initiative, and Spanish teacher Mr. Kyle Woolley led fourteen students, ranging from freshmen to seniors, to Canto Grande, the neighborhood of Lima where the Christian Brothers Fe y Alegria School is located. The group toured the countryside as well in the third BERSI International voyage, a program designed to immerse students in cultures and ways of life quite different from their own and help them share in solidarity the joys and frustrations of those in the third world. This was the first time a Christian Brothers school delegation had visited the country.
| View photos of the trip here. |
CM/BERSI Peru: 2006 Pilgrims:
Marco Perry '06
Peter McGovern '07
James Tobin '07
Dan Ruggles '08
Graham Madden '08
Liam Concannon '08
James Donovan '07
Brian Hickox '08
John Miele '07
Bryan Aldridge '08
Sam Vinci '07
Ryan Guilfoyle '08
Dispatch: Dated February 21, 2006
From : Dr. James Keane
Subject :
Greetings from Peru!
We are having a most extraordinary trip! Everything has gone
smoothly¨...the
flight was on time, we have a bus hired for the week and they met us right
on time at the airport. The accomodations are fantastic...including a
beautiful porch, pure water, indoor plumbing, etc..
We have a wonderful group of students here. Everyone is getting along. Spent
Saturday at the Pachacamac archeological dig and then went to one of the
pueblo jovens, ¨Canta Grande¨. We went back yesterday. We helped move
classroom furniture for an hour or so and then played basketball and
volleyball with scores of neighborhood kids for hours...until well after
sundown. My son Michael was very much in his element. It was terrific to see
tight bonds forming between Peruvians and Americans. We also met Br. Richie
Glatz, a former teacher at CM and now Principal of the Canto Grande School.
He spoke to our group about the Fe y Alegria school program and the issues
(TB, crime, violence, malnutrition, etc. ) that face his 1600 students.
On Sunday we went to the National Museum and had a tour (we also had an
English tour at the archeological dig). We went to old colonial lIma as well
and toured the Plaza de Armas. The kids broke into groups and visited the
shops, etc. We ate at a Peruvian restaurant that night. Lots of steak and
chicken but the students ate pig ears as well....which I enjoyed as well
until I learned that they were pig ears...
We also went to Mass on Sunday. I was amazed how into it the students
were...the music was beautiful. What´s interesting about the students is
that they are taking in EVERYTHING. Very observant group and intensely
interested.
On Saturday we also visited the Christian Brother´s formation house and met
Br. Hugo who spoke to us about ¨The Many Faces of The Peruvian.¨ Hugo spent
time at CM several years ago and with my own family at Easter. It was great
to see him.
We are about to leave for Villa El Salvador, the largest and best organized
base Christian community in Latin America. We will visit a market and soup
kitchen and daycare center. We will then return to Canto Grande for more
sports and Mass at 7pm. It is warm here...a high of 85 each day, low of 70
at night.
We are doing SO much! Too much to write about in the short time I have now.
What an education this has been. Lots of profound contrasts between rich
and poor.
Con Dios,
Jim Keane