NEWSLETTER  JULY 2005

From Chris , Alison and Luke

‘If one member suffers , all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it’ (1 Cor 12:26)

EARTHQUAKE!

Along with the rest of the population of northern Chile, in the early evening of 13 June we experienced one of the most powerful earthquakes to hit this area in recent years, 7.9 on the Richter scale.

The scene in Huara, near the epicentre of  the earthquake

They are used to seismic activity here, but even the most hardened locals admit that this was worse than most. Here they call minor earthquakes “temblores” (tremors), and only if they are over 5 on the Richter scale do they call them “terremotos” (earthquakes). This was certainly a terremoto, and it has dominated everyone’s conversation since -  ‘where were you when…?’ – not least because after 13 June we have had one earthquake a week of over 5 on the scale. We are almost becoming used to it too.

Most of the buildings in the regional capital, Iquique (where we live), are built to withstand earthquakes and there was surprisingly little damage, though we were without electricity for a few hours, and the water supply was on and off for a few days. But outside of the main cities, where buildings are more ancient and generally less strong, there was significant damage. Chris visited Huara, a village near the epicentre of the earthquake, a few days later along with others from the Methodist church in Iquique, in order to help to distribute food parcels to some of those affected, and there many families were living in the ruins of their houses.

Though some buildings seemed to have escaped relatively unscathed, seeing the piles of rubble littering the streets, it is miraculous that there was not greater loss of life (only one person died in Huara). Particularly striking was the gaping hole in the wall of one house, which revealed a bed strewn with large bricks that had fallen from the wall at the front of the house. The family concerned, who attend the Methodist church in Huara, thanked God that the quake had not occurred later on in the night. A few families, whose homes had been completely destroyed, were staying in tents, but most were managing to continue to live in the less-damaged parts of their own homes.

The rebuilding operation continues in Huara and in many other  communities in this region.

Church life

There are three Methodist churches in Iquique and one in Alto Hospicio.  Two of the churches meet in large converted houses in the city.  On a Sunday morning there is Sunday School for everyone.  The congregation meets together to sing and pray for the first half an hour and then the young people and children go to  their different groups and the adults stay in the church for a Bible study.  After about an hour the different groups come together to share what they have been doing and  to pray and sing together.  On a Sunday we are in church for about 2 hours which we would never have imagined was possible with Luke!  But in the morning he enjoys going out to Sunday school and the songs are upbeat with a shaker or tambourine and he is quite happy – trying to stop him bashing the tambourine during the prayers is a little more difficult, but people don’t seem to mind.  In the evening the churches normally have a traditional preaching service.  We have to say that, although our Spanish is improving, for us the comment after a sermon ‘I am not sure I understand what s/he was trying to say’, takes on a whole new meaning!!

Rev Miriam Kaba in full voice in the partially-built Methodist Church in Huara

First impressions

>            Despite life being generally a bit more laid back here, we have been struck by how hard people work. It would be quite normal for people to have a job during the day, and then either to teach or study at university in the evenings and on a Saturday.

>            Iquique is a bit like an island in the desert, and therefore shares many characteristics of an island – isolation, togetherness against the elements, self-sufficiency, and a tendency not to move house very much. There really is nothing to the north, south or east except desert.

>            They really pull out all the stops for mother’s day (celebrated here in May), with lots of presents from everyone to all the mothers. Father’s day was unfortunately eclipsed by the earthquake!

>            People here generally despair that the main thing that the outside world knows about Chile relates to Pinochet and his regime.  We have not found Pinochet to be a hot topic of conversation.

>            The last time it rained all night here in Iquique, the schools had the next day off! They are not set up for rain at all, the houses are not weather-proof, and there is no street drainage. Believe it or not, we miss the rain. (Never thought we’d say that…)

Jobs

Both of us have started off by helping our respective schools with English language support, while our Spanish develops. Neither of us see this as our long-term role here. Chileans speak Spanish very quickly, and with a lot of local idiom.  We have twice-weekly lessons to help with this, and feel that we  are making progress, though we would love to be able to speak better and understand more and do it NOW! 

Chris is keen to get his teeth into the work of the ‘Centro de Atencion Familiar’ (CAF), the Methodist church project supporting women and families suffering domestic violence. Otherwise, Chris has been working hard in trying to understand what makes Alto Hospicio tick. There seems to be much scope to develop the work of CAF, although Chris’s precise role is still a bit uncertain.

Ali, who is just working mornings, is missing her pastoral work and is keen to develop this role in Colegio Ingles, which celebrates its 120 year anniversary this month. As for Chris, language development is the key to this! She is already leading assemblies, and she hopes also to be able to preach in some of the local churches.

The Methodist Church in Alto Hospicio. The CAF office is on the far left of the picture.

Luke

…is thriving! He loves the nursery which he goes to every weekday morning, and has adapted fairly well to everyone (except his parents) speaking in Spanish all the time. He has several Spanish words and lots of songs without words.

He really enjoyed Iquique’s “marching season”, leading up to the 21 May parade in the city to celebrate a famous naval victory over Peru in the 19th Century (the Battle of Iquique, no less), one of the consequences of which was that Iquique changed hands from Peru to Chile. Even now he marches around and bashes things in a rather disturbingly military (and yet slightly endearing) way.

He has just started sleeping in a proper bed, and celebrates his 2nd birthday this month.

3 months in Chile

We have nearly completed 3 months here. We have had a tough time trying to settle in – largely because the uncertainties about accommodation continued until around mid June when we moved into a smaller flat, away from the sea views (and the vultures!), though still only 10 minutes walk to the beach, and (most importantly) much more suitable and safer for Luke. We are therefore only now making ourselves a ‘home’  – something that we really wish we had been able to do earlier (easier also now that we have received our crate-load of belongings that arrived safely from UK by boat). We are staying in a ‘condominio’, a group of flats which has a garden at its centre, and even some trees and grass – both a bit rare here.

Early this month we also had a phone line connected along with a broadband internet connection (a revolution in itself!), allowing us to keep in touch with news in UK. We were of course horrified to hear of the recent bomb attacks in London and have been overwhelmed by the concern of people here for all those who were killed or injured. 

Thoughts and prayers…

We hope there is plenty of information in this newsletter to help you focus on some of our concerns about Chile, and Iquique, and the way our roles might develop. Your continued support by prayer, email, and letter is much appreciated!