N°10, August 2007

La Tirana

As you might expect, Methodists are a very small minority in Chile – most people are Catholic, though many only nominally so. Close to Iquique is the small village of La Tirana (population around 800), which every July welcomes up to 200,000 Catholic pilgrims who come to venerate a carving of the Virgen del Carmen (another name for the Virgin Mary). This festival is famous for its spectacular and colourful religious dancing, which has its roots in pre-Spanish, pre-Christian times.

Our trip to La Tirana for the festival (5 days before the climax of the fiesta) was much less intimidating, hot and dusty than most people here had suggested it would be! Our day started with a lively children’s eucharist with the church full of families and kids with long balloons which were waved during the songs (photo above right © La Estrella). Outside, there was the awesome sound of 5 or 6 brass bands playing simultaneously as loud as they could to drown out the others, and to enable their troupe of dancers to hear them. All the troupes of dancers were going in to the church one after the other to pray to the Virgen del Carmen, and by this it felt that there was a strong spiritual root to the whole event.

Pachica

We sat in Señora Nora’s “casino” (front-room dining room open to the public) eating our lunch.  In the dusty street outside, a donkey waited hitched up to a trailer carrying a load of alfalfa.  Señora Nora’s television accompanied our meal with staple glitzy light-entertainment shows from Santiago – unbelievably part of the same country.

The contrasts in Pachica, a tiny “pueblo” of 400 people 120kms from Iquique, could hardly be greater.   Alongside the donkey and its cargo, was a lorry, set to carry local produce to the large towns. The bent and twisted tree trunk until recently serving as a telegraph pole had been replaced with a smartly painted metal version (see photo above). The dry Atacama desert comes to life here thanks to a river, fed by the rains on the high plains bordering Bolivia, and so a lush band of green twists its way along the bottom of Tarapacá gorge past Pachica, in between hills of pure brown, sand and rock.

And what a transformation in this green corridor! Irrigation allows small-scale farmers to eke a living, growing and selling onions, beetroot, and alfalfa. This is a precarious life, though the markets and supermarkets of Iquique provide an outlet for their produce, and many supplement their small incomes with other work. A local farmer, Tomás Flores (photo above), described his work on the land as “sacrificial”, and not just for him, but for the whole of his family who help out in the work. But just as Tomás left the harsh high plains (“altiplano”) more than 20 years ago to make his home here – part of an exodus that has left the villages in the altiplano largely deserted except for occasional festivals and funerals - so his children are also making decisions as to where to make their homes for the future. And his children, along with for many other children of the small-scale farmers of Pachica, are tending to move west to the coastal cities of northern Chile.

“Yes, I have hope for the future”, Señora Nora told us, as her granddaughter Jemina tidied away our plates. Though with so many people moving away for schooling and for work, the area is increasingly relying on Bolivian “illegals” to work for the small rewards available, and the future seems as fragile and precarious as ever.

e you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.           Luke 6:20                   

Centro de Atención Familiar

Chris continues with the normal highs and lows of managing a small domestic violence project. The project is functioning reasonably well this year, though the low pay and limited hours that the centre can offer its staff has led to the loss of two key staff members and their subsequent replacement. This is far from ideal for the staff team, but even less desirable from the point of view of the continuity for the users of the centre.

The work of the centre broadly involves individual advice-giving, workshops for women, and the coordination of a network of organisations in the community who have contact with women living with domestic abuse.

As part of the work, recent highlights have included:

►Chris and the centre’s Social Worker gave a talk about domestic abuse to 500 parents at a local school

►A policy about domestic abuse (proposed by the centre, and based on the kind of policy that many churches in the UK now have) has been adopted by the local Methodist Church, as the basis for action on the theme

►Leading a service in the local Methodist Church on the theme of domestic abuse

Church

The role of minister continues being both a privilege and a challenge for Alison, with its many surprises and the constant learning process whether regard to people, language or culture (church and Chilean).

The Sunday School (usually with 35 children and young people) continues to be joyful and creative with all ages leading the worship.

Alison involved members of the congregation in the building of a Lego Church during the Anniversary service to illustrate the part we all can play in the life and work of the church. Such a participatory message is unusual here and was well received.

Alison is an honorary member of the newly formed men’s group!!

As you can see I can now write my name on my own, and I can count up to 15 too. I had my 4th birthday in July and I had a party with some friends - we had a puppet show which all the mummys and daddys enjoyed too.

Because of some problems with my tummy, I am starting a gluten-free diet, but daddy has found a bakers that makes some nice bread that I can eat – and biscuits too!

Bethan

...is about to celebrate her 1st birthday! She is sleeping through the night consistently (phew!) and is still enjoying her nursery. She has had lots of coughs and colds this winter but otherwise appears to be doing really well.

Leave

We will be in the UK on “leave” from 3rd January until 1st April 2008. As well as some rest and relaxation, and spending some time with our families, we will be undertaking preaching and/or speaking engagements so as to share something of our experience here, and reporting more formally to the Methodist Church structures who employ us. Any enquiries about our availability during the period should be made, in the first place, to us as soon as possible.

At the time of writing we are without accommodation for the leave period, so if you know of any 2 bedroomed self-contained furnished flats/houses (preferably in the Birmingham/Midlands area), please let us know urgently. We will (thanks to Chris’s dad) have the use of a car while we are there.

Other news

Since our last newsletter…

► Chris has been to a conference near Santiago about strategies to respond to HIV/AIDS

►we have been granted permanent visas

►we have had to get Chilean driving licences

►we have been thinking, along with the church here and in the UK, about what should happen for us after April 2008 when our current contracts expire – watch this space!

►we have finally (all together) made it up to the stunning altiplano (high plains bordering Bolivia)

Thoughts and prayers….

We hope there is plenty of information in this newsletter to help you focus on Chile, its people, and our life and work here. Your continued support by prayer, email, and letter is much appreciated.