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| February 2004 |
| Huron woman doing mission work in
Peru |
Gene Young
Managing Editor |
Rebecca Blue is taking a different road
into her adult life.
After graduating from South Dakota State University with a major
in agronomy and a minor in Spanish, the 23-year-old member of
Holy Trinity Parish, Huron, headed out to try and a make a difference
for the people of Chimbote Peru.
Blue is in the midst of volunteer mission work for 10 months
in Chimbote at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish.
She connected with the opportunity through the Los Amigos de
Padre Juan Foundation in Fargo, ND. Blue’s brother told
her about the opportunity through his Minnesota parish which
has a sister relationship with the Chimbote Parish.
That parish serves the poorest of the poor in that community.
Blue says she had wanted to try mission work ever since she
was a young girl. “I just really felt the call in the
spring of my last semester in college,” she said. “What
better time of my life to do it than when I’m graduating.”
Rebecca left for Chimbote in August and it has been a real “eye
opener.”
“Everybody that I talked to that had been down there before
told me to be ready for a big shock,” she said. “But
as you meet the people, you realize they still have a very positive
outlook even though they are in such poverty.”
During her time in Peru, Blue has been staying with a host family
that is part of the parish.
Chimbote is city of 350,000 people located 6-7 hours north of
Lima along the Pacific coast. But Blue says it is not like a
city of comparable size in the United States. There is an airport
but no flights, not even to Lima.
Her fluency in Spanish has helped the parish try out something
new with Blue. She is doing some administrative work as well
as outreach for the parish.
“They have huge support from their sister parishes up
in the states,” she said. They are continuously starting
new projects because of that support. Blue has become the “go
to” person when it comes to being a liaison between the
local people and American benefactors.
Her home parish in Huron has become one of those benefactors.
Father Joe Holzhauser, pastor of Holy Trinity Parish, designated
one half of the parish’s Mission Sunday collection to
go to Chimbote to support the mission and Blue’s work
with the poor.
But the thing Blue enjoys most about her mission work is interacting
with the people.
“I teach an English class for about 10 students, mostly
in their 20s,” she said. “I also work with the handicapped
children of the parish. They come in and we do activities with
them.”
Blue will serve in Chimbote until May 26th but hopes to some
day spend more time doing mission work.
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