Walking With the Poor - Notes From the Field

MISSION AWARENESS TRIP TO VENEZUELA

May 13 - 20, 2006

THEME: CREATING COMMUNITIES OF SOLIDARITY

Cross country on a small bus

We met this historic first mission awareness trip group to Venezuela over a pleasant 7 a.m. buffet. We loaded our bags in the back of the white bus and headed west to the state of Lara and its capital, Barquisimeto. I read that this city was founded in 1552 by the Spanish conquistador Juan de Villegas. The name Barquisimeto comes from an indigenous expression meaning “land of the grey waters.” Driver Don Angel responded well to my request to slow down. Eighty-two percent of our 6,000-plus sponsored in Venezuela can be found in the state of Lara.

As we moved down the highway, Father Jerry Beat kindly briefed the group on the reality and recent history of Venezuela, including his personal 12 years of missionary service in Barquisimeto.

Special child, Arelis, and her mother, Carmen

We spent the Monday of our trip visiting sponsored families of five different subprojects. With Father Jerry Beat, we visited the family of Fanny, who is sponsored by St. Patrick’s School in Wichita, Kan. I was impressed by Carmen, the young mother of sponsored teen, Arelis. Arelis is a special child who attends speech therapy classes with help from her sponsor, Paula. Every 15 days, this industrious mother of Arelis finishes 100 pairs of school uniform pants in one of the bedrooms of their new and beautifully trimmed little home. People in this poor neighborhood organized and mobilized to receive help with housing from the government.

Mothers, heads of households

Impressive is Passionist Sister Romi’s knowledge of each sponsored family in the rough-around-the-edges area of Pavia. Sister Romi, a Nahuatl Indian from Cholula, Mexico, is so mobile and agile afoot that her name should be spelled “Sister Roamy.” She and the sponsored children prepared some great prayer sessions during the trip week. I thank God for missionaries like Sister Romi and her companions working in these neighborhoods. The sisters are excited about the CFCA sponsorship program, which allows them to live their charism among God’s poor. We enjoyed lunch at the sponsored children’s dining room at the Colegio Maria Auxiliadora. More than 300 sponsored children enjoy a nutritious lunch here each school day. After supper, we enjoyed the panel presentation of several Venezuelan medical doctors who care for our sponsored families, in most cases ad honorem. Their estimate is that 70 percent of our sponsored families in Venezuela are headed by mothers alone.

The welcoming caravan

On our way out to rural subproject La Reluciente on Tuesday morning, a caravan of sponsored children and parents met us with trucks, motorcycles, flags and industrial strength firecrackers. One hundred eleven children are currently sponsored in this rural area, together with eight aging. Enthusiasm and excitement describe the atmosphere of our enjoyable community gathering. This was one of those performances where little children edge their way toward the stage, like a rising tide. In this community, trip participant Esther sponsors Emily. This elderly had formed an impromptu band of fiddle, four-stringed cuatro and drum. With their foot-stomping repertoire, they brought even more life to an already lively audience. Sponsors were soon dancing. Into this atmosphere rode Pancho Lopez. Under a welcome rain and strong winds, we enjoyed a nice lunch at a religious retreat house with a wonderful view of the mountains and green valleys.

Coromorto and Moises: Sponsored success stories

Wednesday of our journey found us at the home for special children HONIM, where 80 special young people live in an atmosphere of personal attention and love. All of them are sponsored. We enjoyed a fine musical performance and snack with these outgoing young people. Some remarkable stories are here. Some 20 years ago, the founder of the home, Father Angel Riba, introduced me to Coromoto when she was a little girl in a wheelchair. May 23, 2006, will mark the first anniversary of Father Angel’s journey into eternal life. Coromoto now works at the home for special children where she grew up and is the proud mother of an 18-month-old little girl. Twenty-year-old Moises also grew up in this home. In order to walk, Moises has undergone 16 major surgeries. He is gifted intellectually and has completed the first two years of law school. In the afternoon, we enjoyed a fine show in the outdoor theater of the basketball court (the rain held off) with strong participation by the sponsors themselves.

Watching over the sponsored children

We heard testimony from eight mothers/leaders after supper. Each of the mothers, after receiving special orientation, makes a commitment to “watch over” 10-12 sponsored children who live in her neighborhood. The formation received by mothers has a multiplying effect in each community. The mother/leader monitors her sponsored children’s school work, health and behavior in general. A sense of belonging is a wonderful byproduct of this example of cooperation of CFCA mothers. Many are also catechists in their respective parishes. One of the mothers, Carmen, stated, “Through this program, I have grown a great deal.” After listening to these CFCA mothers and appreciating their example, I feel like saying the same thing.

These are my people

“Esta es me gente (These are my people),” stated coordinator Maria Mejia as she stood in the shaded porch of the Laura Vicuna School. Maria has been our coordinator here for six years. Atop a mountain bicycle, this petite single mother of three devotedly coordinates a CFCA program in the countryside for 617 sponsored children, 78 aging and 22 scholarship students. They sang, spoke and danced in beautiful outfits fashioned by the mothers sewing co-op. A sponsored family provided the Venezuelan folk music for the performance and during lunch. The morning was rounded off by a pleasant lunch of goat a la parilla and salad. We then visited the families of sponsored children Carlos Eduardo, sponsored by Linda, and Enderson Antonio, sponsored by Daniel. We had two more groups of sponsored children and families waiting for us before getting back to our retreat center home and Holy Mass. Mass was co-celebrated by Father Beat and Father Miguel Matos, S.J. In his homily, Father Miguel expressed great appreciation for his sponsors and for CFCA. He had been sponsored during his years in the major seminary.

CFCA Olympics

On our last morning in Barquisimeto, we learned about the annual CFCA Olympic Games. These friendly games include sport, academic and artistic activities. They are geared to allow the sponsored children, teens and aging from different subprojects to come to know one another. The parents, staff, children and scholarship students in the subprojects hold a variety of fundraisers during the year to finance their respective teams. Sponsors enjoyed offering suggestions for fundraising ideas. We were treated to a high-speed soccer match between Ciudad de Los Muchachos and Subproject T, the 2005 overall champions. Subproject T prevails again (1-0), with the winning goal by Angel Jr. He asked me to let the world know about this goal.

Solidarity and prayer

Before heading to the airport, we enjoyed a roundtable sharing with sponsors and staff. As we look at this first mission awareness trip to Venezuela, consensus is that the trip was an excellent experience. Thank you for journeying with us in solidarity and prayer. One week from today, we await our next group to Guatemala.

God's blessings,

Bob Hentzen

Barquisimeto, Venezuela

May 19, 2006