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July 9, 2010 Dear Sponsoring ELCA congregations, Friends and Family, Greetings from Lima, Peru! This month's newsletter is written by my husband (and fellow missionary) Tom Ososki: Church Architecture Projects The past few months I have been able to work on a couple of architecture projects for churches who belong to the Peruvian Lutheran Evangelical Church (ILEP). Two of the projects are on the way north side of Lima – the Emanuel Congregation and the Emaus Congregation. It has been fun to work with these congregations and learn of their ministries. Emanuel has a very impressive children’s program where Monday through Friday they have about 50-75 kids from the neighborhood come to the church to do their homework and have lunch. About a 1/3 come in the morning and the rest in the afternoon (depending on when they have school). Besides homework (elementary school kids have about 2 or 3 hours of homework per day) and lunch, the church is a safe haven for the kids. Many of their parents work in distant locations throughout the city and with the long slow bus commutes they are not present in the house much of the day. The congregations’ building goals are very different. Emaus currently rents out space and they want to construct something new. They not only want a worship space, but they also want a community hall, a parking lot, a Montessori preschool, and guest rooms. All of these amenities, besides the worship space, are both a needed function and a means of raising income. The community hall will be rented out for various community functions, the parking lot spaces will be rented out at night as a secure place to leave a car, the preschool will charge a fee, and the guest rooms will also have a small fee. Emaus is hoping their new building complex will help them towards self-sufficiency. Emanuel already has an existing 15-year-old building and they want to make improvements to it. Guest rooms on the roof, more classroom space for the children's program, and more natural light penetrating into the building are on top of their wish list. The Central Plaza One of the endearing aspects of Peru is that almost all of the towns, large and small, have a clearly defined central plaza usually called the Plaza de Armas (Armed Plaza) – not a particularly poetic name for a poetic space. When we have traveled and come into a new town I always head to their Plaza de Armas to get oriented, figure out our travel plans, and let the kids run around and maybe get an ice-cream cone. I enjoy seeing each one because they all have slightly different aspects – although a church always anchors it. But, I have had one visitor who had seen one too many of the central plazas and commented – “Geez, Tom, okay enough with the plazas.” Visiting Emanuel and Emaus, and the other edges of Lima, made me realize these more recent (the last 30 years) and more poor parts of Lima all lack a central plaza and it really is detrimental. The community has no gathering spot and the only public space is the street. Father’s Day Gift My favorite gift on Father’s Day was a used bike from the kids. They had it painted – light blue. It has a basket, fender, one gear, and poor breaks. I love it! I have been using it for short little trips near the house. There is only one major issue: the traffic can be heavy and most people are not looking out for bikers. Bikers have to be careful. I have been riding slowly, generously using sidewalks and not taking any unwise risks. Otherwise, this city, in particular, is great for biking as it is mostly flat, it hardly ever rains, and it is never super hot or super cold. In fact, it is interesting that right now they are building two major transit infrastructure projects near us: an elevated electric train and a major bus transit route that both cut across the entire city. But, I think Lima should have (and still can) follow some European, Chinese, and other foreign influences and invest in bike transit. The benefits are many: a healthier population, less air pollution, less noise pollution, less dependence on non-renewable resources, minimal infrastructure investment, etc. Now, if I could only convince the mayor of Lima……. World Cup Fever Random screams have been heard in the mornings and afternoons for the past couple of weeks. The mostly screams of joy mean a goal has been scored by a favorite team. Although Peru is not in the World Cup, Peruvians have been cheering for the remaining South American teams. Spain is also a favorite because it is the country most Peruvians immigrate to. I also really enjoy seeing people randomly standing on sidewalks outside restaurants catching parts of the games. I have been lucky enough to experience the World Cup from various contexts: 1998 in China, 2002 in Ethiopia, 2006 in the USA, and 2010 here in Peru. Tom Ososki Contact information: Tom Ososki, Pastor Dana Nelson, Tana and Anthony Congregación Evangélica Luterana Cristo Rey Calle Conde de Nieva, 237 Urb. La Virreyna, Surco, Lima 33, Perú telephone 51-1-278-0169 (church) |
