PE 06 - EDAMA
Project Location
The project is carried out in Arequipa, where the Comboni Missionary Sisters have been working since 2019 to respond to the missionary needs of the more rural districts of the urban agglomeration. Including the surrounding metropolitan area, Arequipa is the second most populous city in the country, with over a million inhabitants, and an important industrial and commercial center. Nevertheless, poverty pockets are endemic and perpetual, in particular in the suburbs.
Most of these people live in peripheral settlements where basic services are missing, from sewerage to food supplies. There are no schools or health centers, and often young people are forced to move to other districts to look for better opportunities. Due to poverty and the lack of secure jobs, economic stability is out of reach for most families.
Project description
EDAMA (which stands for EQUIPO DE ANIMACIÓN MISIONERA DE AREQUIPA - Arequipa Missionary Animation Team) was founded in 2019 to promote cooperation in the missionary dimension of the Church. During the second half of 2023 and the first half of 2024, the following activities are designed to provide direct answers to the challenges on the ground.
• “You give them something to eat.” Given the increasing number of migrants arriving in our city, once a month we share lunch with a hundred of them. This initiative not only contributes to the mitigation of food insecurity, but above all creates moments of sharing, empathy and friendship between volunteers (often young people of the parish) and those living on the margins of society.
• BioArt – To live a good life: In view of the climate change problem we encourage children and youth to take care of our planet and to get familiar with the message of Pope Francis' Encyclical Laudato Si', by organizing a drawing contest for them,
• A Light in the Darkness: Vigils and evening meetings of missionary spirituality to promote a culture of peace, fraternity and awareness about the care of creation, to be held once a month in the streets of the city.
• Mission Camp: a week of missionary experience in the mountains of Peru, for 15 young people aged 18 to 27.
Objectives
- To provide opportunities of encounter and fraternity
- To promote art as a means of environmental care
- To sensitize to the importance of respect and the acceptance of differences
- To create spaces to share the Word of God through missionary outings in the most remote areas of Peru
- To develop awareness-raising campaigns in favor of migrants.
Beneficiaries
Direct: 100 poor people per month for lunches; 200 children and youth participating in the contest; 15 boys to join the mission camp, and about hundred people participating in the vigils and prayer meetings
Indirect: the families and the local community
Referent sister: Sr. Rosmary Apaza Herrera
Project's costs