A 12-week Odyssey to Peru

November 2011

In This Issue

40 Parcels for Peru

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Spiritual Reflections

From shovels to garden hoses, farm "suites" include everything needed to maintain a small farm.

During the first week of September, 40 shrink-wrapped parcels, or "suites," of basic farm implements were loaded onto a sea container in North Andover, Mass. Their destination? Tambogrande, Piura, Peru. Each school operated by the Sisters in the impoverished region will receive one of the suites. Once equipped with both the education and the tools to establish small farms, students will help transform their historically impoverished villages into thriving communities.

"Whether it's education in the classroom or agricultural instruction in the fields, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur are engaged in empowering people living in poverty," said Sister Leonore Coan, Director of the Congregation's Mission Support Office in Ipswich, Mass. "We are so grateful to both the International Medical Collaborative and United Parcel Service for supporting our work."

This young student will learn effective farming methods at one of the Sisters' schools in the Tambogrande region of Peru.

Sisters Partner with UPS and Worldwide Nonprofit to Ease Chronic Hunger in Peru

After a 12-week odyssey at sea, hoes, shovels, post-hole diggers and a host of other farm implements arrived in Peru on All Saints Day -- compliments of a creative collaboration among the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, United Parcel Service and the International Medical Equipment Collaborative (IMEC).

The tools will be used as part of a farming curriculum the Sisters recently instituted throughout their Fe Y Alegria ("Faith and Happiness") school system in the rural northern region of the country. The goal of the curriculum is to ease chronic hunger among the communities by teaching effective farming methods and sustainable practices.

In August, volunteers at IMEC's distribution center in North Andover, Mass., U.S.A., assembled the farm tools. United Parcel Service volunteered to pay for the cost of their shipment. The Sisters are serving as the "shepherding agency" of the transport and distributing the tools to their final inland locations. This unique collaboration to alleviate poverty in one of the world's most remote and impoverished regions was the first of its kind among the three entities. Join forces with this collaborative spirit.

Hauling buckets of water for their community garden is only part of a day's studies for students attending a school run by the Sisters in
Tambogrande. Each suite of farm implements shipped to the area was ingeniously assembled inside a rudimentary wooden irrigation system. IMEC volunteers designed the system for use in impoverished communities that lack such basic infrastructure and supplies as water spigots and hoses.

Peru School

Will this small child go hungry today? The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur provide sustenance, schooling and increased opportunity for thousands of children and their families living in the region of Tambogrande, Peru.

Please help us continue our work.

Gracias. Thank You. Con Cariño.

Sister Leonore Coan, Director of Mission Support

Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Congregational Mission Office