La Esperanza

The paint on the bridge says, “La Esperanza … Estamos trabajando … Estamos Cambiando.” We are working, we are changing. The name of my community, La Esperanza, translates to HOPE in English.

Every Sunday evening when we walk to church, we’re faced with quite the dilemma- To run across the highway (in the dark) or to take the bridge? Cars don’t slow down for pedestrians here… but, there’s a very high likelihood of getting attacked/robbed by taking the bridge. Asi es la vida… So is the daily life in my neighborhood. (I cross at the highway.)

Last week I caught a glimpse into some additional hardships that are faced in La Esperanza. I attended a day of meetings and presentations with some visitors from Lima representing the Peru Ministry of Health and other organizations. At the end of the day, we toured some local facilities and took a drive to Parte Arriba. Parte Arriba is the area of La Esperanza that’s especially notorious for crime and extreme poverty. As we climbed up in elevation, the roads turned from pavement to sand, houses turned from bricks to a mixture of sheet metal and thatched straw. Amenities like electricity, water and bathrooms vanished.

We got out of the cars to take in the view. I was told that just in the last week, there were two separate murders within a block from where we stood. Women and children especially are said to live in constant fear of leaving their homes, even during the day. This level of poverty seemed even steps beyond what I saw in Ethiopia. Perhaps this is because the dirt/sand landscape here in Peru is so barren- at least in the rural areas of Ethiopia, many homes had some sort of crop growing, and everything was much greener. Or, perhaps this is due to the violence- not many people were outside and the atmosphere was a bit eerie.

I half jokingly comment about “hardships” like “showering” in a bucket, or having to buy purified drinking water. But the truth is, I’m living in a nice part of the not so nice neighborhood, and I haven’t even began to know the half of what the poverty is truly like here. If I really want to, all I have to do is take a 20 minute ride to Trujillo for access to a gymnasium and a warm shower. The extremes between Parte Arriba and the other areas I’ve seen are astounding and the experience left me feeling a bit stunned, overwhelmed, and even guilty.

And this is not an isolated phenomenon- More than half of the world live below the internationally defined poverty line - on less than $2/day. How can we effectively combat extreme poverty in places like Parte Arriba, La Esperanza, Peru? And who is "we"- who is taking responsibility?