What shall we say then?

The Huánuco “region” is one of the seven poorest regions of Perú. I don’t know if it’s #1 or #7. In these seven regions:

“66% of children under five suffer from chronic malnutrition,
79% of households have no piped water,
94% percent lack sewerage, and
94% of families use wood as their cooking fuel.”

Sadly, this data is right on. (Source here.) This is what life is like for the women and their families that we were visiting last weekend during the most recent Women of the Bible workshops. While leaving the last town, we stopped to snap this photo of a little girl waiting for her mom and big sister:

“Clean water

and health care

and school

and food

and tin roofs and cement floors,

all of these things should constitute a set of basics that people must have as birthrights.”

--Paul Farmer qtd. In Mountains Beyond Mountains

"¡Coca—Si! ¡Hambre—No!"

"Coca-Yes! Hunger-No!" Today there was another march in front of my house, which is on the main street at one end of town. The cocaleros are threatening to block roads and bridges in reaction to government policy changes regarding their crops. Cocaleros are farmers who grow coca, and while coca can be made into cocaine, it is legal to grow and sell in large quantities here. Around 60,000 families in Peru depend on their coca crops to survive. The new president of Peru is cracking down on these farmers, most likely because they are an easier target than those who illegally make and sell cocaine. Pray for peace and provision for the families in Peru for whom this crop is their livelihood. (For more information, check out this BBC News article.)