My name is Sr Angela O´Toole SS.CC. and I am a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts. At the moment I am living and working in Lima, Peru, South America. The district where I am living is called San Juan Lurigancho, and the barrio is Canto Grande. San Juan Lurigancho is one of the largest district in Lima, with more than one million people. The parish is called Señor de la Esperanza (Lord of Hope), and there are 250,000 parishioners. Two priests from the Holy Cross Congregation are full time in the parish and four of their priests who are involved in formation, come at the weekends to help with Masses. The chapels take it in turn to have Communion Services when a priest is not available to say Mass. The parish is divided into 18 Chapels and each chapel has its co-ordinator and council. Each month there is a parish council of which the co-ordinators are members. Each chapel, in turn, has it ´chapel´ council once a month to feed the information received at the parish meeting.

We are involved with two chapels, Mary of Nazareth and St. Martin de Porres. Both chapels are within easy distance from our house. There are two aspects to our work with the people of these chapels: one is social, the other spiritual.

The social aspect is basically helping the people find ways to help themselves. We have initiated a sewing workshop with the help of money received from friends and family in Ireland. Many of the women cannot work outside the area because there is no one to look after their children. The workshop trains them make patterns, to cut and to sew, so that they can work from home. Those who do not have machines can come and use the machines that are housed in a room in the chapel. We have been able to get toys so that the children can play while their mothers learn how to sew.

The Christian Brothers have a school nearby. Two or three times a year some of their pupils from the United States or Argentina come to "build houses". They build two prefabricated houses, made of wood each time they come. The best description of the houses would be a garden shed, but considering the conditions in which the people are living, it is a palace to them. The brothers asked us to help in this project by choosing the families who are in need of these houses. So far 5 families have benefited from this project.

The spiritual aspect is more one of training. We are working with leaders and catechists helping them to take on their leadership role and deepening their own understanding of faith, so that they can pass it on to those with whom they are working.

Part of this training involves retreats and what we would call "days with a difference". At the moment we are also initiating "Oración Taizé", which has a large attendance.

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