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Tierra Blanca, Peru
Fr. Tommy with Dolibeth, a single mother and member of a parish Bible group. She earns three dollars a day sweeping the town plaza and is wearing a typical straw hat to protect from the intense tropical sun.In Tierra Blanca, on the Ucayali River in the upper Amazon Basin Peru, Father Tommy King and Brother Gerard Saunders live and minister among the native people. Father Tommy is the pastor of the parish with more than 17,500 people. Brother Gerard is the Principal of the local high school, along with this important work he also helps to prepare local lay people to offer pastoral and practical leadership and spiritual guidance in their communities.
The families of Tierra Blanca live in single room homes with cotton sheets for interior dividers. Floors are raised three feet above ground to shelter a pig or some chickens beneath it and to let floodwaters flow away. In this beautiful yet dangerous tropical village, basic medical supplies are hard to come by and the infant mortality rate is six times greater than in the United States. Many die from snakebites or routine illnesses, not living long enough to even begin school. The village gets only three hours of electric power a day…imagine all the activities that have to be crowded into those few hours of modern opportunity!
Fr. Tommy King, OFM with some parishioners outside the church in Tierra Blanca.
As principal of the high school, Brother Gerard works with parents to keep their children in school and helps teachers get ongoing training and education. Recently Brother Gerard described some achievements in the school: “As an educator, you may not see the fruit of your work for years. Getting the school library set up for study time in the afternoon has been a success. It’s very hard for the kids to study in their own homes. They don’t have their own text books. In the library they have access to the books they need. And helping any kid finish high school here is a real success. We also provide health care education to the kids and their parents. And at night, the high school serves the adults who want to finish their high school education.”
Parishioners dancing in front of an image of the Virgin Mary on the Feast of the Visitation.
Fr. Tommy’s work as pastor sends him to various villages that are part of the parish. During patron saint celebrations he travels by boat for one to three hours and arrives in the village just in time to perform many baptisms and then a procession with the community throughout the town with the patron saint carried on a small float by four people. Once the procession is finished it is followed by music and traditional dances that lasts through the night. Due to the large size of the parish community, Fr. Tommy works hard to train lay spiritual leaders of the various villages through adult Bible reflection groups and ongoing formation.
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