April 2000 Prayer Letter
But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish. Psalm 9:18
Dear Family & Friends,
Hola from Lima! Almost a third of Peru's 24 million inhabitants live in Lima. The city is overcrowded and terribly polluted. Historically, the government has made it very difficult for the rural migrants to make transition to the city, even more difficult for these people to find jobs. The unemployment rate is 40%!
The streets, parks, and buses are crowded with people trying to do something, ANYTHING to earn a sol (the local currency). People of every age are forced to do whatever they can to earn a living, from selling candy to paper clips. The elderly and small children are often seen on the sidewalk with a scale, offering to let you weigh yourself for a small price. Among the majority poor, everyone in the family is compelled to work.
If there is any law prohibiting child labor, it is not enforced. Children as young as two are seen desperately and timidly asking passers-by to purchase their candy. I can never erase my mind of their quiet, little voices crying, “Tres para un sol.”
The population of Lima is 8 million. There are an estimated 400,000 children on the streets. It is among a small group of these children that we spend our time… The following is an excerpt from my journal.
It was friday night. On Tuesday and Friday nights we meet at a local church for a time of exhortation from the Word and prayer. Then a few Peruvians and our team go to the streets together. Walter had seen some of the kids earlier in the day and they said that the police had been rounding up a lot of street kids and prostitutes (“batida” means the police have been taking people off the streets).
The police have there reasons for “batida”. Prostitution and “smoking” (inhaling glue through a plastic bag) is illegal. But, the police take not only kids who are “smoking”, but any kid who is seen as a “street kid”, even if that kid rents a room somewhere. These kids have no one and nowhere to turn. They are doing the best they can to survive in a world that doesn't want them.
When the police round up the children, no questions are asked. No rights are read to them. They have no rights. And no one defends them. They are always at the mercy of everyone else and very few offer mercy. The “law” offers very little, if any, justice for the poor and oppressed. The children continually face physical, verbal, and emotional abuse from them . I wouldn't be suprised if other abuses are experienced as well. The police in Lima are also known for corruption. Sometimes the police themselves take part in illegal activities and frequently accept bribes.
Once the children are picked up, they are taken to a holding room. It is a terrible place. All of the kids fear going there. Often the police take any money the kids might possess, roughing them up a bit in the process. Sometimes the kids are successful in “paying off” the police in order to be set free. While being detained, the kids are sometimes forced to do degrading chores like cleaning the bathrooms, picking up trash, etc. If food is offered, they usually have to fight over it. Other times, the kids only eat if they have money. Some of the kids have reported the police putting water, ankle deep, on the floor in the holding room so that the kids cannont sit down. After spending 24 hours or so in an overcrowded room (sometimes filled with water) the kids are either let out on the streets again or taken to a correctional facility. They may remain in a “correctional facility” or “holding room” up to weeks at a time. Eventually, most all the kids end up back on the steets surviving the only way they know how.
But you O God, do see trouble and grief; You consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; You are the helper of the fatherless. Psalm 10:14
This happend February 25. Several of our friends are still missing. Anything could be happening to them.
In Brazil in the 1980s, thousands of children, just like these, were systematically murdered to rid the streets of them. Injustices and atrocities beyond our comprehension happen to innocent children all over the world. Their cries are dulled by the “walls” we build up between us and them. Many of us don't want to know because we cannot bear the pain and we feel helpless to bring about change.
But our God is a God of hope and liberation! Setting the captives free and making us new creatures! All things are possible through Him! He could tell the world about Himself without the help of us, but He has chosen to send us! He has chosen us to be His hands, His feet, His voice. And He hates injustice. We are called to defend those who cannot defend themselves. We are called to be a voice for the voiceless. We are called make things right in an unjust world. For the Kingdom of God is here!
May we resist the temptation to remain comfortable in our safe and secure lives, and may we listen to God's call for us to be active ambassadors in a world that is suffering and needs the touch of Christ. There is much work to be done.
The peace and life of Christ be with you.
Much love,
Phileena
You hear O LORD the desire of the afflicted;
You encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
defending the fatherles and the oppressed,
in order that man who is of the earth may terrify no more.
Psalm 10:17-18