Getting to be in relationship with Paty as a Christian follower, leader, and servant has been one of the great joys of our 7 years in Arequipa. The last year and a half, in particular, has been a formative time of shared faith, discipleship, and formation for Jesus’s mission and partnership in the gospel. It’s as if God’s work in Paty’s life—which has included so many spiritual mentors, and in which Katie and I personally got to share for years of reading the Bible and breaking bread with Paty and Lola in their home—had all been leading up to the moment where God would call Paty to minister to a very marginalized part of Peru’s population, a group beautifully made in the image of God yet abused by society, including women involved in sex work, and men and women abandoned by their families early in life either because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. She helps them develop a plan for her small business, manages the process of giving them a small loan as a capital investment (~$300), and walks with them through the process of paying that back over the course of a few months which include fortnightly training sessions in business, administration, personal finance, Christian ethics, and self-esteem.
For some, Paty is the first Christian woman ever to believe in them and work with them and take interest in their lives. To see Paty, a Peruvian Christian woman, enter into these lives with faith, purpose, and commitment has been a beautiful glimpse of new creation. Please pray for Paty, her work week in and week out, the ongoing development of her faith, coming to grips with this special call to ministry, sharing a home with her sister and daughter, the latter of which she especially prays constantly will grow in faith and commit to following Jesus, and her brother who recently suffered a stroke, is on the way to recovery, being taken care of by Paty and Lola in their home. Please continue to pray for God’s work in her life. Below I share an update from her (which I’ve translated) so that you can get an idea what this is like.
Paty:
In this letter I extend an affectionate greeting to each one of you, and as always I thank you for your interest and support in the work of CUDA Peru.
Having concluded the first semester of the year of our Microfinance Program I have finished the loan cycle for seven women. With each of them I met ten times for virtual training sessions with the goal of equipping them to improve the management of their small business, introducing practices like recognizing their strengths and weaknesses, learning accounting, working on a monthly budget, beginning a practice of savings, and calculating their expenses and income.
I finish this cycle very thankful for the service that CUDA allows me to offer to these women, many of whose perseverance and determination I greatly admire. These are characteristics that have helped them achieve goals that beforehand they couldn’t have imagined.
Let me tell you about Roxana, whose business is raising guinea pigs. When she started, this was a hobby for her, and now it’s a business that involves her whole family, Roxana, her husband, and her son, each with defined responsibilities. They started with just over 20 guinea pigs and ten months later they have more than 200, which will be sold either ready to cook or already prepared, all through delivery.
There has been such an increase in production that they have given up half of their house, which is the patio, as a guinea pig farm. Now this family business is an important part of the family’s monthly income. During this time, Roxana has been able to maintain a routine of organization in her accounting and inventory. Her husband is self-taught in terms of raising guinea pigs and has learned so much and done incredibly well.
They still have a lot more to implement in their home farm, improving the cages for the guinea pigs, building an artisanal oven, but having seen everything that they have already achieved I have no doubt that they will continue to advance.
(Still Paty) Over the last few months, with each beneficiary of the program, I have had good conversations. Some have been complicated by the type of language that they are used to using, but beyond that, I want to underscore that, for the majority of them, they have fulfilled their commitments, including paying back the loan and participating in our training sessions. I have to admit that for a couple, they completed the responsibilities with a bare minimum of effort, and I didn’t see them put into practice the homework I gave them each session. There is always, however, a hope that as the small business requires it they can remember our conversations and review the lessons that they have printed out and in this way manage their business with better tools.
In my conversations about Christian ethics, I hold onto the prayer that one of these women published on Facebook after our time together:
““Peace, everything is a process. I only needed to sit and wait, in order to feel today what I feel. We always need to be calm, because God’s timing is best. We are created in the image and likeness of God. It is in us to carry in our lives God’s teachings. We must always live in prayer, closing and opening our eyes. And even though some situations are the wrong ones, it is never too late. God reigns in us. Amen.””
There are positive and obvious results in the progress of some of the businesses, but I also trust in what is not as evident, where God is working after a Christian organization has shown its consideration, respect, and support without discriminating, trying to act as Jesus would.
We are in the process of forming a new cohort of beneficiaries of the program for the second half of the year and we will see how it goes, always with great expectation and optimism to continue in this good work.
I hope I can always count on your prayers which are our strength. Thank you for your support.
Blessings, Paty
Two followup notes (from me, Jeremy):
Paty’s final prayer was answered, as she is now working with several more individuals and things are going well. We’ll share more toward the end of the year.
Roxana, who Paty shared about, was formerly the president of Arequipa’s sex worker association. Because of the growth of her guinea pig business with Paty’s mentorship, she has been able to leave sex work completely. Because of her leadership position and respect in that community, we pray that we’ll be able to help more and more women find life and work and meaning outside of that, and, ultimately, as sons and daughters of God.