Joining Hands for People/Planet in Peril

WHY THIS STORY IS IMPORTANT:
While people of faith always pray for healing and justice to come quickly, the fact is that the human work of healing and justice can takes many years. The more than decade-long work of Presbyterian Church mission workers in La Oroya, Peru, is a testament to the critical importance of the virtue of perseverence in complex and highly charged circumstances.

For more than 10 years, Presbyterian Church (USA) mission workers in Peru have worked to empower the residents of La Oroya, a town high in the Andes that has been devastated by mining-related environmental degradation.

Shortly after arriving in Peru as PC(USA) mission co-workers in 1998, the Rev. Hunter and Ruth Farrell took up the cause of the people of La Oroya, where an estimated 97 percent of the children have dangerously high levels of lead poisoning.

Their work has been taken up by others, and political and media attention have brought the needs of La Orayo to a world audience. The community was featured at this time last year in CNN's Planet in Peril: Battle Lines. (See details from Presbyerian News Service here and here.) And this year, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights agreed to hear the community's case about conditions there. (See link below.)

Meanwhle, the work of Presbyerian mission workers continues. Earlier this year, mission worker Jed Koball joined fourth- and fifth-graders at a Brooklyn school for a video conference to discuss the situation in La Oroya.

"What the digital world makes so clear and evident today is what the suffering people of the world, from St. Louis to Peru to New York, have known for ages," Koball said. "It's a small world, and it's very interconnected. How we use our connections, how we live in partnership is the mission before us."

For some personal thoughts on La Oroya, there's a December update from a young adult volunteer, Joe Tobiason, on the eco-journey blog.

Additional background from other sources:

March 2004
Development of an Integrated Intervention Plan to Reduce Exposure to Lead and Other Contaminants in the Mining Center of La Oroya, Peru (Centers for Disease Control)

2006, 2007
Top 10 Most Polluted Places (Blacksmith Institute)

April 2007
Cleaning Up La Oroya (Christianity Today; More details on interfaith relationships)

October 2008
Dr. Sanjay Gupta blog, Planet in Peril: Battle Lines. Entry by A. Chris Gajilan, CNN medical senior producer

December 2008
Anderson Cooper blog, Planet in Peril: Battle Lines

July 2009
"In the Andes, a Toxic Site Also Provides a Livelihood " (New York Times)

August 2009
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to Hear La Oroya Case (Earthjustice.org)