A letter from Elisabeth Cook in Costa Rica
September 2012
Dear Friends:
With new UBL president Nancy Cardoso
Greetings to all of you and my thanks for your prayers, support, and accompaniment in the mission of our church throughout the world. As I write I am preparing for my Interpretation Assignment in the U.S., where I will be from October to March. I will be located in Berkeley, Calif., a place that has become my “home” in the U.S. in recent years. Dear friends in the area receive me as family and make the Bay Area a place I look forward to returning to. As some of you may recall, I was born and raised in Latin America and have no home church or point of reference in the U.S. That makes the open arms welcoming me to Berkeley all the more meaningful.
I look forward to visiting with congregations in the area, as well as in Detroit and Duluth, where I will be the last two weeks of October. Another goal is to advance as much as possible with my Ph.D. dissertation and take advantage of the libraries at the Graduate Theological Union and UC Berkeley. When I return in May I will begin my assignment as Academic Dean at UBL (Latin American Biblical University) under a new president, Nancy Cardoso, from Brazil. Nancy is a Methodist Biblical scholar very involved in grassroots education and the “campesino” movements in Latin America. Violeta Rocha, our current president, will continue as professor of New Testament.
Daniel Trujillo
Financial considerations make cutbacks necessary in order to meet restricted budget demands at UBL. This is just one of the many issues to be decided in the next few months as we move into a new “era” in the life of this institution that has served church and society in Latin America for 90 years! If you would like to receive UBL’s monthly English-language newsletter, please let me know and we’ll put you on our mailing list. Among other things we share opportunities for volunteers, study groups and work teams here at UBL. This year work teams built the main structure of six new student apartments.
On another note… For the past two years six students from different Latin American countries have been participating in a master’s program in theology and HIV-AIDS at UBL in Costa Rica. The program, funded by the Lutheran Church of Sweden, is being offered at the same time in four different Latin American universities in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Costa Rica. I would like to share with you about one of the students involved in the program in Costa Rica.
Daniel Trujillo comes to the program after working for many years with youth on the streets in Honduras—many of them living with HIV or AIDS. Several years ago Daniel worked undercover with an NGO infiltrating human trafficking routes from Honduras to the United States and Canada. The experience was dangerous and made him aware of the many critical situations youth on the streets confront daily. The ever growing demand from sex cartels and sex tourism appeals to young girls as a way out of a life of poverty, who then find themselves enslaved, abused and, often, infected with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Heydi
Daniel has four children; two live with him during his studies in Costa Rica while his daughters are in Honduras with his wife, who works as a nurse. Daniel’s goal is to return to his country and participate in HIV education and awareness, especially in local churches, where stigmatization results in the exclusion and marginalization of those who need support and accompaniment. Daniel wants to see the churches outside their walls and in the streets where the needs are greatest.
The master´s program has not only brought students like Daniel to UBL during these past two years, it has also generated an educational process for those who live and work at the university. This past month we celebrated the Day of the Bible with a seminar called “Touch me, I have AIDS.” Thirty pastors, community workers and students came together to read the Bible from the perspective of those who are excluded in Latin America—especially from the church—because they are HIV-positive.
The students in the master’s program are finishing their thesis work during these last months of the year. We look forward to their work and to their prophetic ministries in their own countries and churches, denouncing exclusion and stigmatization in all its forms and announcing life and life abundant and the invitation to enjoy the fullness of humanity. We are continually challenged to remember the words and ministry of Jesus, and to touch, with our lives, values, actions and attitudes, “the least of these our brothers and sisters.”
Peace,
Elisabeth
The 2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 14
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