Letter from Hunter and Ruth Farrell in Peru
December 20, 2006
Lima, Peru
Dear Family and Friends,
2006 has been so full of bustle and blessing that our family wanted to share with you something of what our lives have been like this year.
Ndaya and Billy, now 18, have finished the first semester of their senior year. Academically speaking, it was the toughest yet. They have sent off applications to half a dozen colleges each—generally small, liberal arts colleges “just close enough” to family in the Midwest and Texas. They were both selected to work with a group of freshmen this year in their school’s “peer counseling group” program, and have learned much from that difficult, but important effort. Ndaya is considering a range of majors from psychology to communication to business management, while Billy will wait to decide until he gets a taste of college coursework. The church youth group has continued to be their primary circle of friends.
Andrew, 14, has poured himself into the routine of daily soccer workouts with his team, which last year won the national youth championship. For the first time in his life, he is having to hustle to stay on the starting squad and is improving his skills each month. High-school-level academics have not come easy this year, and he has had to work harder than ever before. Andrew’s ready smile and love of people continue to win him friends in school and the sports world.
As Billy and Ndaya prepare to head off for college, Ruth and Hunter look back to the time almost 18 years ago when God brought these children into our life, and we can only give thanks for the incredible gift that they and Andrew have been to us.
Ruth has helped the Joining Hands Network of Peru to develop an innovative “Fair Trade Bridge,” linking skilled Peruvian artisans who live in poverty or extreme poverty with a growing market of “responsible consumers” in Lima, the United States, and Europe. So far, more than 180 Peruvian artisans have been able to double or triple their family’s income through the training and markets that the Network has opened up to them. Many of you have organized Christmas bazaars, alternative valentine sales, or “Fair Trade Fairs,” selling the quality products available through our Web page and that willingness has made a profound difference in the way a growing number of women and men are able to provide for their children’s needs. Ruth has also served as a member of board of the kids’ school and chaired the finance committee, which helped the school through some financially difficult times.
By the grace of God (and the incredible patience and support of the whole family), in December, Hunter finally finished his doctoral dissertation in anthropology at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru here in Lima. The project looks at how Peru’s extreme political violence of the 1980s and 90s affected Santa Barbara, an indigenous community in Peru’s central Andes Mountains: the percentage of Protestants in the community grew from 2 percent to 38 percent in 20 years, income distribution became much less even, and domestic violence grew to become a frighteningly common reality for many of Santa Barbara’s families. Hunter continues to work with the Joining Hands Network, particularly in the campaign for the health of children in La Oroya—recently cited as being one of the “ten worst polluted places on Earth.” For more information, see the article in this month’s Mother Jones Magazine.
Beginning next month, he will teach a course in mission at the Latin American Biblical University (Lima campus).
This year, our family and our Network have been blessed by the arrival of seven Young Adult Volunteers from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The volunteers, aged 22 to 25, live with families and work in Joining Hands Network institutions in sites in four departments of the country. They are helping us to see our work with new eyes and have served as wonderful encouragement for the entire Network.
The hardest thing about living in Peru is being far away from you, and at Christmastime we pause to give thanks for your love, your prayers, and your friendship, which encourage us in our commitment to be part of all that God is doing in Peru and around the world.
With love,
Andrew, Billy, Hunter, Ndaya and Ruth
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 45.
