"God bless us, everyone."

by Emily, Ruskamp, Kelli Nelson, and Marcelle Keating, IWM community serving in Chimbote, Peru

The chocolotadas, panetones, and hot sun that surround us this Christmas season are a bit different from the Christmas goodies and cold weather that we are used to.  Our celebration has resulted in a rich combination of our own traditions and Peruvian customs. We’d like to explore this a bit further by sharing a few of our recent experiences through the lens of the classic story, A Christmas Carol, and the three spirits that teach Mr. Scrooge so much about life, love, and the giving spirit of Christmas.

The First of the Three Spirits

As I read the account of Scrooge’s visits to past Christmases, I think about the Peruvian culture of fiestas, with Christmas being the ultimate cause for celebration.  The tradition is to have chocolatadas, which consist of hot chocolate and panetón, a fruit-cake type bread.  Like many parishes here, the youth movement in our parish hosted a chocolatada for children in our parish.  We bought some very simple toys to distribute (less than fifty cents each), gathered all the supplies, and handed out fifty tickets the morning of the event, anticipating that twice as many children would flood the doors when word spread around.  In the end only about 40 children came, probably because of the very short notice, so a group of us went downtown afterward to hand out the leftover panetón and toys to children working on the streets. 

As the Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge a Christmas party thrown by his former boss, the Ghost comments, “A small matter … to make these silly folks so full of gratitude.”  These words resonate eerily with me after having that experience.  It would be dishonest to say that I did not get some satisfaction from seeing each child’s eyes light up with surprise and delight when she or he accepted the toy and bread.  That satisfaction, though, was tainted by an extreme discomfort that reached its epitome when my friend with the bag of toys was surrounded by a group of about ten children and adults, each pushing and pleading to receive a toy.  The image is somewhat haunting, but it forces me to continually reflect on the reality – why is it that a grown woman selling her little candies would follow us for blocks, pushing nameless children out of the way so that her own child could receive a fifty-cent doll for Christmas?  What cultural and economic factors make it so? 

Scrooge says after witnessing the party, “‘The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.’” In that moment he realizes the minimal role that money and gifts play in creating true happiness.  This Christmas season, I invite you to reflect with me on our reality and pray that we may transform our world – in which some have too much while most have not enough – into a world where all may joyfully celebrate in community with our neighbors.

-Emily Ruskamp

The Second of the Three Spirits

“Come in!” exclaimed the Ghost.  “Come in! and know me better, man!”   Scrooge’s encounter with the Ghost of Christmas Present is a series of invitations into the lives and homes of others, in which his timid and bitter heart is further opened to the reality he once ignored.  Yes, Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus, the child of hope, born in poverty, savior of the world, and it is also a celebration of the family, the Holy and human family, home, and all that entails.  It’s a home that is not necessarily of structure, but of the heart, something we all have, the heart that feels, engages with other hearts, and is shaped when we “come in” to “know” and journey together.

I am learning more and more here that anytime we engage in the lives of others we are entering into the heart of Christ whose birth we celebrate this time of year.  We open ourselves to reaffirming the truth in our lives, as well as redefining what home is to us, that sacred space inside of us that gives us a beautiful and gentle confidence to move about as a constant, every day invitation for others to share in Christ’s love, and the joy of his birth and being. 

Sarah, a friend of ours here in Chimbote, invited us for lunch in her humble home a few days ago.  While eating platefuls of delicious trigo, papas, and cuy (guinea pig), she explained to us that this had been her first attempt at making the dish, that she rarely cooks, and that we were enjoying two of her four cuyes (an amount that could feed her family of four for two meals).  She sells sweets every day at the little park across from her home along the main route to the center of town where she has been stationed for the last fourteen years.  I visit often on my way to and from my site of service, and quite frequently see her saturated in smiles surrounded by local friends and neighbors who have stopped to visit.  To me, she emulates someone who has made her home in sharing in the hearts of others, as did Jesus, as is the way of love.  The ease at which she is, her simplicity, profound generosity with time, desire to learn, listen, bring others joy is something that makes Christmas very real to me this year, perhaps similar to those Scrooge encountered with the Spirit that sacred night.

“Much they saw, and far they went, and many homes they visited, but always with a happy end.  The Spirit stood beside the sick beds, and they were cheerful; on foreign lands, and they were close at home; by struggling men, and they were patient in their greater hope, by poverty, and it was rich.” 

-Kelli Nelson

The Third of the Three Spirits

We are frequently asked as missionaries why we have come to serve. Many locals are surprised when they find out we do not receive a salary for our work.  It is hard for me to explain that although I do not receive money for my efforts, I have been enriched in my life and it is a gift I could never put a dollar sign on.

The ghost of Christmas future is an ominous presence that accompanies Scrooge scene to scene in cold silence showing him the fruits of his life of inaction and apathy.  With each scene, Scrooge is increasingly horrified to see the news of his death treated in utter disregard within the community he labored. He pleads to the spirit saying “Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which if persevered in, they must lead, but if the courses be departed from the ends will change.”  Christmas is the spirit of giving: opening ones heart to the spirit of volunteerism, giving of oneself, helping to spread Christ’s love in the world.  Our time in service can make a difference for so many. I am happy to report that after a year and half of living in Chimbote, we are not the only volunteers to be found here. I am aware of many Peruvians helping Peruvians - being Christ to one another.  Whether it is in the parish working with the youth, a psychologist who volunteers his time with the street kids, hospice workers who go above and beyond their job, or music teachers who give of their time traveling from Trujillo twice a week to give the youth an opportunity to experience playing in an orchestra - these are all just a few beautiful examples of service happening right now within the city.

Taking time to volunteer has the funny reverse effect of enriching the life of the volunteer more so than those they serve.  I hope you can all find an opportunity to share Christ’s love in service to others and in turn receive Christ’s love back tenfold this Christmas season.  Like Scrooge, we can all promise “to honor Christmas in [our] heart and try to keep it all year.”

-Marcelle Keating