Together, Lisa and Leslie's testimony
addressed each of the company's traditional excuses: lead poisoning
can kill and its impact on children's health is irreparable;
the primary cause of the lead poisoning is not the population's
alleged lack of hygiene, but rather the toxic emissions of the
company's smelter; the company suffers not from a lack of cash
flow, but rather a lack of will to invest in the technology needed
to fix the problem. So powerful was their testimony that the Company
vice president for environmental affairs had little to say when
it was his turn to speak.
The friends from Missouri had no idea that their testimony would
be so powerful in Peru. Still, after a visit by two MOSAO members
to St. Louis and Herculaneum last February, they accepted the
invitation to "accompany" the fledgling movement, traveling
the 3,640 miles from St. Louis to La Oroya to see the situation
with their own eyes, and share from their own experience. "When
we met [MOSAO and Joining Hands members] Esther Hinostroza and
Dora Santana in February, we all felt an immediate bonding of
the heart. We have been fighting the same battle for years—we
just didn't know each other before!" said Warden.
The preceding weeks had seen national media attention on the
issue: eight Peruvian newspapers, six radio stations, and three
television stations reported on the crisis and the legislation
proposed by Congressman Hildebrando Tapia (who represents the
department in which La Oroya is located) to declare La Oroya a
national health disaster area. The law sets up a multi-sector
commission to organize an "environmental audit" for
La Oroya and to implement the audit's recommendations, with specific
deadlines for each step so that the pollution levels can be reduced
as quickly as possible.
When asked about the impact of the hearings, La Oroya mother
and activist Esther Hinostroza replied, "We still have a
long way to go, but the presence of our sisters in Christ with
us today in Congress gave us the courage to speak the truth. For
our children. And that makes God very, very happy."
The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
263 |
