21 March 2004
Lima, Peru
Dear Friends,
How far would you be willing to walk to fight poverty? How about
2173 miles?
For the past three years, the Presbyterian Hunger Program has
worked with an amazing group of 15 churches, non-governmental
organizations, and community-based groups that have organized
themselves to address the causes of hunger in some of Peru’s
poorest areas. The Joining Hands Against Poverty Network of Peru
works in economic development, environmental justice, and human
rights. Through Joining Hands/Peru:
- indigenous and disabled artisans living in extreme poverty
have been able to increase their income up to 300 percent
- widows and orphans in the Peruvian Andes are being supported
in their search for justice in the wake of the 15-year civil
war and related human rights violations
- the parents of hundreds of lead-poisoned children in La Oroya
have been helped to organize themselves to defend their community´s
right to clean air.*
So what’s all this got to do with walking 2173 miles?
In a few days you will be receiving an email or letter from Tom
Geiger, the former Country Director for the United States Agency
for International Development (USAID) here in Peru. Tom and his
wife Eleanor are Presbyterians who know a lot about poverty, its
causes, and how to fight it. They have spent their lives doing
just that—first as volunteers for the Peace Corps in Panama
in the 1960s and then for most of their professional lives with
USAID (Tom) and non-profit organizations (Eleanor). So when Tom
approached us and offered to hike the Appalachian Trail (2173
miles from northeast Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine) in support
of the Joining Hands Against Poverty Network in Peru, we were
thrilled. The hike is to begin on 7 April from Springer Mountain,
Georgia, and will continue for several months (evidently you have
to walk fast to beat the Maine winter!).
Tom wants to help Joining Hands-Peru make a difference in the
lives of Peru’s poorest people, and he is contacting friends
of the Joining Hands Network to invite them to pledge any amount
they choose as he walks the Appalachian Trail: an over-all gift
for the hike or an amount per mile. We would ask you to consider
supporting Tom’s effort to strengthen the Joining Hands
work in Peru. If you’d like to pledge in support of the
Hike for Hunger, please send an email to the Joining Hands Network
at: manosperu@pazyesperanza.org
so that we can make sure all the pledges get tallied and reported.
Your tax-free contribution can be sent to Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.), c/o Alfonso Lopez, Presbyterian Hunger Program, 100
Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY 40202. Mark the check: “for
Joining Hands/Peru, H-000105” and 100 percent of the funds
will be used for Joining Hands work. We will send you a gift acknowledgement
upon receipt of your contribution. An alternative would be to
help carry Tom’s backpack for 100 miles!
But whether Tom completes 2173 miles of the Trail or only 100,
all of us in the Joining Hands Network appreciate his willingness
to step forward to fight poverty. Won’t you remember Tom
in prayer for strength and safety over the coming months?
With you in the fight against poverty,
Ruth & Hunter Farrell
Joining Hands Network/Peru
Lima, Peru
*Click here for a 2003 year-end
review of Joining Hands/Peru.
After 7 April, check out Tom's Web page at: http://geocities.com/perupea/hah.htm
The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.150 |
