By Germán Vargas Farías and Jorge Arboccó
Paz y Esperanza.
The evangelical community in Peru is diverse, as almost everything in the country, and full of contrasts. The diversity can be seen in its practices, rituals and in the emphasis of its messages.
There is not one single way of being evangelic, it would be absurd to intend it. The ‘unity in the diversity’ that some wish to highlight is often challenged and denied by the contrasts.
As we refer to the role of churches and faith-based organizations in the context of the pandemic, we are thus far from a recap of homogeneous experiences. There are enough evidence and background that, even before great adversities, the response has not been uniform.
However, just like during the internal armed conflict, the role of minorities impacted the lives of many people and communities stricken by violence and showed a new evangelical face in the country. In these times of death and uncertainty provoked by the pandemic, the participation of faith people, churches and faith-based organizations has been meaningful and hopeful. To these we relate.
In a country with about 910.000 people infected by coronavirus, around 35.000 dead, approximately 6.000 hospitalized, 1.100 currently in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) [1], pretending this is not a problem is not an option. However, there are those who do pretend it, due to an empty religiosity that undermines solidarity or to avoid the trouble of searching for explanations and getting entangled in moral speculations.
No matter to which Christian denomination we belong, if believers acknowledged that, as Jesus said, the first and main commandment is: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and will al your mind and with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself’, we would no longer focus on supposed conspiracies against the churches. We would be many more walking side by side our neighbors.
Juan Fonseca, historian and researcher of socioreligious matters, has distinguished four kinds of socio evangelical initiatives, quite different from each other, which he names models.
There are those promoted by big churches, others focused on neighborhoods where local temples are located, those fostered by evangelical NGOs and, lastly, the internal support nets made up inside a congregation.
Whether with large or little resources, these initiatives are characterized by its effectiveness, because they are often accompanied by messages of relief and mobilize many volunteers. The infrastructure, even when modest, and the people motivated to serve enable these congregations to reinforce its presence in neighborhoods and communities, offering many times the antidote against anxiety and helplessness: hope.
Located in areas where the state is often absent, churches and faith-based organizations become safe and reliable places, where people can find the assistance, information and attention needed.
The close work with the people, the trust gained, and the relief offered to people are all good reasons for the State and other civil society organizations to promote joint initiatives, based on the duty to serve the neighbor.
Today, more than ever, the call to be salt and light is present and cannot hold distinctions. We are all one in this problem and we shall be one in the solution. The ones who suffer the most, the most forgotten ones, should have the preference. In this occasion, it is worth remembering our brothers and sisters in the Amazon.
For centuries, the Amazon has been the territory with the largest number of indigenous communities in the country; of the 54 communities recognized by the state, 51 are in the Amazon. Over 60% of the Peruvian territory is part of the Amazon, where are the greatest biodiversity and natural resources.
When we look at data of the Covid-19 situation, the larger number of cases are in states in the Amazon. It is even possible to verify that many of the most severe cases end in La Libertad and Lambayeque hospitals in the Peruvian coast, where they arrive coming from Northeast Amazon. It is also currently the area with higher mortality rates.
During the greater pandemic contamination period, great part of the Amazon population has seen people die hospitalized. For this reason, many people opted not to be hospitalized, but had aggravated cases and died at home. The State didn´t register these deaths in the official numbers, since they were not tested nor checked in the health system. It is estimated that the actual death number may have overcome the number of victims of the armed conflict in the country.
Similarly to the times of political violence, the most excluded, the forgotten, the ones who the State never assisted are, once again, the indigenous people. The ones who suffer the most during health pandemics are the same ones who suffer from social ones. Dengue and malaria are growing rapidly, just like poverty and unemployment rates. Almost 80% of the economically active population in the Amazon are informally employed, and great part of this population is suffering from deforestation, narcotraffic and human trafficking.
In this context, churches hear a call to give hope, produce information and raise vigilant voices for greater attention to those most in need. We hope these are prophetic voices, rather than opportunistic ones. We hope they do not intend to disguise their electoral ambitions as “vocation to serve”, as we draw close to an electoral process that will be special given the context of sanitary emergency and the year of the Independence Bicentenary.
In the 1990s, when Latin America suffered from cholera outbreak, it became visible (as it is now) that we are not a “middle income” country, but rather one of deep inequalities. The income is a product of inequality, which generates over 10 million people living out of an informal economy, without labor rights, and with a terrible health and education system, waiting for ages for a reform and greater wealth distribution.
Back then, various Christian groups supported and put together popular canteens, to face poverty and raise solidarity. It was also the opportunity for some to gain visibility and run for the elections, some of them winning. In some cases, people developed public offices which resulted in loss of credibility and prestige. This background is still reminded in the evangelical world.
Areas of the Amazon basin, as in practically all Latin America, suffer from neglect and are only targeted as space for primary extractive activities, which take place without the recognition of rights for millions of workers and indigenous people. The situation is even more extreme as, being far from the main political and economic power centers, the reality of these people is made invisible and distant for most of the country.[2]
Initiatives from the Catholic church such as the Pan-Amazonic Ecclesial Network (REPAM)[3] or “Respira Peru” [4] should inspire and be supported by the evangelical world and other faith-based organizations. The Good News of the Kingdom should not be limited to four walls of a temple. Churches are spread throughout Peru, disassembled, however they could unite to defend life in contexts such as the current one, for this is their calling.
We should return to the Maloca, as the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) convenes, return to life as a community, rejoin ties of solidarity. Thousands of elderlies, women, many of whom are pregnant, are in great danger and abandonment in the Amazon. They are the living memory and the core of dozens of communities. Let us open our eyes to these “forest of oblivion”, search for the numbers hidden by indifference, join our voices to those who have always claimed for justice, and now demand it amidst the pandemic.
[1] https://covid19.minsa.gob.pe/sala_situacional.asp
[2] Some referential data can be found under: https://ojo-publico.com/1779/morir-por-la-tierra-indigenas-asesinados-en-la-amazonia
[3] https://redamazonica.org/
[4] https://respiraperu.com.pe/