Paraguay 2006

St Mark’s Paraguay Team – July 7th to July 28th 2006

On the evening of Sunday, July 2nd, Bishop Ken Clarke (Chairman of SAMS Ireland) commissioned a team from St Mark’s Parish, Portadown for three weeks of service in Paraguay. Also commissioned at this occasion were two members of Derryloran Parish, Cookstown, who also served in Paraguay at the same time. The trip was organised by the South America Missions Society. The St Mark’s team consisted of 14 people, most of whom were St Mark’s Parishoner’s and was led by its curate, Rev’d Malcolm Kingston.

The team specifically worked on two building projects. The majority of the team were involved in the preparation of a site and the initial construction of a retreat centre at Emboscada, outside Asuncion. Work carried out there involved digging foundation trenches, carrying rock to the Paraguayan builders as they built the foundations, carrying bucketfuls of topsoil to raise floor level, felling trees in the surrounding area for a sports field, levelling the entrance road and brick laying. This site will be integral to the development of the church’s ministry for the future and will be a facility to train pastors and for churches to use for residential weekends.

The second project that the team were involved in took place in Concepcion, Paraguay’s second city which is some 6 hours drive to the north of Asuncion. This project involved the construction of a special facility to offer shelter to Indian families coming to the city of Concepcion from the surrounding ‘Chaco’ region, to help look after family members in hospital. In Paraguay, hospital staff offer very basic medical care. Families must provide and change bed sheets, feed patients, purchase medications and offer round the clock care. For many Paraguayans and in particular the native Indian people, the costs involved in receiving this very basic medial care is beyond their reach. For those that can, when in a city environment to which they are most unaccustomed, they are very vulnerable. All of these factors mean that this special facility to accommodate such people is a very valuable service offered by the local church.

Four members of the Portadown team worked on this project in conjunction with members of other parishes including Craigavon and Cookstown, as well as parishes in Co. Donegal and England.

On four days, members of the team used their talents to repair and improve housing of families in great need in Remencito, a poor district on the edge of the Asuncion. On Saturdays the team were also involved in children’s clubs run by local churches. The children in Paraguay loved the attention that they received from the team. Very frequently coming from situations of severe poverty, toys were often luxuries that they didn’t have. The severity of some children’s situations was most powerfully revealed when some of the team visited a church in another very poor district of Asuncion to find some fifty or more children being fed, as they always are on a Saturday morning, with probably the only decent meal that they receive each week. Indeed one man whom we met called Oswaldo, who works for the Diocese of Paraguay, along with his wife, feeds over 120 hungry children each day. Seeing the reality of such poverty is something that the team will never forget.

Another very striking visit experienced by some of the team members was a trip to a foster home which has been initiated with two SAMS Mission Partners, Murray and Penny Metcalfe. This was most enjoyable given the contrast between the very sad backgrounds of many of the children to the prospects for a happy and secure future.

The welcome received by members of the Paraguayan Church was most warm and heartfelt. Their attitude of service and appreciation expressed were lessons of Christian character in itself. The team greatly enjoyed the lively church services and the wonderful sense of family that is found through the Paraguayan Church congregations.

All in all, this trip was most worthwhile. The church in Paraguay obviously benefited through the investment offered as a consequence of funds raised by those who served in Paraguay this summer. The local church were also encouraged greatly by the team’s presence with them and their partnership in reaching out in the communities in which they served. Hopefully through the team’s presence and efforts, God has touched and transformed lives in Paraguay. For the team members the experience was extremely significant. The trip offered a much greater perspective beyond the norms of life in Northern Ireland. They shared in some of the challenges faced by the church establishing and serving in a country like Paraguay. They saw the raw reality of poverty in a less developed country. They were profoundly challenged by the welcome and the joy expressed by local Christians and their willingness to serve.