Fe y Alegria No. 48 celebrates 10 years in 2006

Sister Yvonne Nosal
Rural Teacher Education, Peru

Ten years ago on March 1, 1996, Sisters Marty, Martha, Beyssa and Lili arrived in the town of Tambogrande to begin our SSND presence in the rural area of Piura in the north of Peru.

The sisters lived with the Notre Dame de Namur sisters for just over a year, worked in Human Rights Education with the Diocesan Office for Justice and Peace, met with teachers and principals, and explored possible areas to focus their attention in education in the rural area.

And so it was that the Rural Education Program, Fe y Alegria No. 48 was born in the rural area of Tambogrande with an office set up in the village of Malingas from where the sisters and subsequently, a team of dedicated laity, coordinated the efforts to improve the quality of education in the area.

Various schools were invited to become a part of the Fe y Alegria network, a popular education movement sponsored by the Jesuits and aimed at promoting Christian values and technical skills in the more abandoned and impoverished areas. A dream slowly grew into reality.

Today in 2006, after much hard work, teacher formation and professional development, community promotion and leadership formation, difficulties and challenges, we celebrate the transformation that has taken place.

We thank the many people who have encouraged and supported us in this rural education adventure. Certainly, Mother Theresa?s words ring true in Fe y Alegria: “All the works of God proceed slowly and in pain, but then their roots are the sturdier and their flowing the lovelier.”

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