St. Mary's continues to help support its sister parish in Huarmey, Peru, by providing renewable energy systems in the parish for medical clinics, schools, and churches in the remote mountain villages. (Photos)

These systems include vaccine refrigerators, transceiver radios, lights, lanterns, water purification, and hot water as well as battery charging stations for the communities.

In the parish villages, with altitudes up to 11,000 ft, there is no electricity, no indoor plumbing, no space heat, adobe houses, and subsistence farming for the inhabitants.

Twice a year, in January and July or August, parishioner John Duffy, a professor at UMass Lowell, leads a group of volunteers and college students (through service-learning) to design and install these systems which have been requested by the townspeople, descendants of the Incas. The Catholic chaplain at UMass Lowell, Fr Paul Soper, started the project. Fr. Soper has since been assigned to a parish in Revere, MA.

The Society of James the Apostle has officially moved out of the parish in Huarmey because of a shortage of priests. Father Gabriel, a Peruvian, is currently ministering to the remote villages. The parishioners in the mountains need our help now more than ever.

The donations from St. Mary's have helped provide:

• Photovoltaic systems; for fluorescent lights for two churches (each town has its own church building), for lights in a dorm in the parish house for students (who will have more time to study from not having to walk four hours a day to and from school from their distant small village), for laptop PCs in three schools.
• Newer radios and antennas for better communication among the eight medical clinics and the base hospital in Huarmey.
• Two battery charging stations (that provide some income and electricity for the schools), and a microhydro system to provide lighting in and around the town hall.  
• Three new vaccine refrigerators and a nebulizer for children with asthma, a common health problem.

• Clean, potable water for several villages

To see photos of the people, places and projects, click Peru Mission Photos