An Amazon mission with Marcellin Champagnat
From Dec. 26 – Jan. 31, the project “A teacher for the Datem” was held for the seventh consecutive year in the very heart of the Peruvian Amazon (province of Santa María de los Andes).
Around 425 teachers of indigenous peoples, from the soul of the jungle, attended the service offered by the Universidad Marcelino Champagnat (UMCH) with great generosity.
The 51 professors, with Masters degrees and university students at the end of their career, worked hard to form these “teachers of the jungle” who in turn now also have a bachellor’s diploma. They are now prepared, in an excellent way, to serve their own native people and their community in a special way.
Several bilingual indigenous peoples, leaving their communities and accompanied by their family, went to San Lorenzo del Rio Marañón-Datem. They included indigenous Achuares, Awuajun, Wampis, Kandozis, Shapras, Shawis, Kichuas.
In parallel with the student-teachers, a school operated in the same place (75 children), for the children of the teachers-students of the summer courses of the UMCH, attended by several educators specialised in children.
The teachers who participated in the seminars were very grateful to the professors of the UMCH who for several years go to the Peruvian Amazon forest to improve the living conditions of each town and its inhabitants who often live and suffer the complete oblivion of the authorities in the fields of education and health, according to the director of the local UGEL, the day of the opening of the 2018 course.
With enthusiasm and dedication, we respond to our theme:
“Committed to doing all the good… we can;
to all the people… that we can;
by all means… that we can;
in all the places and occasion … that we can.”
“All the peoples of the world come into our sights” Marcellin Champagnat.
Saint Marcellin Champagnat, the master, yes, the master, was present in the classroom and in the heart of each one of the natives, through our dream teachers every year by carrying the Marist charism to all.
This year 2018, after seven years of career, the First Promotion, “Datem” is born, which they translate into their languages as “the first that learns", baptised with the name of “Saint Marcellin Champagnat”:
Emar amuniau San Marcelino Champagnat – Achuar
Dita amuinawai San Marcelino Champagnat – Awajun
Chitayuri kachinguru San Marcelino Champagnat – Kandozi
Puntiru yachakunata San Marcelino Champagnat – Kichua
The management of the project is self-financed. The teaching community, which offered the best of itself, was made up of Brothers, teachers and volunteers from Bolivia, Chile, Peru and Spain (University of Salamanca). The rector of the University, Brother Pablo González Franco, offered everyone the final diploma that gives the green light to these 48 professors to be agents of transformation in their educational communities. Now, with a wisdom they have accumulated over the years, they will be able to create innovative dynamics within their families and in their native communities to which they are dedicated, with heart and soul, concerned about their development and progress. The teacher, Saint Marcellin Champagnat, did not go to distant lands as was his wish, but he was very present in the Peruvian Amazon, which for years has been “Maristised.”
_______________
Br Bernardino Pascual
Province of Santa María de los Andes
