Page 5 - St Michael 2022 Chimbote Mission Newsletter

A FAMILY TRANSFORMED

Cristabia Bartola Lopez Family

THANK

YOU

St Michael Catholic Church
On behalf of the Cristabia Bartola Lopez family, a heartfelt thank you goes out
to you for the generous gift of a home. Because of YOU...This family has
beds to dream in, a roof to protect them and a chance to take one more
step on the path out of poverty.
Cristabia Bartola López (46) is a widow and mother of three children:
Maricela (17), Mauro (10) and her oldest daughter is a single mother who
lives in Lima. Cristabia became a widow three years ago and was left with
practically no support. Her children suffered greatly with the loss of their
father, but thanks to the help of some acquaintances who told them that there
was land available in Cambio Puente, Cristabia and her children traveled from
Lima to claim a plot of land and they have lived there since.
In spite of the difficult circumstances that Cristabia has lived through, she has not given
up. Though her children have experienced sadness and pain they have persevered.
During harvest time...the three of them pack their lunch and go out as a family. They
leave their home at 4am to work in the fields until the sun goes down. This selfless
mother told us, distraught: “it is so hard, so sad to watch your 10 year old son help-
ing you at work when he should be playing or doing other recreational activities,
and it is even sadder to watch your daughter working in the countryside when she
has so much potential with her studies, but this is what we have to do to provide. I
cannot leave them at home as it would be too dangerous.” Her children work with her
and help her and she feels safer that way. With tears in her eyes, Cristabia told us that she
has faith and hope that one day her daughter will be able to study a professional career – she
always reached first place at school but due to a lack of money she was
not able to continue with her higher education.