Parents, Columbans and Mercy Sisters band together to provide care and support for people with mental handicaps in Peru.
By Fr. Christopher Baker

Freddy Canales is a young man whose parents were among the thousands who began settling on a former rubbish dump in the inner city of Lima, Peru, more than 40 years ago. Freddy is one of a significant number of people with mental retardation in an area where few services have historically been available to treat them. But thanks to actions by his father, Ramón, events were set in motion that led to the opening of our “Center for People with Special Abilities” in 2003.

I was stationed in the La Virgen Medianera parish in Lima when I met the Canales family. Freddy’s parents enrolled him in a special school, and Ramón himself took courses on how to help his son through life. That’s when Ramón became motivated to compile a list of local sons and daughters with mental disabilities like Freddy’s.

Ramón’s idea was to form an association that would enable parents and guardians to work together to confront the problems faced by their mentally challenged loved ones.

Ramón aroused the interest of Sr. Brenda Finnane, a Mercy Sister from the Leeds Diocese in England. She, in turn, encouraged me to take practical steps and form an association for all of our “special people” and their families.

Daniel Berrocal, pushed in a wheelchair by his brother, is one of the “special people” helped by the ASPHAD association who attended the ceremonial opening of the center in Lima, Peru, in October 2003. As part of the celebration, families danced in the street.

This was essential, because our special people needed to obtain all the documents required to become registered with the government as disabled and, perhaps, to be admitted to free courses in various state-run training centers and workshops. This process can be difficult, and our association is there to help with all the paperwork and red tape.

Our association works with excellent doctors, psychologists and public servants willing to help our special people obtain documents needed to receive the needed state-run services.

For example, more than a dozen of our properly documented people have been able to attend free training courses provided by the Center for Professional Rehabilitation. Some of these “graduates” now look forward to teaching their skills to others in our center.

A Welcoming Home
Sr. Brenda and fellow Mercy Sister Millie McNamara persuaded the Diocesan Peru Commission to give ASPHAD enough money to buy a two-story home. A family had been living on the bottom floor, but the second story was available, even though there was no roof. ASPHAD was able to get the home roofed, cleaned and painted with some additional financial help from Sr. Brenda’s Leeds Diocese.

After a flurry of activity, our “Center for People with Special Abilities” was ready for its public blessing and opening in October 2003. Fr. Brendan O’Sullivan, the Columbans’ superior general, was visiting us in Peru at the time and kindly agreed to a role in the ceremonies.

The joyful ceremony was the crowning achievement of four years’ work and meetings by the parents and friends of people with mental impairments.

Gradually a few people with just physical disabilities have been admitted on the understanding that they will lend a helping hand to the mentally impaired.

Well over 100 people attended the inauguration, including, of course, about 50 of our special people and their families.

Our local lawyer, Fernando Castaneda, served as master of ceremonies and explained the importance of the center. Ramón explained the association’s history, and two of our special people” read a poem and described their rights as people with mental retardation.

As part of the ceremony, Fr. O’Sullivan blessed a commemorative bronze plaque in the house that expresses the gratitude to ASPHAD and the Leeds Diocese for making money available to buy the home.

Through this generosity and the association’s hard work, we now plan and hold a variety of activities, including workshops for those with handicaps and for training parents and guardians.

In Peru, 2003 was designated as “The Year of People with Disabilities.” Although their numbers are great in Lima’s poorer areas, the government has not done much to help people with physical and mental handicaps.

A special effort was made in 2003 to respect the rights of the mentally impaired for health, education and employment, but public funds in Peru are always so scarce that most projects have to be initiated and financed by non-governmental organizations.

In all this, our association, started by an idea of a caring parent, is delighted to play its humble part in Peru’s efforts to show solidarity with its mentally impaired but special people.