Welcome to My Neighborhood

“It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor,

Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?”

Mr. Rogers

I have many more stories to share with you about people I have met over the last two weeks in Lima. However, I realized that I haven’t properly introduced you to my neighborhood where I am living and working. Welcome to San Juan de Lurigancho! San Juan de Lurigancho is the largest district in Lima; in fact, many believe that it is so large that it should actually be its own city. There are more than 1 million people that live in this district alone.

The history of San Juan is very interesting because it is directly connected to the recent history of Peru. From 1980 until 2000, the country of Peru was immersed in what it calls “el conflict interno armado” or the internal armed conflict. For twenty years, a guerrilla movement called El Sendero Luminoso (The Shining Path) fought a violent war against the government. As always, those that were caught in the middle were the citizens of Peru, specifically those living in the provinces of the country (meaning all of the areas outside of Lima). It is estimated that over 70,000 people were killed both from the terrorism of The Shining Path and the repercussions from the government as they tried to combat the terrorism.

The daily fear of living in this internal armed conflict caused many people living in the provinces of Peru to migrate closer to Lima. Today, more than 1/3 of the population of Peru lives in the capital. Along with the flight for safety that occurred during this period, there is also the draw of the “big city” for those living outside in the provinces. Some call this the “push-pull factor.” Citizens believe that Lima can provide them with basic needs like housing, education and health care (pull) while in the provinces they may be suffering from the effects of poverty, terrorism, lack of resources, or a bad crop season (pull). The pull factor seems particularly strong in Peru because everything is centralized in Lima rather than being decentralized throughout the different provinces of the country.

As people came looking for safety or for a new life, the periphery of Lima began to grow outwards. The way that communities began to appear happened in levels. First, a group of people would get together and set up “invasiones.” They would literally invade a piece of land and establish a presence there by setting up basic shelter. Members of the group would take turns keeping watch at night and over the next days and months they would begin to level out the land and build on it. They would build their houses first out of estera (a thatched material), then thin wood, and then brick. Once the “invasiones” grew, they would eventually get basic services like electricity, running water, and paved roads. At this point, the invasiones become known as “asentamientos humanos” – human settlements. As these settlements become more organized and form local leadership, they are then called “urbanizaciones,” or urbanizations.

This is how my community, San Juan de Lurigancho was formed. I live in an urbanization called San Rafael that is about an hour and 15 minutes outside of the center of Lima. In our apartment, we have electricity and running water (lukewarm in the shower because we have an electric contraption hooked up to it). Some of the roads are paved in our neighborhood and some are still dirt. Up the road about 15 minutes from me is a town called Mariategui which just received running water and electricity a year ago. At the edge of Mariategui, the cerro (hill) begins. The closer one is to the hill, the greater the poverty you encounter.

Interestingly, in our community, we are witnessing the first-hand effects of globalization. A large Chilean supermarket called Metro is building a store on the corner of our street. Metro is one of those huge, mega-supermarkets that has everything…food, clothes, appliances, etc. You name it and they have it. It is like a huge Target and Stop & Shop in one big store. Within the two weeks that I have been in San Juan, the area where this supermarket is being built has been transformed: Dirt roads have been paved. The busy street that people daily risk their lives trying to cross now has a crosswalk, a stoplight and crossing guards. New bus-stops were put in. These are all the structural benefits of a large store like Metro making its way to our neighborhood.

However, on the other side of the street, you see the row of local vendors that sell fruit, pastries and other commodities. I can’t help but wonder what the other effects of these improvements are going to be. How many of these vendors will lose business and income because of one-stop shopping at Metro? Are the days of fresh fruit and fresh bread on the way home from work soon going to disappear? I wonder if the gain will outweigh the cost in this community.

I struggle with what to do with things like internal civil war, terrorism, extreme poverty, and globalization. They all seem so interconnected; they all seem to be driven by supernatural forces of their own. It is overwhelming to think about what I am called to do as a citizen of this world, and as a child of God, with issues that are so big. I believe this is part of the reason that I am here, living in San Juan and working with Peace and Hope, a Christian NGO that is deeply involved within these communities and these issues. I realize more and more how I have come here to be a learner…and I’m excited to be a part of this adventure with God, with this organization and with these people.