
This
area, especially affected by the earthquake in March 1983, is populated
by about a thousand families amounting to five to seven thousand
people of whom half are under ten years of age. The average wage
of a family of six is 1800 pesos, or $US0.5 per person per day,
which only allows for the minimum basic food. Nothing is left over
for the home, clothes, health, education or transport. Unemployment
is endemic and three families out of four cannot afford the minimum
basic necessities of life. A health survey conducted by Dr Lamour
shows that five out of six children are diagnosed with illnesses
requiring treatment, such as malnutrition, infections caused by
parasites, urinary tract infections, skin disease and tooth decay.
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After thirty years of life in the religious community of the Petites
Soeurs de la Sainte Famille in Canada, Sister Margarita Maria Lajoie
decided to leave her parish to come here to Popayan, to pursue her
vocation as a missionary. So she co-ordinates the lay institution
of the Servantes Fidèles de Jésus (Faithful Servants
of Christ). She could not speak a word of Spanish and it took all
her faith and courage to confront the terrible misery and the persistent
tensions arising from the political climate in the country. The
terrible earthquake of 1983 would wipe out thousands of lives and
all the work of Margarita. Today, aged 74, (although appearing 15
years younger) she is still fighting, on a daily basis, with unrestrained
tenacity, to keep her nursery going and pay the wages of 28 employees
of her 'business' which is growing and looks after more children
each year.
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