When I was a young, single Columban lay missionary from the United States, I often found it difficult to relate to the Chilean women I met during my time in Santiago, Chile. I worked at a centre called, 'Casa de la Mujer: La Quimera'; a place where women could go and learn skills like baking and sewing in order to gain some economic independence as well as find friendship and refuge from their otherwise difficult lives. For just a few hours a week, women could be free from the domestic violence, economic hardship, and the mental demands of life in poverty.
My primary function was to assist with administrative tasks and keep the tea water boiling. While I didn’t know much, I could tell that the women came not so much for the workshops but for the tea and bread that was served afterwards. They came alive as we broke bread together. I would sit with the women and mostly listen. They would tell me about their families, about their hopes and dreams, about their struggles and fears. They laughed often but tears were never far away.
I will never forget a conversation I had on our way to our annual end-of-the-year field trip. I remember the field trip was always quite a chore to organize and I always felt tired before the day even started. However, my exhaustion was put back in perspective on this particular trip. I sat next to a woman probably not that much older than I am now, on our way to the parcela or "camp ground". She breathed a sigh of relief and spoke about how this was her one day in the year that she had just for herself. She didn’t have to make a meal or wash a dish or help the kids with their homework. She didn’t have to clean the floor or iron clothes or go to the market. She didn’t have to worry that she would be hit for no reason.
Though I was happy for my bus companion and her ability to see her glass as half-full, I knew well that while she had a few hours off that day, she probably worked twice as hard the day before and would work twice as hard the day after. I admired her ability to live in the moment and to be grateful for the good in her life, no matter how small it seemed to me at the time.
Today, as a wife and mother, I am able to relate at some level with my Chilean sisters though not entirely as I do not have the burden of domestic or economic violence. Nonetheless, I can appreciate in a new way the strength of the women at La Quimera. Their unwavering hope, patience, kindness, joy, and generosity in the face of darkness speak to their deep sense of faith in the Kingdom. When my days seem long and overwhelming I often find myself voyaging into my heart to 'La Quimera', to my time with Carmen and Orietta, with Monica and Beatriz. They will always be special women who taught me, over tea and bread, what it means to live in faith, hope and love; what it means to be missionary.
Amy W. Echeverria is the Central Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Coordinator, based in the United States.