Coronavirus is a city thing

The doctor explaining things  to the Peruvian people. Photo: Fr Joe Ruys

The doctor explaining things to the Peruvian people. Photo: Fr Joe Ruys

I live and work in a small town high up in the Andes in the South East of Peru. I’ve been here since the beginning of 2018 after spending a couple of months repairing the parish house which had not had an incumbent priest for over 20 years.

On March 16 life here changed for everyone. The Government declared a compulsory quarantine in all homes and only permitted one person per household to leave the house to buy basic food or medicine and to visit a bank.

It is a long time to be confined to a house or a unit, especially if there are young children or tensions in the family. With 70% of the population working informally on the streets selling goods or working as labourers, life is tough.

As property owners continue to demand rents from tenants who do not have any income or even enough money to buy food, many have moved from the district of Checca to other cities looking for work. Despite the good efforts of the Government to assist with food parcels for those in desperate need, many have fallen through the cracks.

Facing the desperate reality of not finding work, many have left the cities to return home, often walking days with young children and with little food and water. The Government is trying to establish a system of enrolling these people on a list and organising medical checks before they can travel in Government sponsored buses. They are then required to spend 14 days of quarantine in their local home or a hostel if one is available. However, this is not a feasible option for many as they are unable to work through the paperwork. So they walk with no medical checks and no guarantee that they will not infect their own family or fellow citizens.

I'm well in Checca, staying in the parish house which is a lot better than if I was to be locked up in a tiny unit on the fifth floor of some building in Lima with three little kids screaming of hunger, boredom and confinement. At least I have my small garden, guinea pigs and general house improvements to keep me occupied. The run up to Holy Week kept me pretty busy recording Masses and liturgy for transmission on our Municipal radio station. It's an interesting experience adapting our Mass, which is visual, into a media which is purely audio.

When the government first announced the initiative of returning individuals and families to their place of origin, I contacted our local mayor to offer temporary, isolated accommodation for up to six people where I live. The parish house is quite large so I am able to offer space for accommodation with access to toilets and shower. I have adapted our parish meeting room into a separate kitchen and dining area for our guests. This room has the added advantage of boasting a plasma TV with DVD facility that is usually used for catechesis and youth programmes. I have a cut off area with a two metre barrier so that there is minimal risk to me and no need to extend my quarantine time. All is good!

So yesterday, Saturday, I received a phone call from the mayor late in the afternoon asking if the offer was still open for one night, for what I understood to be two people. No worries was my reply. At 8pm six adults with their 12 children, a cat, and a dog arrived. They had begun their journey the previous day at 4 am and arrived tired and hungry. In reality, they had begun their journey six days earlier and had walked until the police intercepted them. They were taken to the closest town where the local mayor informed them that if our mayor could not transport them here within hours, they would be returned to where they started six days ago. Luckily, he was able to respond quickly, drove a few hours to collect them, organized their medical checks, called me and we were able to assist this small group.

All slept well and are very content this morning. The neighbours have brought seemingly limitless amounts of food and my guests have done the right thing in polishing it all off.

I tell this story because it is the new reality here in this district and the reality of many provinces and districts around Peru. Informal returning to places of origin is a worry and may become the cause of further outbreaks of COVID-19 in areas that are least able to respond.

While people here more or less accept the concept of quarantine, it has been a bit of a battle on the part of the authorities. The general belief is that the coronavirus is a city thing and won't affect us.

Fr Joe Ruys is a Columban Associate priest from the Archdiocese of Melbourne working in Peru.

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