Elisa Núñez and Javier Núñez working in the garden at the Migrant House, St Columban's Parish, Santiago, Chile. Photo: Fr Dan Harding SSC
Just before Holy Week, on an ordinary autumn day in Santiago, Chile, Columban Fr Dan Harding brought me for the first time to Elisa’s Núñez house. Here, we met Elisa, who along with her elderly mother, her husband, her three children and a disabled aunt, were all busily baking Hot Cross Buns.
Elisa and Hector, her husband, are in their mid-thirties. They are parish catechists who prepare both adults and children for the sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation and Communion. They are also in charge of giving talks to parish groups about drug and alcohol addictions, sicknesses that are rife within the parish area.
Fr Dan, the parish priest of San Columbano parish, had brought me to Elisa’s house to hear about her work as Coordinator of the parish Columban Mission support group, “The Friends of St Columban”, and also her commitment as one of the coordinators of the Parish Migrant House.
Migrant House, St Columban's Parish, Santiago, Chile. Photo: Fr Dan Harding SSC
I asked her how she got involved? She replied that just before Easter 2019, Chilean Columban priest, Fr Rafael Ramirez, had given a power point presentation on his role as chaplain to an orphanage in Myitkyina, Myanmar, which is run by religious sisters.
Listening to this presentation, Elisa was struck by the tragic lives of many of these orphans. She started to think about how her parish in Chile, even though located in a poor area, could nevertheless reach out in a small way, to help the work of Fr Rafael.
It was then that Elisa came upon the idea of selling delicious, homemade Hot Cross Buns for Good Friday, only a few weeks away. Elisa and her Columban supporters then began taking orders from around the parish for trays of six Hot Cross Buns.
At the beginning of Holy Week, she had orders for 68 trays. However, as Holy Week progressed, the orders grew to 100, then to 180 and by Holy Thursday, she had 277 orders of trays of six buns. In her small family kitchen, with its small family gas stove, Elisa had to prepare and bake a total of 1662 Hot Cross Buns.
When the parish decided to invest in a second hand, semi-industrial dough kneading machine, the mixing of the dough at least became easier.
The next time I met Elisa after Easter, she told me that, “Without the help of my wonderful husband, my mum, my aunt and my three great kids, we would not have been able to complete all these orders.” A total profit of around $500 was made from the sale and sent to the orphanage in Myanmar.
What is even more surprising is that during this time of baking the Hot Cross Buns, Elisa had her usual everyday job of preparing cooked lunches for around ten teachers from the nearby state primary school.
I was later to hear that as Pentecost was approaching, Elisa had decided to sell trays of six, “Pentecost Cupcakes with Tongues-of-Fire”. The Tongues of Fire were pieces of red, tongue shaped cake, inserted into cream on the top of a cupcake. This sale was also a great success for the Myanmar orphanage.
Yet, Elisa’s greatest success was still to come. In the warmer September spring weather, Elisa had decided to organize an “International Food Festival”, as another fundraising event.
She later told me that this event was quite innovative for the poor, deprived area of her parish, which had never had such an event in all its history. Over 250 entrance tickets were sold and these gave each family the right to try small samples of the different national dishes as well as the choice of a main dish for lunch from one of the stalls.
Each of the eight food stands were organised by parishioners from different nationalities or by Columban priests and Lay Missionaries. The international food stands had national dishes from Haiti, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Philippines, Korea, Australia and Myanmar. This was a huge success and another donation was sent to the orphanage.
The last time I met Elisa, I asked her about her commitment as one of the two Coordinators at the Parish Migrant House, which is a residence for 11 single migrant men in need of accommodation. At this time, the 11 residents come from Venezuela, Haiti, Colombia, Mexico and Russia.
Elisa meets regularly with Javier Núñez, a young Venezuelan resident of the Migrant House, who is the other coordinator of the Migrant House. Together they interview applicants seeking to live in the Migrant House. They hold regular meetings to solve problems, organize work rosters and house repairs, pay the bills and organize activities to raise funds. On occasions they have to ask a resident to leave for failing to respect the House rules.
These days Elisa is working with Javier and the other house residents organizing simple rainwater tanks, a chicken coop, a compost heap and a vegetable garden in the backyard of the Migrant House.
Elisa is a woman of many talents, placed in service, not only of her beloved family, but of all whom she encounters in need of love, support and a lift up. Having met her on several occasions, I find her a great inspiration as someone reaching out to make a real difference in the world, even amidst her own incredibly busy life. She is really quite amazing.
Juan Carlos Garcia, Director of Hispanic Ministries, USA, with edits from Columban Fr Dan Harding.
Listen to "Elisa Núñez, making a difference!"
Related links
- Read more from The Far East, September 2020
