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Testimonio Bertha Alarcon AGAPE
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Transcript of Testimonio Bertha Alarcon AGAPE
“Agape has given me the LIFE”Bertha Alarcón (70) is not able to give us a smile. The paralysis that
affects the half of her body 20 years ago does not allow her to smile.
But Bertha is not satisfied with a gesture and opens her arms to
heaven as signal that she has a lot of energy. Because of these desires
of living, Bertha has become a different woman, mother and
Christian. This is her story.
Bertha is from Tarma (Department of
Junín, Perú), Bertha is married with Félix
Mandujano (76) when she was 15 years
old, and she has eight children. Both of
them came to Lima looking for a better
future “When it all was rush mats”, they
say, since then they has never been
separated.
Currently they live with their three
children in the Horacio Zevallos
settlement, to the east of Lima.
For a long time, the sale of cakes and
empanadas that Bertha prepared was the
major support when they had to spend
money related to the maintaining of the
home. Her priority was that all her
children could finish the high school.
“With cakes and bread, I have supported
this home as long as my children would
study”, she adds.
An accident for not remembering
Her husband was the most important
support in this activity until a terrible car
accident let him into a coma for five years.
Bertha prosecuted the car's driver, but the
broken skull, arm and the injured ear's
Felix, who suffered from the accident, did
not allow him to work when he woke up
from the coma.
With eight children and a physically
handicapped person, Bertha had eyes
only for her job. She had to make a double
effort to raise her children and at the same
time to sell her cakes and bread.
“Sometimes I felt anger. I looked at my
husband lying on the bed and tell myself
why you are sick.
To face the bad times
Some time later, too much sacrifice
ended for tired her. “I was tired of
working. I did not want to do
anything”, she says. However, her
economic incomes had not
improved because of the lawsuit
expenses and medicines for her
husband. In addition, three of her
children had traveled to Tarma and
the rest of them had stayed in Lima,
surviving from eventual jobs.
Currently, Bertha survives with S/.
75 .00 pe r month ($25 .00 )
approximately. Part of the money
comes from the rental of a piece of
her house to an Early Learning
Centre. The rest of money is
provided by the sale of rabbits
which are bred at the backyard.
“With this money, we can pay the
electricity service”, she adds.
All her daughters are married and no
longer live with her. Bertha y her
husband live only with their son
Orlando (25), who works selling
pens and erasers outside Public
Schools in Huaycán (east of Lima).
The money that he earns is enough
to buy two or three food portion
from a Comedor Popular, enough to
feed his parents.
When help arrives
It was in these circumstances when
Bertha and her family met Agape
Association. She and her daughters
attended to a local church of
Huaycán and were invited to
participate on the workshops of the
Family Life Project, an initiative of
Agape Association which seeks that
families of Huaycán improve their
relationships at home and increase
their economic incomes.
Bertha expresses that thanks to the
workshops they have learned about
self-esteem, personal development
and parenting. She feels that the
workshops have been useful in her
spiritual life. “I feel like if I had
awakened, Agape has given me the
life. I have the wish of work”.
The workshops also gave her the
opportunity of training in jobs such
as weaving crochet, cuisine and
dressmaking. Bertha shows pride
the purses which learned to weave
and she has already customers. “The
teachers (of the Early Learning
Centre) have asked her to weave
some purses to them”, she says.
Bertha also has received material
support from Agape Association
consisting in corrugated roofing
sheets for a room of her house, a pair
of wooden platform beds and a pair
of mattresses.
Thanks to this support, Bertha will
be able to sleep with comfort
because when one of her sons came
to visit her, she was forced to sleep
on the floor.
Future Prospects
Because of her enthusiasm for
participating and learning from the
workshops, Bertha was chosen as
one of the promoters of the Family
Life Project. She has in charge of
five families of Huaycán which
visits regularly to invite them to
participate in the workshops and to
guide them in situations related to
the parenting.
In addition, Bertha continued
training at the hand-woven
workshops. Agape Association
develops this workshop eventually
as part of the second phase of the
Project. The purpose of this phase is
that trained women establish their
own business. “Thus, We are going
to establish a microenterprise
(weaving), but in Huaycan, because
there are more opportunities to do
business”, she says.
At her 70, Bertha has dreams. She
wants to build the walls of her
house. She wants that her son
Orlando be able to enjoy from a
concrete house with all the basic
services. Moreover she has planned
to establish at the entrance of her
house a small store in order to show
her purses and pens that her son
sells. “I am going to start working”,
she sighs.
“Thus, we are going to establish a
microenterprise (weaving), but in
Huaycan, because there are more
opportunities to do business”
Bertha shows us the purses that she has woven.
Bertha shows us the purses that she has woven.