“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.