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This section contains the letter that we showed to our friends and colleagues before we left Germany. In this letter we also present Radio Marañón via an interview with the former director Luis Tavara SJ. In the meantime Paco Muguiro SJ is director, because Lucho had to leave the country for political reasons.
Dear friends,
every day our modern means of communication tell us news about poverty, injustice and oppression all over the world. This news shocks us and makes us feel pity temporarily, but usually it is too far away, too anonymous to really change our habits. But we decided to make a change in our lives.
For quite a while we have been thinking about how we can shape our lives differently. We wanted to use our capabilities, not mainly for our career, but first for the benefit of our fellow men and women. The big German development aid organizations (DED, AGEH, GTZ, etc.) were not interested in us. Through our parish we heard about i n e s (International Network of Solidarity, see below). There we learned about a project in Perú which we liked so much that we now have decided:
During an informative seminar about i n e s we had the chance to talk with jesuit Luis Tavara, former director of Radio Marañón in Jaén (about 60,000 inhabitants) in northern Perú between the Andes and Amazon jungle. He answered some of our questions:
,,Dear Luis, what does Marañón stand for?``
Luis: Radio Marañón takes its name from the main
river which comprises the Amazon river. The river for us means
communication. And at our radio that communication is needed. So we took
the name Marañón.
,,Why does the Radio Marañón exist?``
We make an effort to improve the health of the campesinos. Our programs
often include advice about sanitation. When the local nurses tell us about
an outbreak of an epidemic we immediately inform the authorities and
broadcast it over the radio.
We have a new office of the environment because we need to fight to protect
our natural environment which is being destroyed mainly by companies from
Canada, Japan and the USA. They take out our wood, our forests. Because
they particularly want our petroleum, they destroy large areas of our
jungle which is home to our native people.
Luis: Radio Marañón was founded by our bishop
and the Jesuits 25 years ago. We have 1600 catechists (who are also
campesinos=farmers), who do the work of priests in many small communities
within our large transmission range. We have an audience of about 800,000
people in a region with a radius of about 150 km.
,,Do you have music in your program, too?``
We also support our prime schools in the countryside. We broadcast much
about new technologies. For growing coffee and rice and how to raise the
animals. And we give advice how the can found cooperatives to solve
problems with the great landowners who are exploiting them. We also work
together with the local ombudsman and the human rights organization in
Perú.
Luis: Music is very important, especially for the young
people. Unfortunately it is very difficult for us to get Spanish music
which is currently on the charts. It's either not available here or too
expensive for us. But recently the internet has become a big help with
that.
,,How does the radio receive news so fast?``
Luis: We have a net of 183 correspondents (normal
campesinos with special education from the radio) in the whole broadcasting
area. They report to us what is going on in their neighborhood. Thus we
hear about occurrencies and needs of the campesinos and are able to react
fast. Besides everyone from the radio staff has to go to the villages on a
very regular basis. The next days a report about this visit is in the
program. Because of this very close contact with our audience the
campesinos think of Radio Marañón as their radio.
,,Which goals has Radio Marañón reached already?``
Luis: Because of our educational program and clarifying
activities the campesinos are happier with their lifes again. This leads
to a drastic decrease of the drift to the cities, thank goodness.
,,Muchas gracias, Luis.``
What is this all about?
As you can see the radio is a really useful institution for the support of the campesinos who live close to the subsistence level. The radio staff consists of about 25 peruvians. They are currently urgently looking for a computer expert and someone to help them with their bureaucracy. That's why we want to support this project. On the 26th of october we will go there for at least 1 year, possibly longer, but at most for 3 years.
We think of our engagement as i n e s-cooperator as a suggestive chance to forward our knowledge and skills. We are aware of the tininess of this step. We won't be able to change injustice or directly help the poor. Our goal is rather to share the sorrows, joy, thoughts and living conditions of the people there. We want to walk a few steps with them in their life and try to help them carry their load. Perhaps we can give them a part of us like they will perhaps give us a part of them, too.
We hope for a little more understanding and a little more approach between our and their world which is One World, isn't it?
Who or what is i n e s?
i n e s was founded by the jesuit priest Horst Knott. It is not a development aid organization in the strict sense. i n e s exists to coordinate the socail engagement of christian motivated laymen here and abroad. It addresses women and men who want to - as volunteers - solidly stand up for people who live on the edge of our society. Another important goal is that the volunteers - out of their believe - make lots of valuable experiences and later act as multiplicators among their friends.
i n e s helps interested laymen to find and choose a suitable project. The spiritual process of integration of the committed i n e s worker is accompanied by periodical reflexion seminars, an intensive information exchange as well as offers for the deepening of the spiritual experiences, like religious exercises.
The group of sponsors
The reason why we are building up a group of sponsors is that our experiences won't be exclusive to us, but will be shared with as many people as possible, and that our engagement will be bear fruits in more than one country. Addressed is everyone who is interested in the country, its people, its problems, our work and who think it makes sense to support that. We will write letters to all our sponsors to inform them about the current ongoings so that they can live closely with our experiences. As we will not be paid for our work we depend on the generosity of our sponsors. And now to what you have been afraid of from the beginning: We ask for your moral and (a little) financial support during this time.
- The fund raising is to finance:
plane tickets
food and living
necessary insurances
travel costs for religious exercises
The total monthly cost for both of us adds up to about DM 2000,-. The jesuit mission procurate in Nürnberg is taking care of the handling of the bank account for the fund and the sending out of certificates for tax redemption. In case you want to financially support us during our time in Jaén we ask you to transmit the donation to the following account:
MISSIONSPROKUR SJ HypoVereinsbank Nürnberg
Königstraße 64 BLZ. 760 200 70
90402 Nürnberg Account-No. 813532
Remark: INES, Spiegl
(Please note that money transfers from abroad are
usually associated with pretty high bank fees. We appreciate your support,
but it probably does not make sense from outside of Germany. Please
concentrate on moral support. :-)
If you are interested in our info-mails or really want to donate money please tell us via beforehand.
If you have any other questions you are welcome to send us an
or give us a call (+49 89 74370665) as well. On our
news page you will (hopefully) always find
the latest news.
Muchas Gracias!
This is the address of i n e s:
Internationales Netz der Solidarität
Pater Horst Knott SJ
Georgenstrasse 2 Rgb.
D-80799 München
Phone: +49/89/38 88 93-26, Fax: -27
Email:
http://www.jesuiten.org/5/5_02_02.htm soon http://www.inesmuc.org/
PS: More addresses can be found here.
Click for the next page.