Generous Sacrifices

Huge buildings collapsed into rubble, the ground split and rippled, power and phone lines snapped apart, traffic came to a sudden halt as everything shook violently for two full minutes.  When it was over, the most powerful earthquake to hit the coast of Peru in more than 35 years had killed more than 500 people and left nearly 1,400 injured and 45,000 homeless.

As with most disasters of this nature, aid organisations and several countries offered support to the victims.  But aid also came from a source few might expect—prisoners in the Santa Monica Women’s prison.  And that aid came quickly and without any solicitation. 

When Pauline de Ferrero, PF Peru volunteer, entered the Santa Monica Prison the day after the deadly earthquake, she found several inmates waiting for her with a small collection of clothing, food, bottled water and personal hygiene articles like soap and shampoo.  They asked if she would help them deliver the donations they’d collected to an institution that could guarantee they’d be given to the earthquake victims in Ica and Pisco, the hardest hit cities.  The quake was especially destructive in the poorer neighbourhoods where the weaker homes built with adobe bricks completely collapsed.

Most of the prisoners in Peru’s Santa Monica Prison, located in the Chorrillos district of Lima, are poor themselves, making their voluntary contributions even more remarkable.  “They are giving what they really have need of, not what they have in abundance,” noted Pauline.  “The majority are very poor.  They lack the essentials and depend on their families or on their work inside the bars to provide much of what they have donated.”

As Pauline worked to make arrangements for the donations, she discovered that the inmates were collecting more and more bags of goods for the earthquake victims.  And then, to add to their donations, the prisoners voted to forgo their food allotments for two days so that that money could also be donated.  The entire prison population of 1,200 inmates agreed to the fast. 

A few days later, Pauline and other PF representatives came to the prison with a pick-up truck to collect the many bags of clothing and supplies from the prisoners.  As they were preparing to leave, they saw three prisoners running toward them pushing two

baby strollers (several of the women have their babies with them in prison) filled with more bags, and a fourth prisoner was carrying loose clothes in her arms.  “They didn’t want us to go without taking their last minute donations,” explained Pauline, “it almost made me cry to see it.”

Pauline and PF arranged to take the donations to a Catholic priest who has worked in the prison and previously brought donations from the community to the prisoners.  He and his congregation had the clothes and other materials delivered to the needy neighbourhoods in Ica and Pisco.  The priest was so impressed with the sacrificial gift from the prisoners, that he shared the story with his congregation during the following Sunday service.

Often characterized as a morally irresponsible and unredeemable lot by the outside community, rarely are prisoners seen as having the potential to do good and offer help to others.  This remarkable act of kindness and sacrifice on the part of women prisoners in Peru helped show the communities of Ica and Pisco what God and Prison Fellowship workers already know--that there is a great potential for good and redemption within every human being.