Father Fred.

There is a man here named Father Fred Green. He is 88 years old and has been in Peru for over 50 years. He is originally from Hawaii, is a WWII veteran (marine, I think?), is bilingual (obvio), and has lost a lot of his hearing. You sort of have to yell when you talk to him.

Father Fred is also the man who is responsible for both the schools in which the Jesuit Volunteers in Tacna teach. That is, he founded both Cristo Rey and Miguel Pro. I think he also helped set up the Fe y Alegria here, though I am not sure what his part in that was. He does almost every Sunday mass in Habitat. He comes over on Sundays for breakfast with the volunteers. He consistently asked me how I was feeling when I was badly sick in the stomach. He brings us our mail every so often, and will give us rides to the center in his car. He is the one who created Mes de Mision, the month-long service trip for the students of each school during their summer vacation. The philosophy is that everyone, everyone, can serve and has something to give (including the students from poorer families at Miguel Pro), so we should give it.

Father Fred is a good man. A good human being. Wherever he goes, the Peruvians get up and greet him (instead of waiting for him to go to them) as a sign of respect. When my host family or just people I meet find out I´m a volunteer, they automatically ask me how Father Fred is doing, and then tell me how good of a person he is. He has made a lasting difference in the lives of many people here. He´s pretty much a rockstar.

The thing is about Father Fred is that he strikes me as a simple person who decided to focus on what he saw important in his life. I won´t try to say what is important to him since I´d rather not butcher something so profound, but I can say that Father Fred is authentic, genuine, caring, and pays attention to people.

Recently, I´ve been reading Story of a Soul, the autobiography of my confirmation saint, St. Therese of Lisieux (shout out to Christina Llanes!). I´m not done with the book, but St. Therese had her little way, her focus, her genuine search for God.

I also think of my high school days in basketball, when I read John Wooden´s book, and how much he stressed attention to detail in all that we do. That is, John Wooden says that you can bet a successful person is one who pays attention to many seemingly tiny details.

These really are just half-thoughts floating in my head, but I am shown by these people that in the every day lull of our lives, we can authentically love each other. And it is really that simple. I think I´ve been smacked in the face with so much of the extraordinary (moving thousands of miles away, learning a new language, etc.,) that my experience of the ordinary is skewed right now. But, as living in Peru is becoming a little bit more normal to me, I am reminded of the simple things. Love. Pay attention. Listen to people.

Like Father Fred.






Did you know that there are penguines in Peru?¿!¡ Humboldt penguines. Wow.