Father Alexander “Alex” Busuttil is a missionary priest from the Missionary Society of Saint Paul, who is serving in Peru. He spoke to MATC students on Oct. 8 about Peru and the work he is doing there.

Peru is a country of about 31.2 million people with the densest population in and around the capital city of Lima. The second largest city, Arequipa, houses only 1.2 million people.

Busuttil serves just outside Arequipa in a place called Cayma. The people he serves are in St. Helen’s jurisdiction and there are around 18,000 people, according to him.

He stated that the majority of the people he serves come from the Peruvian highlands and may have been in Arequipa for some time, but have never owned a piece of land before. He said that Arequipa is a region that is expanding. Some of the residents have managed to make it out of poverty, but there is a huge gap between the rich and poor.

According to Busuttil, 45 percent of people in and around Arequipa live in poverty, and of those, 15 percent live in extreme poverty. The poor have problems feeding their families, have no housing, and lack skills to overcome their problems.

Forty percent of people in the area live in the middle class, but are constantly at risk to returning to poverty, stated Busuttil. The people work, but are underpaid and have no worker’s benefits. This makes it difficult to provide for their families, Busuttil explained.

The people who live in the St. Helen’s jurisdiction face limited access to electricity, water and transportation. The people live on four to five large buckets of water a day for their entire family, explained Busuttil. Students must ride in overcrowded vehicles just to be able to attend school. And there are no health centers near by.

The weather can also be a factor in work and life. There are five months without rain, which creates a very dusty environment. And when there is rain, there can often be mudslides since Cayma, the city just outside of Arequipa, sits 2,000 feet higher than Arequipa and in between two volcanoes.

Busuttil is there to help. His mission statement is  “Inspired by the word of God we build community through the formation of local leaders who promote human dignity by serving God and his people.” Besides the pastoral care he provides for the community, he also helps the underprivileged. His parish runs a preschool and child-care program that allows students to learn in the first half of the day and then cares for the children until parents can pick up their children.

There is also a parish kitchen that prepares food and delivers the food to certain drop-off locations to help feed impoverished people and families.

A few years ago Busuttil took over the care of the Holy Family children’s home that houses orphans and children in need. There are other services Busuttil provides including Unbound, a children’s sponsorship program, healthcare, and he also trains volunteers and hosts missionary experiences. Mount Mary University, UW- Oshkosh, and Edgewood College students have all volunteered in Peru at Busuttil’s parish.

Busuttil’s hope is that pastoral care will continue to be focused on community and to build a community based on Christian values. He would also like to help with adult education and focus on the family, while helping the poor here and now.

Students asked Busuttil about his experiences in Peru and life there. Afterwards, teacher Pablo Muirhead led a Peruvian drum circle, which students participated in.