Sr. Peggy Journeys with Renewed Hope, Joy
On the Way with the God Who Is the Way, Truth, and Life
Peggy Ryan, OP, lives in the South of Bolivia and shares mission with the Presentation Sisters of Dubuque, IA. This mission serves an indigenous population, the Guaraní of the Pilcomayo River Area.
by Peggy Ryan, OP
Sr. Peggy Ryan (right) with Bolivian children
In these beginning years of missionary life here in Bolivia, I have learned that travel is, quite simply, a way of life. As Maura McCarthy, PBVM, and I go from place to place, we pick up travelers along the way. We take the sick to the hospital, and we visit the Guaraní communities and companion them in the dailiness of their lives. We deal with each surprise as it arises―a flat tire, inclement weather, a river too high to cross, an unexpected companion, a roadblock, or a request for food or medicine. We haul everything from people, to corn, to fencing, to wood, to―and I say this with great respect―the beloved dead. As Maura always says, “We have precious cargo.” Once, we even transported a live goat. I especially love the short trips from one village to another when we give the children an absolute thrill of a ride in the back of the truck.
Our life is on the road, and each trip is a gift. It is impossible to describe the natural beauty in which we travel. The mountains, the Chaco land, the stars at night, and our brother and sister animals that fill the road are all daily reminders of God’s steadfast love and call to trust, to be faithful.
The children who live around us in Timboy run out each time we open the gate to leave and ask, “Sisters, where are you going? Can we go?” I think this is what God also asks us as we set out. I am asked in each trip to surrender, to not just “go to get there.” I am especially aware of the gift offered to see each occurrence as an opportunity. During one trip, a truck broke down and completely blocked the road. Everyone who was detained joined together to literally build a passageway. I am beginning to understand that this is the daily lesson here . . . to learn from the Guaraní about how to live in community, about how to act more inclusively, about hospitality, and to join with them to build the way together, the way of peace, the way of justice, the way of dignity and truth. During that same roadblock, a mother of three small children who could have easily seen this interruption as something horrible bought a watermelon, found a shady place, and enjoyed the break with her family. She turned a problem into a party. I want to live that way!
Accompaniment is a privileged part of the journey. I have had the honor of being present at the first high school graduation of the Indigenous High School of Ñaurenda. I attended the 10-year anniversary of the Guaraní Corn Storage Center. Other times of accompaniment have been filled with the sorrow of a mother trying to care for her undernourished child, with a young women’s fear of her abusive partner, with the daily trials that poverty and oppression bring. Our travels have taken us to the jail, to neighbor’s homes, to the open-air market, and to churches.
Isaiah says, “I, your God, will make a way . . . I am your maker . . . the Holy One . . . the God of the whole earth I am called.” I will never know hunger and will always need to struggle to recognize the white privileged reality that is mine. I will always need to turn my swords into plowshares. And, I feel so privileged to have been called to set out with the Guaraní on the way with our God who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. May we journey in each day with renewed hope and joy.
May we be the new birth of compassion, mercy, peace, and justice that our world is waiting for as we join others on the road to create new passageways.