Our project officers must travel to incredibly remote places to reach some of the projects we support—but they’re well worth the effort. For instance, Claudio, who covers Latin American projects, describes his recent journey to a boarding school in the mountains of Arequipa, Peru. After a long flight, he rode a crowded bus for 12 hours until it literally reached the end of the road.
Even though the trip to get there was exhausting, Claudio says Home of the Incarnate Word is one of his most favorite projects to visit. The children there exude the joy of the Lord. Besides, their families live even farther away. The children must walk anywhere from several hours to several days to get home. If it weren’t for this boarding school, they would not have an education, and the chance to better their lives.
Likewise, if it weren’t for an aqueduct construction project deep in the forest of rural Dominican Republic, nearly 900 people would not get the chance to have water. For a long time, they couldn’t find anyone to fund the project because it’s too remote. But Cross Catholic did. So Claudio drives several hours across the country to even get to the region. Then the trip to the water project begins—first by 4WD truck, then by mule, then finally on foot.
The trek is daunting. But just think…women and children must make a similar journey every day, sometimes several times a day, just to fetch water for their families—and even then, it’s not always drinkable. This remote project is worth the trip because it will eventually bring clean, safe water directly to their villages instead.
