Open air Saturday Schools were the first evangelism effort of the new mission in early 1969. The missionary picked up some local volunteer teachers and drove out to a barriada location. A group of children quickly gathered around the Land Rover. The lessons consisted of a few songs, a Bible study presented on flannel graph, and some games and maybe a picture to color.
Each week the Land Rover would arrive at the same street corner, and again the children would gather. At one time there were ten locations, with a total of more than 1,000 children in attendance.
The parents often listened from a distance. Soon they came and made our acquaintance. Often a more permanent location was found in a yard, a patio, or on a donated lot. Sometimes we were politely asked to leave. In some places the people put up a simple structure for the classes. A number of congregations resulted.
During this time, the barriada people were agitating for ownership of their property. After they received property ownership, they would agitate for electricity, and then for potable water, streets, and then schools, parks, public transportation, etc. Often government troops would come into an area and chase the people out, burning all the huts.
As people continued to pour into the sand hills surrounding Lima, claiming the land, the barriada process mushroomed.
Today (2003) most of the areas in these pictures are settled suburban neighborhoods.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|