Sister Lourdes Quintana Cortavitarte at the school in Patabama, Peru.
Communities in the Andes Mountains of Peru receive little government support for education. Students need teachers. Teachers need support. Sister Lourdes Quintana Cortavitarte is helping make a difference.
Sister Lourdes first traveled to the high Andean communities in Peru’s Coya District with Sister Brigid Baumann in 2012 to support the Kausay Wasi Clinic on visits to communities that have limited access to medical care. Sister Lourdes also worked with the missionary ministry of Coya’s San Juan Bautisa Parish. She made a permanent move to Coya in 2022 to support the mountain communities.
Traveling to Patabamba, Qenqo and Sihua, Sister Lourdes created programs for young people in the villages. Her “Espere” workshop on forgiveness and reconciliation served high school students, and she ran classes teaching St. Ignatian spiritual exercises to children. To promote the Coya community’s resolve to care for the environment, Sister Lourdes organized a recycling program to collect and process plastic and cardboard waste.
“These first activities allowed me to learn more about the towns and rural communities,” said Sister Lourdes. Many years of reflection on the needs of the high Andean communities built her dream to “awaken and develop the potential that children and teachers have.”
In August 2024, with the support of grant funds and contributions from family and friends, Sister Lourdes started the “Soccoy Kicharinquin” (“Open Hearts”) program to support students and their teachers in Queqo and Sihua. The program focuses on accompanying children and young people through spiritual growth, encouraging the joy of music in children by forming community choirs, and providing resources for the local teachers.
“She supports the teachers,” said Sister Linda Patrick, a member of the SNJM Provincial Leadership Team who visited the schools in December 2024. “She is accompanying them and helping them to be better teachers.” “It’s not just the Holy Names Sisters who are doing this work. They are building a community of people who are working to serve the poor,” said Sister Linda. “All of these people are giving their time and energy to help lift people up. That is a wonderful thing. That is what we need to do. It is Mother Rose’s vision being carried out.”
