Lay missionary Paul Lammermeier

As an adult chaperoning a St. Xavier High School student mission trip to Peru in 1984, then-teacher Paul Lammermeier had no idea that the experience would change his life drastically and quickly. Within a year he had asked for a six-month sabbatical from St. X to return to Peru to study Spanish and run a community service project at a Jesuit high school in the northern city of Piura.

Upon his return to Cincinnati, Lammermeier spent three years discerning the call he felt to mission work, specifically in Peru. In 1988 he heeded the call and left Cincinnati for good. In the 20 years since that time, he taught English and history at St. Francisco Javier school in Breña in the heart of Lima and ran a community service project there.

COURTESY PHOTO

Paul Lammermeier, at left, with some of the youngsters who live in the two residences he founded in Lima.

"It’s a project involving thousands of donors in the United States, especially my former students of St. Xavier and, more recently, my former students of St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland," where he was raised. "I always have seen my ‘mission’ here not only doing my part to ‘help’ Peruvians, but doing my part in educating my friends, former students and others back home about the reality of life here in the Third World," Lammermeier explained.

He claims that his work "isn’t that spectacular. I don’t preach on street corners, raise money to help the homeless or destitute people here. What I do as a gringo is witness the Gospel by my daily life in serving the boys I have taken in. All of them come from destitute families either in the mountains or here in Lima. I have seen them on their own turf, and it is abject poverty without opportunities for personal betterment. What I and my staff try to do is instill Christian values in young people that will hopefully make them good Christian citizens of the country, while helping them to become professionals to better not only their own lives, but those of their families. It’s a one-on-one work, in which the positive aspects far outweigh the discouragements and frustrations."

Lammermeier admits that he still finds dealing with the "seemingly endless bureaucracy, the hopeless corruption at every turn" very difficult and frustrating. While Peru’s economy has improved somewhat over the past 15 years, most of the change is seen in Lima and the other larger cities. "One goes into the rural areas of the mountains and nothing has changed," he said.

The government has focused on helping larger cities improve their economic status and tried to promote tourism to Peru. Unlike the situation a decade ago, there are "plentiful low-paying jobs in Lima," he said. "No one can say that he or she cannot find a job. But much is exploitation, especially if one has no education or one is just out of the mountains."

The political and economic answers will not come easily for Peru, he said. "I see American companies here (especially in the mining areas) and, while people love Americans and love to work for them, I do not see Americans paying more just wages than others. Domestics love to work for Americans because they are ‘friendly,’" he told The Catholic Telegraph. "But, do they pay their domestics more? No."

Nor do most become personally involved in Peru’s problems, he added. "Their homes are protected fortresses for fear of kidnappings. American P&G executives send their children to school in bulletproof cars with armed bodyguards."

The young American mission groups that come to help for a week or more are welcomed and appreciated greatly, Lammermeier said. "Americans are known for their friendliness and good wishes. One wonders, with all the young volunteers that pass through the country over the years, whether they have made a long-term difference."

Twenty years of obstacles and frustrations have taken a toll, he admits, but he stays. "I guess the answer lies in God’s grace. I felt from the very beginning that my decision to go to Peru was a calling from God, that He would give me the grace to stick with it, which He has and continues to do. Now it is a habit, and I rarely think of ‘home,’" he says of Cincinnati. "My life is here, and God willing, I will be here ‘for the duration.’_"

While he encourages young people to visit Peru as volunteers, Lammermeier suggests they only come if they have "a definite plan on what they would like and can give a lengthy time commitment. A few weeks is not enough. We have one right now — four months —- with a plan to learn the language and help with tutoring our boys and helping out in a school. It works fine, but even four months is not that long."

And although donations poured into Peru after the devastating Pisco earthquake in 2007, Lammermeier believes that corrupt officials "siphon off donations into their own pockets. Almost 80 percent of the destroyed homes still have not been rebuilt," he lamented.

In an interesting twist of those in need helping others in greater need, five young men from Lammermeier’s residences helped in a Jesuit-run weeklong construction program this past August outside Pisco. Upon their return, they recounted for their housemates the sad conditions of the small town they worked in. — Tricia Hempel