By Karen Halberg Weaver, MKLM

Chayo Pérez is a woman of vision and determination—and also transformation.

 

Ten years ago Chayo supervised 100 employees in a Black and Decker factory that made electrical components for tools in Juárez, Mexico. She left the house every day at 6 a.m. and returned at 8 p.m., working overtime to support her family. Her two young daughters dressed on their own in the morning and walked the 10 blocks to school and back. That all changed with the birth of Chayo’s son Omar, who did not get enough oxygen to his brain during a difficult delivery.

 

“For the first two years of his life he didn’t move at all. I didn’t know what to do! I prayed the rosary every day,” says Chayo, whose given name is María del Rosario (Maria of the Rosary). “Then finally, after two years, he moved!” she cries, her tears of emotion still fresh.

 

Chayo took that first sign of hope for her son and ran with it. Despite the discouraging prognoses of doctors, Chayo was determined to help her son develop. When her son was a few years old, she had a neighbor build a railing around the patio of her house to encourage Omar to practice pulling himself to stand. The doctors said that he would never walk, but Omar proved them all wrong. Not only can Omar walk, he has won races in the Special Olympics in Juárez sponsored through his school.

 

I first met Chayo three years ago when I was newly assigned as a Maryknoll lay missioner to this tough border city in the desert. One of my first efforts was to organize a ministry of listening as part of our parish response to the increasingly stressful reality of violence in Juárez, which in recent years has ranked among the top most dangerous cities in the world. Several people suggested that I invite Chayo to participate because she already demonstrated such a gift for listening.  She was one of 15 women who participated in the first group.

 

Not only was Chayo a good listener, but she brought to the parish ministry the same hard work and determination she displayed in the factory and in helping her son vastly exceed the expectations of his doctors. The listening ministry provided Chayo with the support and inner security she needed to broaden her commitment to her community. Chayo has become a wellspring of hope and caring.

 

“I have learned not to criticize or judge, not to carry around resentment,” Chayo says of her own growth that has come with her involvement in the listening ministry. “I used to be very resentful toward those who made mean comments about Omar. I used to be impatient with people who weren’t movers and shakers like me. I used to stress out about the people around me who wouldn’t commit themselves to making a difference in our parish or community. Now … I let God be the one who makes people move.”

 

Still, it is Omar who has been the root of much transformation in Chayo’s life. After Omar’s second birthday, Chayo stopped working overtime at the factory to give him the care he needed. His father does not live with the family. Chayo took Omar to daily aquatic therapy where attendants exercised with him in a warm pool. Over time he began to move his head to keep his face out of the water.

 

When Omar was 4, Chayo quit working at the factory entirely and now supports her family by running a small store out of her house. The next year, at age 5, Omar took his first solo steps. Now 11, Omar placed second in his local Special Olympics behind an older, taller boy. “But he didn’t ever slow down or get discouraged,” says his mom. “He had his eyes on that finish line and he ran as fast as he could the whole 100 meters.”  He was so tired afterwards that for a few days he didn’t walk at all and his family was concerned about him.  But he bounced back.

 

In 2008, Chayo and I and eight other women from our parish developed a project to create a natural health clinic based out of the Santa Margarita chapel. We have received training in methods of holistic health such as herbology, bioenergy and simple massage. Two therapists offer services in reflexology, and a young parishioner with training in massage and physical therapy volunteers a few days each week. With 95 percent of our patients coming in with stress-induced complaints, we continue to add new services that help reduce stress and related ailments. Chayo and I have found that the listening ministry and the natural health clinic complement each other greatly.

 

The second ministry Chayo initiated is characteristically simple and inviting. Because of the violence here in Juárez, people are afraid even to walk around their neighborhoods. As a parish response, Chayo opens the doors of the Santa Margarita chapel patio every afternoon to people from the neighborhood who want to exercise. Three years ago the patio was full of broken glass, wires and painful sandburs, but due to Chayo’s vision and the efforts of my husband Jim and some parishioners, it has been converted into a safe, attractive space with a soccer field, benches and garden that is used by 20 to 30 people a day.

 

From the beginning with our listening ministry, Chayo has built upon the inner strength that has enabled her to make a difference in her community.  “God planted me here. I am so grateful to God for the opportunity to choose the life that I am living.  It is my greatest joy,” she says, harkening back 22 years ago when as a young mom she first came to Juárez from a small town in the state of Zacatecas.

 

Like Chayo Pérez, I too am so grateful to God for the life that I have been able to live here, even in the midst of the violence and stress. My husband Jim and I, with our three children, were the first Maryknoll lay missioners to participate in this parish community. Now, as part of a refocusing of the Maryknoll Lay Missioners ministries, we are moving to another mission in Bolivia.

 

In a recent goodbye gathering of the listening ministry, a team member affirmed me, saying, “It is a loss to our city that you are leaving here, but as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:6, ‘I planted, Apollo watered, but it was God who made it grow.’ Thank you for leaving such beautiful seeds to grow here in Juárez.”

 

I’m counting on Chayo and others to water the seeds and God to make things grow.

 

Karen and Jim Halberg Weaver have been Maryknoll lay missioners since 1994 and worked in Peru, the U.S. and Mexican-U.S. border. They will begin a new ministry in Cochabamba, Bolivia, this month.

 

Read more stories about Maryknoll Lay Missioners.

To contact MARYKNOLL Magazine, email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Help support the work of the Maryknoll Lay Missioners.