Global Ministries

This newsletter shares stories of hope from EPES community action in Chile during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Stories in this newsletter center around the theme of neighborhood soup kitchens referred to as the olla común or "collective pot" in English. EPES describes their work supporting these neighborhood soup kitchens including one soup kitchen specifically supporting the Haitian immigrant community.

On Sunday, October 25, 2020 Chileans voted overwhelmingly, in an almost 80% majority, to rewrite the Chilean constitution, replacing the existing constitution from the Pinochet-era. Moving forward, the people of Chile will elect 155 members who will draft a new charter which then will be voted on by the Chilean people in 2022. 

Read the September 2020 Stories of Hope Newsletter

Continue learning about the work of EPES in Chile

From the Theological Community of Chile

Dear sisters and brothers, in our work of ecumenical witness amid the pandemic and the theological-pastoral challenges of the 21st century:

Yesterday, October 18, we commemorated a year since the "Social Outbreak" in Chile. There is talk of a "before and after October 18, 2019" in Chile's current political situation. It has been a time where demonstrations, demands, challenges, imagining the new have taken a large part of the agenda.

Global Ministries Mission Co-worker Elena Huegel shares about what World Communion Sunday is like for the Pentecostal Church of Chile, a Global Ministries partner.

Global Ministries is excited to share the opportunity to purchase artisan crafts from around the world while supporting the life-giving work of global partners.

Crafts are posted on this page by country, and they are available from:
Congo
Chile
Colombia
East Timor
Guatemala
India
Palestine
Thailand
United States

This newsletter shares that while EPES staff are working remotely they have quickly adapted the work of EPES to be available to as many persons as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic through virtual outlets. EPES continues its work advocating for the right to health of working-class communities, protecting women who are sheltering in homes with abusive partners, and working closely with immigrant communities in Chile. 

“We must take extreme measures to respond to this crisis. But the lesson from our sacred traditions is that these measures, where they align with the basic demands of justice, cannot be temporary. Plague in the Bible is not a storm weathered before a return to normalcy. It’s a call to come together in new ways in order to survive, hold the powerful responsible for their unjust policies and the lies they’ve told to cover up injustice, and rebuild on foundations of love and justice.”

Rev. Dr.Liz Theoharis, Sojournors
March 18, 2020
https://sojo.net/articles/plagues-expose-foundations-injustice

Since October 18th, over a million people have turned to the streets throughout Chile to express their discontent in the most massive demonstrations in recent memory. In this newsletter, EPES responds to the current situation in Chile, and discusses how EPES is addressing the current crisis through its work.

More than a hundred grassroots organizations in Latin America came together to denounce human rights violations in Chile and Ecuador. The Argentine Commission for Refugees and Migrants (CAREF) is one of the signatories of this denouncement.  Below is the text of the declaration.

A letter from churches and ecumenical organization to President Sebastián Piñera

Chile's government is extending a curfew in the capital for a third straight day.  Shops and businesses have been looted and set on fire, and metro stations vandalized and closed to the public in widespread demonstrations over economic inequalities, living costs, and rising debt in the usually stable country.  What started as a protest against the rising of the price for subway tickets in the capital city Santiago escalated into deep-seated anger among ordinary Chileans who feel they have been excluded from the country's economic rise.  Thousands of demonstrators took part in a massive protest in Santiago's Plaza Italia Monday, banging drums and pans and calling for the ousting of conservative President Sebastian Pinera, in protests that have paralyzed one of Latin America's biggest cities.  Clashes between protesters and security forces have led to the deaths of 11 people, with eight killed on Sunday in the most deadly day of demonstrations. Many of the deaths occurred during looting when supermarkets were set on fire.  See a report of the most recent events here: https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/22/americas/chile-protests-inequality-curfew-intl-hnk/index.html