Today, and for the next six weeks leading up to Aguchita’s birthday, we shall share with you reflections on how her life and ministry reflected our Position Papers – long before these six areas of intervention for the Congregation were defined.
Every girl is born with dignity, possesses the inherent rights of all humans, and ought to be assured the unique rights of childhood to enable her to reach her potential as an individual, a woman, and a member of society. When the value of girls is recognized, when their needs are met, and their voices amplified, girls contribute to positive change in their families, local communities, nations, and the world. In the following excerpt, adapted from the book Aguchita: Mercy and Justice, we read Sr. Corazón Inmaculado Málaga’s recollection of how Aguchita valued the girls she was responsible for and acted to ensure their range of needs were met.
She was a real mother to our girls in formation, always encouraging them. She was concerned that they should eat healthy and flavorsome food. When she saw that vegetables were scarce, she would go to the market and buy everything she needed for the girls. She was attentive to all their physical and emotional needs.
The Congregation’s position on the girl-child specifically supports gender-responsive budgeting to allocate monies for the physical, reproductive, and mental health of girls. We believe that the denial of nutrition is a specific form of violence that besets the girl-child – a form of violence that Aguchita challenged in her life and ministry.
Aguchita’s approach to the girl-child is still evident in La Florida, Peru, today, the town where she was martyred. One of the ways sisters and partners-in-mission keep her legacy alive is through the ‘Sharing Life with Aguchita’ project (pictured left) which provides nutritious meals for school-age girls and children from the local indigenous communities.
This week, as the people in La Florida celebrate the second anniversary of Aguchita’s beatification ceremony, reflect on the example of her holistic approach to working with the girl-child and evaluate what action you take to end the specific forms of violence against girls detailed in our Position Papers.
