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May 7, 2008

CNN's 'Planet in Peril' to feature La Oroya, Peru

by Emily Enders Odom
Associate for Communications

GREENSBORO, NC — Jacob Goad, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) long-term mission volunteer funded through the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands (MIJHH), recently accompanied a team of journalists from CNN to La Oroya, Peru, to shoot a segment there for its series, “Planet in Peril.”  

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission worker Jacob Goad (right) describes the environmental and health effects of the Doe Run smelter operation (in the background) to CNN, which is producing a documentary on the church’s work in La Oroya.  Photo courtesy of CNN

MIJHH is the five-year campaign of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to raise $40 million for new international mission personnel and for church development in the U.S., particularly racial ethnic and immigrant congregations.  
 
Goad, who is based in Lima, serves as coordinator for PC(USA) delegations and mission teams visiting Peru, working in cooperation with the Evangelical Presbyterian and Reformed Church of Peru. 

His work in accompanying the CNN journalists was conducted on behalf of the Joining Hands Against Poverty Network in Peru, which is linked with the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy in St. Louis, Mo.

Upon his arrival in Lima in January 2007, Goad found himself working in human rights alongside the Rev. Hunter Farrell, a former PC(USA) mission co-worker in Peru, who is now serving as the PC(USA)’s Director of World Mission.

Goad has since been helping to coordinate group visits to La Oroya in order to raise awareness about the extreme contamination caused by an American mining and smelting company, Doe Run, which is located there.

Sara Lisherness, Director of the Compassion, Peace and Justice Ministry area of the General Assembly Council (GAC) of the PC(USA), has lifted up the partnership efforts around La Oroya as a profound example of effective environmental and social justice ministry.

In this city of 35,000 people, more than 95% of the children have elevated levels of lead in their bodies which can cause mental retardation, kidney problems and stunted growth.  “This tragedy,” Lisherness said, “is the result of American company Doe Run, operator of one of the largest smelters in the southern hemisphere, dumping over two million pounds of toxic emissions, such as lead, over the city each day.”

Lisherness reported that after more than four years of faith-based community organizing through partnerships among grassroots groups in Peru — the Joining Hands Program of the Presbyterian Hunger Program, the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy, and The Movement for Health of La Oroya — Doe Run recently lost its environmental certification.

This decertification — which was issued by Cologne, Germany-based TUV Rheinland, an independent auditor — occurred on the heels of a $234,000 fine levied against the company for serious violations of environmental laws in Peru.

“Thanks to the dedication of the people of La Oroya, and these partners around the world, a corner of God’s creation might be spared the daily deluge of lead and other toxic emissions,” Lisherness said.

The short piece on La Oroya that was produced on April 28 by CNN may be viewed on the CNN Video Web site.  The full story will be shown in late November or early December as part of the “Planet in Peril” series.

Farrell has written a related article on the La Oroya situation for the April 2007 issue of Christianity Today.