Overseas Personnel in Current Service

• Hamilton Conference
• Serving Centro Esperanza, Peru
• July 2010 to present

Sarah Beer is truly looking forward to working in partnership with Centro Esperanza to mutually share gifts and experiences, and work for justice. Her view of mission is informed by her understanding of herself as a global citizen with a responsibility to work both locally and globally for justice and a sustainable earth. She expects to share her skills and experience in gender and international development to help support the initiatives of Centro Esperanza.

Sarah graduated in 2008 from the University of Guelph with a B.A. Honours degree in International Development with a concentration in Gender and Development. Her overseas experience includes an international development research project in rural Panama, a volunteer position and social research project with a shelter for women and children in Quito, Ecuador, and subsequently an internship with the Canadian International Development Agency and Niagara College Canada as a Gender Equality Resource Specialist in Arequipa, Peru.

Sarah was born in Sudbury, Ontario, and has lived in many parts of Canada. As the daughter of a United Church minister, she has participated in the life of many diverse congregations and has experienced the United Church in different parts of Canada (Sudbury, Kingston, rural Manitoba, and Regina, Saskatchewan). Most recently, Sarah has been based in Hamilton Conference. Sarah looks forward to sharing her journey and learning with all those who take an interest in her overseas experience!

As overseas personnel, Sarah is appointed to serve as a Community Educator & Organizer in partnership with Centro Esperanza in Chiclayo, Peru, for a year and a half.

The Centro Esperanza works in community development efforts with children, youth, and women living in the poorest neighbourhoods and surrounding towns and villages of Chiclayo, Peru. It has its roots in progressive Roman Catholic Christian communities—many of whose members involved in social action were marginalized when more conservative pastors moved into local parishes in the early 1990s.

The partnership between the Centro Esperanza and the United Church began in 2008. Most of Centro Esperanza's work focuses on women, particularly those who involved in communal kitchens (similar to "soup kitchens," but organized and run directly by women from poor neighbourhoods). It has developed a number of creative art programs for children and youth as well as programs aimed at preventing domestic violence against women. More recently, it has begun an innovative initiative to educate high school students about gender issues in the hope of changing the attitudes that are the root of domestic violence. Learn more about the Centro Esperanza and Sarah’s work there through her colourful and informative PowerPoint presentation.