Fr Ramos is a parish priest in Chosica, less than 37 kilometers from the capital, but two hours by car, due to the heavy traffic. Two years ago, he was considered the "longest-serving Director of the Congregation", with the vitality of a solid, active citizen of Huancayo. Fr Ramos had lived as a missionary during the most terrible years that Peru experienced during its period of terrorism and knows well what suffering is.

Now he experiences the pandemic, much feared by the elderly, he finds himself serving the Lord among the poor as he always has - without fear of being infected, but with the prudence and wisdom of those who have lived many years. "An example to imitate in the midst of this pandemic in which every Salesian of Don Bosco cannot sit back and at home, while people are hungry and children and young people need priests like Father Rolando," said Fr Raul Acuña, director of the "Fundación Don Bosco" of Peru.

"To date," says Silvia Cordova, a social worker of the Don Bosco parish, "we have distributed food to 800 families. Children are the ones who suffer most. We took care of everyone, but we found that more than half are Venezuelan immigrants, who suffer more strongly from the impact of economic deterioration, because they only have informal jobs and live day by day."

Fr Ramos was born in Huancayo. Growing up in the countryside among the peasants gave him a particular sensitivity that was strengthened by his being a Salesian. Since the beginning of the quarantine, his gaze has fallen on the poor in the area, and he immediately organized an emergency brigade to prepare "salvation bags" with basic necessities. The more remote neighborhoods were the first to receive help.

With an iron discipline in the main things: prayer, food and medicine, Fr Rolando still organizes his life perfectly independently. "We don't know where he gets so much energy, we ask him what his secret is and he always answers: Christ, only Christ ...".

"Well, some say I'm old, others say I'm in the prime of my years. But it's not the age I have, nor what people say, but what my heart feels and my brain dictates," José Saramango once wrote, and this saying applies very well to Father Ramos.

Further information on activities for the pandemic poor are available at: www.fundaciondonbosco.org.pe 

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