Hebblethwaite, Margaret: Paraguay

On her first visit to Paraguay, in 1996, Margaret Hebblethwaite fell in love with Santa Maria de Fe, a small town in rural Misiones, which had originally been a Jesuit mission (or Reduction) for the indigenous Guaraní people. After four years waiting for her youngest child to grow up, she moved to the town in 2000 - initially for a year - to deepen her knowledge of Latin American communities to inform her work on liberation theology. She never left, setting up a local hotel (now run by the local community), founded a charity called the Santa Maria Education Fund, worked with a local sewing co-operative, taught English and written Bradt's Paraguay travel guide, which has run to four editions. She is also the author of ten religious books in the areas of feminist theology, spirituality and Latin American liberation theology.