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Aunt Lucy had taken care of Pastuso since he was orphaned by an earthquake when just a few weeks old. Now she was old, and no longer able to care for him or herself, so arrangements were being put in place for her to live in a retirement home in Lima. Lovingly she had thought ahead to this day; teaching Pastuso English, she arranged for him to stow away in a lifeboat on a ship bound for England. She carefully instructed him to wait at Paddington station, where he sat with his label “Please take care of this bear”.
BBC Camerman Michael Bond felt sorry for the bear sitting alone in Selfridges' window. On an impulse he bought him for his wife and took him to their home near Paddington Station. He had soon written the first of many well-loved Paddington Bear stories. Since that day in 1958, this bear from Peru became famous throughout the world. In 1965 Bond gave up his work as a cameraman to become a full-time writer. Television series and merchandising followed, with TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson's mother making the first toy bears.
Dressed in the felt hat given to him by his Uncle, and a new duffle coat and wellington boots, with his battered suitcase, Paddington Bear became known for his love of Marmalade. In the stories Paddington Bear went to live with the Brown family who had found him at the station whilst meeting their daughter.
Aunt Lucy had told him “You'll be loved by the nation”; and so he was. Such was the case, that when engineers finally broke through the completed tunnel between England and France, one of the first symbolic items to be exchanged deep under the sea was Paddington Bear.
The beautiful country of Peru is still occasionally dogged by earthquakes, creating orphans, not of bears but precious children. In 1970, 66,000 lives were lost in Yangay when an earthquake in the Peruvian Andes started a landslide. With one third of her population living in the city of Lima, Peru continues to be vulnerable to this seismic instability, and will on occasion need the generosity of the global community as has China and the Indian sub-continent in recent years.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
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