A Week in Iquitos

Posted on Saturday, July 16, 2011 1 Comment

For the first time in three summers, I had the opportunity to spend an entire week in the city of Iquitos. Usually, I spend a few months living at our Girasoles home for abandoned boys in Puerto Alegria – about 45 minutes outside of the city – and spend a day here and there in the city of Iquitos, but I would always return to Puerto Alegria at the end of the day.

As our Girasoles program for abandoned boys grows, there has been a need to expand the home and property into two separate locations and have a home in Puerto Alegria, and another home in the city of Iquitos. As we already own property in the city, it was decided that the younger, elementary aged boys would remain in Puerto Alegria, while the older high school boys would move back into the city to continue their education in high school. This provides them with and opportunity for a better high school and a slow reintegration process back into the busy city life.

Before the older boys can move back to Iquitos, our current property needed to be remodeled to accommodate the 40 boys that will eventually live and study there. To help with the construction, I spent a week in the city with a volunteer group from Scotland. We spent 5 days working at the construction site, plastering the brick walls and painting the new bedrooms that the boys will someday live in.

The building is not complete yet, but sometime in the next month, our high school boys at Puerto Alegria will make the move back to the city. For some, this means they will be leaving a place they have called home for many years and others will be leaving younger brothers behind. And for all, this means they are leaving the quiet, peacefulness of Puerto Alegria and returning to the bustling city.

As the they spend their last few weeks with us in Puerto Alegria, I ask you to join me in praying for the 19 high school boys that will make the transition from one home to another and start a new chapter in their lives.

Zac

Posted on Monday, July 11, 2011 2 Comments

Due to technical difficulties with my beloved Zac the Mac (like it being accidentally dropped… definitely not good), things have been quite dormant here recently. Don’t worry, things are going just fine in Iquitos and at our Casa Girasoles Puerto Alegria, home for abandoned boys. Thankfully, I have a wonderful friend (once again, thank you!) who was able to get it fixed in Lima and all will be well soon.

Pending time in the city of Iquitos to turn my handwritten stories into text, accounts of adventures with another volunteer group from North Carolina, a visit from two Scottish school groups and a week in the city of Iquitos with quite a lovely Scottish team, will be posted soon. And of course, they will all include photos!

For quick semi-daily updates, be sure to follow me on Twitter or Facebook.

Stay tuned. Zac the Mac and I will be back online shortly with some lovely stories.

Puerto Alegria: Season 3

Posted on Thursday, June 23, 2011 Leave a Comment

Boat to Puerto Alegria, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

It has been quite a busy 2 weeks since I landed in Lima in the beginning of June. After a few busy days in Lima, 4 trips to the airport within 5 days, and a very fast 48-hour Lima-Kimo-Lima trip, I hit the ground running with the busy volunteer season.

Last Thursday night I met a familiar team from North Carolina and headed north to the jungle – to the city of Iquitos and our Casa Girasoles home for abandoned boys named Puerto Alegria. You might remember this is the home I spent a considerable amount of time at during the 2009 and 2010 volunteer seasons. (It is the place about 30 minutes down the river from the city, with no electricity and lots of mosquitos… sound familiar?)

It is absolutely wonderful to be back with familiar faces. I was greeted with big smiles, told stories from the past 9 months, and welcomed back into the home with open arms – both literally and figuratively. The team and I spent the week playing games, doing art projects, swinging in hammocks, swimming in the river, sanding wood and mixing cement.

As I left the North Carolina group at the Iquitos airport this morning, I look forward to adventures and memories in store with the other teams that will be joining us over the next couple months.

Elections

Posted on Friday, July 30, 2010 Leave a Comment

It’s a big election year in Peru and things are just a little bit different than how it goes in the States. You can tell when it is campaign time because every available wall is painted with political propaganda, every street light has a sign hung on it, and people start wearing the free t-shirts they are given with a candidate’s name. Every seat from local, regional to national is up for grabs and the campaigners are out in full force sharing their platform and ideas for the country.

Since there is a large population of people that can’t read, and a large number of political parties in Peru, every sign usually includes some sort of logo and “marca así” (vote like this). When the people go to vote, the symbols are included on the ballot to help those that can’t read, or simply can’t remember the name of their candidate!

I found out today that a friend from Iquitos just entered in the upcoming political elections on October 3rd. He’s running for mayor of Punchana in the party Restauración Nacional, which according to my friend, out of 20+ political parties, it is the only evangelical Christian party that exists in Peru.

In this particular election, he is competing against 14 others for the title “mayor of Punchana.” Since elections are in just a few months and he is running against a large number of people, I asked his strategy for campaigning. He replied, it is three fold – traditional, churches and, finally, 12 by 12.

Like every other candidate, he now has signs hanging around the city, posters on the back of mototaxis, walls painted with his name, and television and radio ads. The next part of his plan is to visit every church in the city of Punchana, whether it be during Sunday services, small groups or fellowship meetings. Since he is part of the only evangelical Christian party, they are the only ones that have easy access to this form of campaigning. And finally, his last method of campaigning is 12 by 12. Like how Christianity was spread throughout the world through the 12 apostles proclaiming the Good News to those they met, he will be using this method in his campaign. If he can convince 12 people to vote for him and have those same 12 to get 12 more people, and they another 12, and so on and so on, he can gain supporters and share his mission.

I’m excited to see what the outcome is of the elections on October 3rd!

The Week in Photos

Posted on Monday, July 26, 2010 Leave a Comment

Here is a small selection of photos from my last week working at the Casa Girasoles home in Puerto Alegria. Many more photos from the week can be found online at Flickr.

While the work team was at Puerto Alegria, we took one night to celebrate the birthdays that were in July – Oriel, Leyner, Joel and Xavier all turned one year older this month. As part of the celebrations, Gene, the director of Girasoles Iquitos, led us in some party games and songs.

Gene, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

As part of their fiestas patrias (independence day) celebrations, the boys paraded through the playground of their school with various tissue paper lanterns. Each lantern had a lit candle inside and at the end of the parade, the students select a the best design and they win a prize. Here Jair is working on putting the tissue paper on his star.

Jair, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Waldair, who is 10 years old, trying to fit into my duffel bag so he could travel with me around the country visiting the other Girasoles homes of Ica and Kusi.