Lima

Goodbye Amazon, Hello Andes

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This morning was my last little bit to spend time with the boys at Puerto Alegria. Out of anticipation of leaving and wanting to take advantage of the little time I had before departing the house at 8:30, I woke up at 5:45 to shower and pack the few things I still needed, like my tent. If everything had worked perfectly, 5:45 would have been a perfect time to wake up. On my way to the shower, I ran into Lilia, one of the cooks, who informed me that there was no water – somebody forgot to fill the tank with water from the river the night before – and I would have to wait for him to get up and do it. So, I returned to my room and finished packing.

At about 7:30, the boys were all up (I also forgot that they sleep in on Sundays and don´t wake up at the normal 6am!) and ready for breakfast. Since it is Sunday, they didn´t have their typical morning devotional since they were to meet later on in the day and we proceeded to have breakfast – my favorite Puerto ALegria breakfast, pancakes! But before we ate, Willy, the caregiver spoke to the boys about the team from Nebraska that left the day before, about how they had come from such a long way away to share God’s love with them. Atfer mentioning the team, he changed topics and started talking about how thankful the boys should be for me – for the 2 months I spent playing, dancing, hugging, singing, and supporting them in their lives. (Me?! I was only doing what I thought I should be doing.) This made me realize that these were my last moments with them and, of course, made me cry. Things did not get better when they started to sing one of my favorite songs, La Niña de Tus Ojos, a song I woke up and fell asleep to every night while in Puerto Alegria.

When it was time to go, I carried my bags down to the maloca (the gazebo by the river) where all 43 boys were waiting for me. The littlest, Luis (who I have written about before), ran up to me and asked where I was going. I explained that I had to go to my home, that I loved him very much, and that I would miss him. He said that it was okay because he was going to come with me. After telling me this, he ran over to his Papi Willy and told him that he was going to go with me, wherever I was going. After loading my bags into the chalupa (boat), I returned up to the maloca for the final goodbyes. They charged me and one by one, I said goodbye to each boy. Some came multiple times and the whole time I was hugging them, Luis was standing at my feet with his arms around my knees and his head buried in my legs. Of course by this time I was crying and he asked me over and over again, “Why are you crying? Why are you sad?”

At some point it was time to go, time to make the last trip into Iquitos, time to leave Puerto Alegria for the last time on this trip.

(As I write this, I´m sitting in Billy’s apartment in Lima, waiting for our 11pm bus to head up to Huaraz, where we´ll take a little van to Yungay and a taxi up to our Girasoles home in Kusi. Today I will have traveled by boat, plane, bus and car to go from the Amazon jungle to the Andean highlands – all in 24 hours.)

Quick Update from the Lima Airport

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I’m sitting in the Lima airport with Elissa from the Dearborn team waiting for a work team from North Carolina arriving tonight. They should be landing in a few minutes, but it will still take almost an hour for the 18 people to pass through customs, immigration and collect their luggage. The group was supposed to arrive on last night’s flight, but were delayed due to plane issues.

As for the Dearborn group, we are spending the night at the Scripture Union offices in downtown Lima tonight before heading out to Kawai tomorrow morning. Kawai is SU’s Pacific Ocean site located 1.5 hours south of Lima. We’ll spend two days visiting the boys that live at the site, many of which I have watched grow up over the years.

Sunday afternoon, we’ll depart from Kawai and head further south to the desert city of Ica where we will spend 1 week at the Casa Girasoles home located there. I am definitely looking forward to seeing some familiar faces at the home!

Time to go meet the North Carolinians!

Two Days in Lima

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After returning from Iquitos with a Scottish school group from Kyle Academy, I have two days of freedom in Lima before returning to the airport to pick up some friendly faces from Dearborn.

While most of Peru is considered by foreigners to be rustic, rough, underdeveloped, or any other adjective that is along those lines, it is very easy in the city of Lima to live an “American” lifestyle.

For my two days in Lima, I was able to stay by myself at the apartment of the General Director of the entire Scripture Union organization, which is located in Miraflores.

I feel pretty comfortable walking around Lima and the rest of Peru, but in Miraflores, I feel like I’m back in Dearborn. I don’t stand out as much since this is where many other foreigners live. Not only is Miraflores a nice and beautiful city, it’s fairly quiet, whereas the city of Lima has a lot of noise pollution – lots of car horns all the time.

Since I had two free days in Miraflores, I indulged in a little “American living” and went to the movies last night, walked around the neighborhood where the apartment is located, went to a delicious restaurant that is comparable to Au Bon Pain or a Panera, and even killed some time at the local Starbucks catching up on emails and updating this website.

I even managed to see quite a few Coach handbags being carried around in Miraflores – a few fake but most of them real.

SU Background

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Here’s a little background information about the non-profit I am working with while in Peru. The majority of my time is spent within the Programa Girasoles abandoned boys program, working as a translator and guide for visiting work teams from the United States and United Kingdom.

SU Background

Scripture Union is involved in six different ministries in Peru:

– the publication of Bible reading aids, working with church leaders
– work with the hearing impaired, penetrating families who see their children as God’s curse
– a growing schools work, where staff teach Christian values in public schools
– a full camping program for children on the Pacific coast, high in the Andes and deep in the jungle
– an innovative medical outreach located in the Amazon Basin
– a unique ministry to abandoned boys, known as Programa Girasoles, where 40 abandoned boys live with a family in a Casa Girasoles.

In addition, to these six ministries, Scripture Union has 6 worksites available to work teams from all over the world. Each site is home to a Casa Girasoles (a home for abandoned boys), and has plenty of work to do.

Scripture Union Sites

Kawai
Started in 1978, Kawai is the Pacific beach campsite and home for abandoned boys, located approximately 1.5 hours south of Lima.

In Kawai, SU is building beach condos to rent as part of their income generating projects, which enable the organization to become more self-supporting. At present, Scripture Union covers 72% of its budget through income generating projects.

Groups that visit Kawai interact with the 30 boys and their house parents, Raul and Rosa, and since they visit during the winter, they have full run of the campsite.

Kimo
To reach this high jungle campsite, groups travel 8 hours by bus from the desert over the Andes (at approximately 16,000 ft.) and down to the mountainous jungle area.

To reach Kimo, a hand pulled cable car shuttles people across the torrent Chanchamayo River, 6-8 people at a time. Cabins built with palm leaf roofs make the perfect place to rest. There is a lake to swim in, trails that lead to waterfalls, and plenty of work to be done. A new home for abandoned boys is being built in Kimo, which is expected to be completed during 2010. Currently, two of our older boys from Puerto Alegria live in Kimo, where they have trained as carpenters and are now pursuing other studies in town.

Kusi (Quechua for Joy)
Kusi is nestled high in the Peruvian Andes nearby the town of Yungay, a 9 hour bus ride from Lima.

Currently, Scripture Union has been given the privilege of supervising an elementary school for over 100 children from the nearby area. One of its kind, this school is available for the poorer families of the area and is financed by the Peruvian government, but administered by SU Peru. Groups have the opportunity to visit the school and lead songs and games one morning they are in Kusi.

There are currently 43 boys living in the Casa Girasoles with the house parents Angel and his wife Rosa.

Work teams make adobe bricks to help create the little village of Kusi. Plans have been made to include a city square with all the necessary buildings around it – chapel, city hall, school, stores and homes.

Puerto Alegria (Port of Happiness)
Our Amazon site is an hour away from Iquitos in the Amazon River basin. Work teams stay in a dormitory setting with a bunk bed in each room. The 42 boys who live in Puerto Alegria eat their meals with teams, and go to school in the mornings just a few hundred yards away.

Puerto Alegria is the most rustic site still since there is no electricity. There is, however, a generator and, therefore, you have lights in the evenings when needed. The Casa Girasoles house parents are Gene and Patty.

In Puerto Alegria, we are building a new campsite for schools and churches and to generate money for the program. It is all on the same property where the teams stay.

Each week a day is arranged to travel into Iquitos where Scripture Union has a medical clinic and an outreach program for semi-abandoned boys. Work teams visit the market area of Belen and see poverty in a way that most visitors have never seen.

Valle Sagrado (Cusco)
Live the splendor of the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu, recently voted one of seven modern wonders of the world.

Days are spent building the Casa Girasoles Valle Sagrado which is located 1 hour outside of Cusco, and 15 minutes from Urubamba. Work teams help make adobe bricks to expand the home. There are 40 boys at the Casa Girasoles, and the house parents are Hector and Maritza,

Many teams spend a day traveling through the Sacred Valley on a one-of-a-kind train ride to the lost city of the Incas. The very core of Scripture Union and the very center of the Inca Empire (Cusco means navel or center of the universe) join hands in the wonderfully alive and remote southern Andes to bring an experience of a lifetime.

Ica
Inaugurated in January 2008 as the Casa Girasoles Ica, this site is located in the desert city of Ica, approximately 4 hours south of Lima. Work teams stay on site with the 42 boys that live at the home. The house parents in Ica are Augusto and Nancy.

Since Ica is located in the desert, there is very little water for cooking, drinking and cleaning. One afternoon during a week, work teams distribute water to the surrounding areas. For 80 soles, teams purchase 1000 liters of water that can help many families that can’t afford to purchase clean water.

Lima (Chosica)
At the heart of the entire program is our Centro Girasoles that is located in Lima’s downtown historical district. At the end of July, this program along with the abandoned boys and offices will be moved to a location 45 minutes outside of the city of Lima in Chosica.