A message from the boys of the Casa Girasoles Ica to the team from Dearborn.
“Te extrañamos” – We miss you!
Dearborn
Last Day in Ica
Today is my last day in Ica for the next 7 weeks since I’ll be up in the Amazon jungle in Iquitos and Puerto Alegria working with teams.
This morning we were greeted by the boys with a “Happy 4th of July” – many of which learned this greeting in English. They had hung the American and Michigan flag we brought last year on the doors of the dining room and were very happy to be able to share the day with us as we celebrated our patriotism.
Today the team from Dearborn passed out Beanie Babies and delicious chocolate chip/M&M cookies that were both donated by women from our church. This is the second year we have brought Beanie Babies for the boys and it amazes me each time we pass them out. You would not think that a boy who is 16 would enjoy receiving a stuffed animal, but they loved it. The boys that were at the home last year all had taken pretty good care of their animals from 2008, and quickly ran to go get them to show us that they really loved them.
Later this afternoon we’ll leave Ica and make the 4.5 hour journey on PerúBus, north on the Panamerican Highway to Lima and head to the airport for the group to return to the States.
Happy 4th of July to those in the States.
Quick Update from the Lima Airport
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!
New Soccer Jerseys
Today the team from Dearborn distributed new soccer jerseys to the 43 boys that live at the Casa Girasoles Valle Sagrado (the Sacred Valley home located 1 hour outside of Cusco).
It was a joy to watch Héctor, the house father, distribute the jerseys to his boys, and to see the boys excitedly put on their new jersey.
The team brought over 200 jerseys this summer to be distributed between the Valle Sagrado, Ica and Kawai homes.
Thank you to the Dearborn Soccer Club and all of it’s players that donated a jersey to the boys in Peru.
Sandboarding in Ica
Sand boarding in at the Huacachina dunes nearby Ica with the team from Dearborn.