The Business Trip

Posted on Monday, December 12, 2011 Leave a Comment

About a month ago while I was scanning my Facebook news feed, I noticed that a few of my friends had mentioned that they were away on “business trips”. I love to travel and the idea of being able to travel with work always enticed me. I know it would be work, but the adventure of going somewhere always sounded great. While reading the wonderful places my friends were jetting off to, like London, San Francisco, Venice and Washington DC, I found myself wanting to trade places with them and go myself. But after a few minutes, I didn’t think much more about it.

A couple nights ago, I returned from spending almost the past two weeks on the road. Starting in Kawai, our property located 88km south of Lima on the Pacific Ocean, I helped a water filtration team from Tennessee install a system on the property. Kawai and I have a long history since it is the location that I visited on my first trip in 2001, and then kept returning to for the 7 years with a group from First Presbyterian. It is a beautiful piece of beach front property with lots of green grass, palm trees and wonderful people. After a few days in Kawai and another couple days in Lima, we boarded a plane to head north to Iquitos and our boys home at Puerto Alegria. The water team had an installation planned for a church in the district of Punchana (just outside Iquitos) and wanted to perform some maintenance on their system at Puerto Alegria. Since the team spoke little Spanish, and part of their program includes teaching about the importance of using clean, purified water and how to properly and effectively wash your hands, I went with them to help teach.

Working with the children a church in Punchana.

The Living Waters team with their install at Kawai.

After spending a couple weeks with the group, it was time to return home. As packed up my suitcase and boarded the plane to Lima, I couldn’t help thinking, “Why would I be so silly and want to trade places with my business traveling friends?!” They get to go to neat places and travel with work, but hey – so do I! They go to cities where they only know work colleagues, stay in impersonal hotels and just work all day. But when I travel with work, I go to work with friends, stay in their homes and not just “work” all day, but get to have fun. Lots of fun.

I get to see people like Jherry, our house father and director of the home in Puerto Alegria.

I get to spend time with people like Wixler, who I have known for many years.

And, I get to take silly photos with silly boys. (Thank you Luis for that photobomb…)

So, even though I’m not going off to the same wonderful places I dreamed of as a child, I’m going to familiar places – to where people know me and I know them; to people who greet me with open arms and to a job that is never completed.

And all of that is just fine with me.

Girasoles Christmas Request

Posted on Monday, November 21, 2011 1 Comment

Cristian, one of our boys from Girasoles Ica.

As we quickly enter into the Christmas season, decorating our homes, celebrating with friends and family, and buying those final gifts, I frequently find myself thinking about the Girasoles boys living in our 7 homes for abandoned boys.

We love these children and do everything that we can to show them how much God loves them. Christmas is a difficult time of the year for the boys in our homes. It is a holiday centered around celebrating the birth of Christ and like in the States, is a holiday celebrated with family. You have heard the stories about the backgrounds of our boys. Coming from broken, abusive homes and neglected by their own parents, this is a time of year when many are constantly reminded that they don’t have a family with which to share the holiday.

We take our responsibility for caring and nurturing these children very seriously. We are their family. The Christmas season is an excellent time to share how we can be redeemed from our sins through the gift of salvation that God freely extends to each of us.

In addition to sharing the priceless gift of redemption, we also want to show the kids that we love them and value them. I ask you to prayerfully consider partnering with us to make this happen. A gift and a Christmas dinner for these kids is a tangible way that we can show them how much we love and value each of them, and even more importantly, how much Jesus values them.

Across the country of Peru we currently have more than 280 boys in our care. If you want to help make this Christmas season something special for these children, then I encourage you to read the following letter from our Director of International Relations, Billy Clark.

Click here to download and read the letter.
(You will need Adobe Reader to view the document.)

If you wish to help us in this endeavor, you will find information about sending a donation in the letter. After making the donation please send me an email to confirm that the money has been received. If you have any questions, of course feel free to email me.

Thank you so much for your continued partnership in this ministry. And, I cannot thank you enough for your continued prayers. I ask that you please remember to keep all of these boys in your prayers this Christmas season.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas,

Kate

Boys from Girasoles Ica anxiously waiting to open their presents.

Weekend in the Jungle

Posted on Tuesday, October 11, 2011 1 Comment

This past weekend, I was able to return to Iquitos for a brief visit with a work team from Scotland. They were interested in seeing the jungle, Amazon River, our medical ministry and I was particularly interested in visiting the new Girasoles home in Iquitos and seeing some familiar faces at Puerto Alegria. Like Marcelo, above.

Since the group had quite a busy itinerary during their 2 weeks in Peru, they only had 48 hours in their schedule devoted to the jungle.

We managed to spend a few hours in Puerto Alegria, painting the faces of the 40 boys that live there.

And, we spent the evening at Girasoles Iquitos – the newest home for abandoned boys in the city.

You might remember I wrote about a week I spent in Iquitos this past summer? During that week, I was working with another group from Scotland on the construction of the new home. We spent the week sanding, painting, plastering and all sorts of other things, preparing the building for its August inauguration.

On August 13th, 18 boys from Puerto Alegria made the transition from peaceful, quiet Puerto Alegria, to the busy, bustling city of Iquitos. All of the boys 14 years and older packed their belongings, said their goodbyes and moved to the city. While it was sad for many to be leaving a place they called home, the move to the city brings new opportunities; a better high school curriculum and a slow reintegration process back into the busy city life.

I was particularly excited to be visiting the home for the first time this past weekend. Over the past few summers, I have gotten to know quite a few of the older boys and have enjoyed their company over board games, stories and soccer games. When I left Puerto Alegria in August I was sad, knowing that the next time I came back, they would be on to bigger and better things, but also grateful and excited for the possibilities that were ahead of them.

Even though a couple months had passed since we had seen each other, the jokes and stories and laughter flowed as if it had just been a day or two. While our time visiting the home passed quickly, I am grateful for the brief opportunity to reconnect.

As the 25 boys in Iquitos continue the transition process and adjust to life in the city, I ask you to continue praying for them as they deal with larger class sizes, new staff workers, new boys in the program, temptations that come from living in the city, and separation from younger brothers at Puerto Alegria.

The 25 boys that live at Girasoles Iquitos (18 from Puerto Alegria, and 7 new to the program).

The patio and bedrooms lit up at night.

Want to see more? More photographs can be found on Flickr.

Adventures in Cooking

Posted on Monday, August 29, 2011 Leave a Comment

Last week, Randy wanted to do something special for the boys at Girasoles Ica, and since he enjoys cooking, he asked if it would be possible for him to make dinner for the 40 boys and 10 staff that live and work at the home.

After he got the go ahead from Augusto, the house parent, we were off to the grocery store to buy ingredients. Let’s just make it clear that preparing a dinner for 50 people is very different than for just 2 or 3 people. Thankfully, we both have had a basic experience with this from helping our mother shop for various events, and a team of interested boys that anxiously helped with the process.

Part of the ingredients – garlic, pasta, kalamata olives.

Abel prepared the spinach.

A handful of boys helped cook the noodles.

Randy stirring the pasta.

Jonas helping prepare the olive oil sauce.

Fredy mixing the pasta and olive oil.

Taste test… the moment of truth.

And finally, the finished product.

Randy

Posted on Sunday, August 28, 2011 Leave a Comment

What a month!

My younger brother, Randy, was able to spend the month of August here in Peru with me. As I was heading back to my apartment after leaving him at the airport on Friday night, I was thinking about all the things we did during the 24 days he was here…

We spent a 11 days in the jungle at our home for abandoned boys, Puerto Alegria.