Last weekend we headed south to Ica for a couple days before our last 3 teams of the year.
We weren’t going with a group so it was a weekend to visit the boys and staff at the home. Billy hadn’t been to Ica since the end of May and I was only there a couple times this summer.
Last week I spent a week at our Girasoles home in Ica with a new group from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There were 10 people in the group and they were all new to Peru and to Scripture Union. I enjoy traveling with groups that have been here before, but there is something about a completely new-to-Peru group. Everything is new and the trip has a different feel to it. I have been to Ica dozens of times and know the city well, but when I travel with a group who has never been before it is as if we are all experiencing it for the first time together.
The group had a few different work projects to complete during the week, starting with moving a large pile of bricks from where they had been dropped off at the front of the property to the back where the bricks would be used.
Two weeks, two groups and four locations later we’re almost to mid-July…
As I write this, I am heading south to Kawai, our boys home on the beach. We’ve just passed Km 41 on the Panamerica with about 47 more to go. I’m heading to Kawai just for the day to meet one of our groups, Health Bridges International, and to spend a few hours with Billy. HBI is a group of medical and dental volunteers from the United States and Peru. They come two times a year to put on medical and dental clinics for nearby communities where we have Girasoles boys homes. Billy has spent the past 4 days with the group in Ica and now they are spending another 4 days in Kawai.
For me, the last few weeks have added a considerable amount of kilometers to my travel total. I was able to spend a week with some familiar faces from home with the annual group from First Presbyterian. Despite the fact that Billy and I were in Michigan in April and have plans to return for home leave in the fall, it is still always nice to have a group from home come to our other home. I am blessed to have faithful supporters from my home church, and even more blessed that the church has partnered and committed to support Scripture Union through a yearly work group. The church has been faithfully sending a work team every year since 2001 and has been a blessing to the Girasoles boys and Scripture Union staff.
I started my week with the First Presbyterian group in Kusi and from there we headed south to Ica. In both locations the group wanted to have a party to celebrate friendship. We decorated the dining room with crepe paper and balloons one night before dinner and each boy received a party bag with some small toys, candy and a bottle of soda. Over the years, the group has watched many of these kids grow up and they wanted to do something special to celebrate the years of friendship shared.
In Ica, we were able to share water with an area of La Tinguiña. The city is finally in the process of installing sewage and running water for the residents of the shanty town area but it is taking longer than anticipated and until then we will continue to support this area with free, clean drinking water.
The group was planning on visiting a few school classrooms while they were in Ica but due to an unexpected government holiday for the “naming of the pope”, classes we cancelled. Nestor, the SU schools worker in Ica organized for a group of niños trabajadores (working children) to come to the home. A group of 50 children joined our 12 Girasoles boys for a morning of games and a lesson presented by the group.
Later that evening, we took the boys and staff out for dinner – for a delicious pollo a la brasa (rotisserie chicken). It was a fun to go out for dinner with everybody and to do something out of the ordinary.
At the end of the week, I said goodbye to the group and spent a quick night at home before meeting another group to go to Cusco for a few days – 24 high school students and 6 teachers from Scotland. They had just returned to Lima from spending the week prior in the jungle at Kimo and I was to accompany them for the remainder of their trip to Cusco and Puerto Alegria.
Because of schedules and tourism, we only spent one day at the boys home in the Sacred Valley. Despite the quick trip, I had an opportunity to talk with the house parents Héctor and Maritza, play a few games with the boys and learn a few more phrases in Quechua (arinchu kashanki – how are you?).
From the beautiful mountains and valley, we headed north to the jungle to spend a few days in Puerto Alegria where we made a trip to the mouth of the Amazon River, visited Belen and spent a lot of time playing with the Girasoles boys.
We returned to Lima for a traditional visit through the city and the group left for their long return trip to Scotland. For me, it is back to Puerto Alegria tomorrow morning for the next week with a group of friends from North Carolina. Billy ends his time with Health Bridges International tomorrow and heads to Kusi on Saturday morning!
– Kate
I can’t believe it is already January. Almost 2 weeks after Christmas. Even worse it has been almost 4 months since I have written something here and I don’t know where to begin. The whole spring season has passed… it is no longer winter here, but summer!
The busy work team season came and went. Unlike the previous three years where I basically set up my own room at Puerto Alegria (our boys home in the Amazon jungle) and lived there for 6-8 weeks, I spent almost every week at a different location this summer. To some the constant travel might be tiresome, but for me it meant a new experience each week and time with friends all over the country.
Things started to slow down in September, but just briefly. Billy and I accompanied a team from Nashville to our boys home in the Sacred Valley (just an hour outside of Cusco) for the week. Peru is a beautiful country, but I can’t think of a place that is any more beautiful here than the Sacred Valley. The valley used to be the backyard for Incan royalty, and they especially appreciated it for its special geographical and climatic qualities. It was one of the Incan empire’s main points for the extraction of natural wealth, and one of the most important areas for maize production in Peru. But apart from all of that, the valley, mountains, adobe buildings and rich colors are beautiful. Drive between the little towns about an hour before sunset and it is amazing.
After the week in the Sacred Valley, we returned to Lima for a couple weeks to catch up on office work and prepare for the next 2 groups in October. Once October came, we hit the ground running with 2 very different teams and many hours on the road. Neither Billy or myself can really explain where the month of October went because it just flew by so fast. One minute we were meeting a group at the airport during the first week and the next, kids were roaming the neighborhood going trick or treating.
We started October by heading south to Ica for almost 2 weeks with a group from Scotland.
And then headed north to Kusi for a few days with a team of medical volunteers from Health Bridges International. The HBI team comes to Peru about twice a year to work with Scripture Union – once in July and again usually in October. Typical HBI medical campaigns consist of setting up temporary, 1-day clinics in local schools, medical posts or even on SU property and offering free medical and dental services to the general public. On this trip, we divided the week between Kusi (about 8 hours east of Lima) and Ica (about 4.5 hours south of Lima) and the American and Peruvian medical volunteers gave personalized attention to the Girasoles boys and staff.
November was a bit slower than October, but I managed to travel to Iquitos two separate times in the month. Billy and I spent a week helping a group from Living Waters for the World from a church in Nashville. The LWW team has installed a few different water filtration systems on SU properties and at a local church in Iquitos and they had come to check on the systems, perform maintenance as needed and scope out potential locations for another system.
I ended up going back to Iquitos just a few days later with a small group on a vision trip. Vision trips are comprised of people who are interested in the ministry of Scripture Union Peru and want to know how they can get involved either as leading a work team or supporting the ministry financially. The 4-person group from the Hilton Head, SC area spent about 10 days in Peru and covered more country than most Peruvians do in a lifetime. I joined them exclusively for the Iquitos leg of their trip and in just 48 hours we visited our 2 boys homes, went out on the Amazon Hope boat while it refueled and flew to and from Iquitos.
We were in Lima long enough to celebrate a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. While the services, classes and events at our church, Camino de Vida, are in Spanish, the lead/founding pastors are Americans. Each year for Thanksgiving, the couple invites the Americans who attend the church to join them for dinner at their home.
In December, we didn’t travel with work teams but still managed to get out of Lima for various events. A weekend was spent on the beach at Kawai for a leadership training for SU staff and later in the month we ventured to Kusi for the week to celebrate Christmas with the boys there.
It has been a busy but fulfilling and fun last few months. Each of this trips is worthy of an entry on its own – each has plenty of stories and photos to share – but time got the best of me.
Since I didn’t get to say it before, Merry (belated) Christmas and Happy 2013. As Billy and I look forward to a wedding, a well-anticipated visit of friends and family from the States, many trips with work teams, and our own trip to the States in the spring, we wish that your next year be happy, healthy, and prosperous.
*And I promise to not let another 4 months go by!
It’s been a busy past few months traveling around the country with numerous volunteer teams. I went to Kusi three times, Ica twice, Puerto Alegria for a week, and led about 7 Lima day activities for various work teams I didn’t travel with. While the constant travel can be weary, it is well worth it when I get to spend time with some pretty amazing kids and get to work with some caring and loving volunteers.
Here are some photos from a busy summer starting with 2 back to back trips to Kusi…
Afternoon soccer game at the foot of Huascarán.
Zócimo
Eloy
Andres
Two boys both named Abdias.
Delivering free water to people in Ica.
Luis Angel
Abel
Celebrating at Sheyli’s quinceñera party
Carlos, a boy who lives on the riverbank of the Itaya River in Iquitos.
A week was spent at Puerto Alegria in the Amazon jungle.
Blessing and christening the new big boat at Puerto Alegria.
Marcelo and Wellingher
Waldair and Marcelo
Maximo and Lexon
Alexis
And back to Kusi one more time for the summer.
Abdias
Tigger made an appearance at the 3 day Vacation Bible School.
Andres
