Quinceñera

Posted on Thursday, August 2, 2012 1 Comment

This year I had the pleasure of joining the team from my home church in Dearborn as they spent a week at our home in Kusi and a long weekend in Ica. During the weekend in Ica, the group and I were invited to join Augusto and Nancy as they celebrated their eldest daughter, Sheyli’s fifteenth birthday. In Peru and much of Latin America, the quinceañera (or simply quince) is the celebration of a girl’s fifteenth birthday. It isn’t just any regular birthday as it marks the transition from childhood to young womanhood.

Wanting to make this a grand affair, Augusto and Nancy hosted a party for Sheyli at a reception hall next to the Girasoles home in Ica and invited many guests from their church, family, friends from Ica, and the group from Dearborn.

Since this was a formal affair, the guys were taken to rent suits. For 30 soles (about $11) they were able to rent a suit coat and pants for 2 nights to wear. It is really common and inexpensive to be able to rent formal wear (like suits, formal dresses – even wedding dresses!) since most Peruvians don’t own clothing like this because they rarely need to wear it.

Since the guys rented suits, the girls decided to get our hair styled before the party – another deal at just 30 soles (or $11).

And afterward, we all rushed back to the Girasoles house to change…

David (second from the left) with the Girasoles boys that were invited to the party.

The party was scheduled to begin at 8pm, but in typical Peruvian fashion, guests streamed in the doors for a few hours until Sheyli, Augusto and Nancy arrived at 10:30pm.

Typically, the party begins begins with the arrival of the birthday girl, wearing a special ball gown style dress and accompanied by her father. As the father and daughter make their way through the guests, the daughter receives 15 roses or extinguishes 15 candles from special, influential people in her life. Immediately after this, the waltz ceremony begins where the birthday girl dances with her father, brother, uncles, grandparents and other important male guests.

Sheyli dancing with her younger brother, Augustito.

Following the dancing, the parents and special guests give speeches about the birthday girl.

Sheyli

During the reception, the birthday girl usually performs a dance with her “chambelan de honor” (her chosen escort) and her court of honor. Usually this dance is previously practiced and choreographed weeks in advance, and sometimes with months of anticipation.

Sheyli decided to use this opportunity to dance with her Girasoles brothers and one special guest from the Dearborn group, David.

Afterward, a hora loca (where dance music is played for an hour) commenced. Balloons, whistles, noisemakers, masks and confetti were given out to the guests.

About 1:30am after the crazy hour of dancing, a full dinner was served to the guests.

And at about 3:30am after the guests had left, we had a little photo shoot with the birthday girl.

It was a long night (we didn’t get back to our bungalows until after 4am), but it was a lot of fun being able to celebrate with Augusto and Nancy and to be there for Sheyli’s big night!

Dance Steps

Posted on Thursday, June 14, 2012 Leave a Comment

We kicked off the summer of volunteer teams with a group of high school seniors from South Lake Christian Academy in North Carolina. Every year, a group of teachers and parents bring the members of the senior class on one final class trip to visit the country, work on our construction projects and to play with the boys. We spent the first part of the trip in Kusi, and then headed south to Ica for a couple days before the group returned home in time to graduate.

I had been to Kusi quite a few times this year since January, but had not been to Ica since Billy and I were there for New Year. Of course, no matter how long you are away, going to one of our homes is just like going home – you’re greeted with wide open arms and lots of smiles.

Augusto and Nancy, the house parents in Ica, are always very welcoming to any visitors to the home. For this first group in 2012, they had worked with the boys and prepared 2 different traditional dances to share. We pulled our chairs out into the patio of the home and the older and younger boys took turns presenting carnaval and festejo dances. After the presentations, the boys invited members of the group to join them and learn the steps.

I happened to be sitting next to one of the younger boys, Wilmer, and asked him if he wanted to dance. At 10 years old, Wilmer is one of the smallest boys at the Ica home – he actually looks like he is just 6 years old. Unfortunately for me, Wilmer did not want to get up in front of the others and teach me the steps. After a couple attempts to get him to say yes and being turned down each time, I finally gave up and just watched the others with him.

Later that evening, while the group and boys were all watching a movie, Wilmer came and found me and asked if I wanted to learn the dance. Taking him up on the offer, we went to the patio and he patiently showed me all the steps. Unfortunately, I’m not quite the dancer like these boys all seem to be, but I was moved by the patience Wilmer had with meticulously showing me each step – and then re-showing me every time I didn’t get it right. He showed me both dances two times and then came over and gave me a big hug.

Wilmer wanted to teach me the steps but he wanted to do it on his own terms. In those 20 minutes we were dancing around the patio, I saw a normally quiet child break out of his shell and be excited to share something.

It’s the little things like this that make me truly enjoy being here and being able to share in the lives of the children we work with. It’s because God has so richly loved me that I am able to share God’s love with people here, like Wilmer.

New Year in Ica

Posted on Tuesday, January 3, 2012 2 Comments

To celebrate New Year’s Eve and to start 2012, Billy and I headed south to SU’s abandoned boys home in the city of Ica.

I’ve written about my experiences in Ica before. It is one of the properties that my group from First Presbyterian has visited every year since 2002, and it is where I most recently wrote about delivering water. Ica is located approximately 5 hours south of Lima, in the Atacama Desert – considered to be the driest desert in the world.

Wanting to do something fun with the boys for the holiday (and thanks to a generous donor), we were able to rent a bus and go with all of the boys and staff to the beach. Since the city of Ica is about 1.5 hours from the Pacific Ocean, going to the beach isn’t a frequent occurrence for the boys at the home.

Before we had even left the Ica city limits, I could hear some of the younger boys sitting behind me on the bus talking about how excited they were to go to the ocean, what they were planning on building in the sand, and wondering how cold the water was going to be. The closer we got to the coast, the more excited and anxious they got.

Upon arrival to the small beach, we piled out of the bus and walked to the water. Some of the boys immediately dropped their towels, took of their shirts and ran into the water while others sat in the sand and started to build their castles, trenches and one even dug out a mini pool.

After spending a lovely afternoon in the sun and salty water, we headed back to the house to anxiously wait the start of 2012. About 10pm, we gathered in the dining room to talk about the successes and challenges from the previous year, inspire and motivate for 2012 and enjoy a late dinner.

As the clock got closer to midnight, anticipation grew and so did the “what time is it?!” questions. To make sure we could wish each other feliz año right at midnight, an countdown clock was set and we spent the last 30 seconds of 2011 counting down (we couldn’t watch the annual special “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest”).

As soon as the clock struck twelve, the sky over Ica was lit up with colorful fireworks (I’m starting to think that with every celebration in Peru, there will be fireworks at midnight). Hearing this, the boys jumped out of their seats and ran outside to watch the colorful bursts in the dark sky. We set off our own fireworks on the soccer field, lit boxes of sparklers and distributed glow bracelets to all of the boys. They consequently spent the next few hours running around with sparklers and waving their glow bracelets in the air.

First photograph from 2012 at Girasoles Ica.

The next day, both Billy and I were greeted with a cheerful feliz año! from the boys. We spent a relaxing first day of 2012 in the sun, hanging out with the boys and even Skyping with friends in Dearborn.

Happy 2012.

Water

Posted on Friday, September 16, 2011 3 Comments

This past weekend, I spent some time with a group from England at our home for abandoned boys in Ica. Part of their trip to Ica was not just to spend some time with the staff and boys living at the home, but also to venture out into the surrounding community and share with our neighbors.

The city of Ica is located approximately 5 hours south of Lima, in the Atacama Desert. The Atacama is considered to be the driest desert in the world. There are no flies because there is nothing for them to eat. There are locations where not a single drop of rain has been recorded by humans, and dry river beds that have had no water running through them for 120,000 years. But yet, many cities and shanty-towns have been established here.

Our groups that visit Ica have the opportunity to share water in a shanty town not far outside the city of Ica, just 15 minutes from our home, in the district of La Tinguiña.

The area is characterized by low cost, unstable houses built with plywood, sheets of plastic, cardboard or any available material, but little by little, more homes made of bricks are starting to appear. They tend to be irregular structures good enough to protect from the summer sun. The homes lack clean water, sanitation, and usually electricity. Many are built on land without a permit. There are very few official roads and “house numbers” tend to be more descriptive, rather than an actual number.

I’ve made this trip dozens of times with work teams and groups from my own church. Each time, you meet different people or go a slightly different route, but the need is the same. The people in this area need clean drinking water to live.

Since there were many hands helping carry the full water buckets back to their owners, I took advantage of the opportunity to talk to some of the people that were out in the street, asking about their water needs. Many people in the area use a majority of their income just on water. In Peru, the legal minimum wage is S/. 600 monthly (or $219.62 USD a month), but I suspect that most people in this particular area are earning their income “off the books” and not necessarily earning a full S/. 600.

So how much does water cost? Once a month, the government provides free water to the people in La Tinguiña. If a family of 4 is lucky to have an above ground well or tank, this water will last about a week. The other three weeks out of the month, they have to buy their own water. Water that is being used to bathe, wash, cook and clean.

The large black tank costs about S/. 15, and lasts about a week. ($5.49 USD)

The 55-gallon drum outside of this house costs about S/. 3 to fill ($1.09 USD).

Each of these buckets or tubs cost about .50 centimos to fill (0.18 USD)

To freely provide this basic need to our neighbors in La Tinguiña, we rent a truck and fill it with water. The better part of an afternoon is spent walking through the dusty streets of La Tinguiña calling out “Agua! Agua! Necesitas agua?”

The truck rental, the driver’s time and 7000 liters of water costs S/. 100 ($36.60 USD)

But our work does not end here. While we satisfied the need of physical water, there is still the need for spiritual water. We know that God pours his spirit into us, filling us with the living, eternal water (John 4:13-14). Or, that while the physical water can run out and our tongues are parched, God does not abandon us (Isaiah 41:17). I was encouraged to hear some of the people that received our free water thanking God for the gift, and one even saying that God had answered her prayer. I pray that the others in this area will discover the living water and have the same reaction the next time.

We simply cannot survive on one or the other.

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.