The video is finally done! After months of reviewing hours of raw footage, selecting music and editing pieces together, the 09 video is finally done and ready to be watched.
Each year, the team from Dearborn puts together a video of their experiences while in Peru. Here you can watch the video from the 09 trip to the abandoned boys homes Scripture Union operates in the Sacred Valley, Kawai and Ica.
The soundtrack to the movie is available here.
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!
This is a map of Scripture Union’s Casa Girasoles homes for abandoned boys (in blue) and major Peruvian cities (black).
There are currently 6 sites owned and operated by SU Peru with plans to add a new site each year until 2015.
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.
12 hours later, and I finally made it to Peru last night.
I’m currently waiting with Billy (a good friend from Michigan who is currently living here in Lima) and Scott, another translator from Virgina, for a work team from Huntsville, Alabama, to head up to Kusi. We’ll spend the night in the Lima center tonight and then make the 9 hour trek by public bus to Kusi – one of my most favorite sites.
Just a side note, on my flight from Atlanta to Lima, I sat next to the mayor of Mala, which is the small town just 2km outside of Kawai. (Kawai is a Scripture Union campsite located 1.5 hours south of Lima). Jose, the alcalde, shared his information with me and invited me to tea and coffee the next time I am in Kawai.
