Peru

Haircut in Yungay

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Salon, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

The last few times I have been in Kusi, Rosa, the house mother that takes care of the 40 boys living at the abandoned boys home, has always asked me to have a “girls day” with her in Yungay when we had some free time between teams. Her idea is to go into the town and spend a part of the day together, doing things like shopping, going to a café, and getting our haircut. In previous years, we have done everything but get our hair cut.

Last night, I floated the idea of going to get our haircut to Rosa (who I knew was going to love it). Of course, within 10 minutes she was on the phone asking about an appointment for the next day.

Katy (a fellow SU translator who is here from England) decided to join us and we spent the morning at Yungay’s nicest salon. We all got our hair wash and cut, and all for an amazing price of S/.5. That is just $1.73. After leaving a tip, the entire morning did not cost anything more than $3.

More photos from our morning in Yungay are on Flickr.

(In the above photo, Katy, Rosa (in the middle) and I are with the two ladies that work at the salon after getting our hair cut.)

Hello Kusi!

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The Small Ones, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

After a few months of the jungle in Puerto Alegria/Iquitos, a couple weeks in the desert Ica, and some random days in the city of Lima, I have finally made it to the Andes – in Kusi!

I first visited Kusi in 2006 with the group from my home church, First Presbyterian. At the time, there was not much on the property. We stayed in a nearby city – Caraz – and spent all of our time making hundreds, if not thousands of adobe bricks that would be used to build the city of Kusi.

It was not until 2008 that I was able to return to Kusi. I was fortunate to spend a month at the home. At this time, more buildings had been completed and there were approximately 35 Girasoles boys living in Kusi, along with the house family. The city had begun to grow and now included a functioning elementary school, bungalows, and foundations for future buildings. During the month I was in Kusi leading and translating for work teams, I was able to get to know the house family and Girasoles boys – something that has made Kusi one of my favorite places.

Thankfully, I have been able to spend more time in Kusi over the past year and a half – both with work teams and simply vacation.

This year, I have returned to Kusi with a team from Virginia. They will be here for about 10 days before returning to Lima. I will be able to stay here for a few days after the group to meet the next (and final) summer work team.

The photo, which is one of my favorites, was taken in 2008 when I took some of the youngest boys with one of my teams to Llanganuco, a national park near Kusi. I am happy to say that all 6 of these boys are still living in Kusi – they are just much taller and a few years older!

Happy Fiestas Patrias!

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Military Paraders, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Happy Independence Day in Peru! Today, the country celebrates 189 years of independence from Spain.

The last few years, I have spent the 4th of July at the Casa Girasoles home in Ica with the group from my home church, First Presbyterian. Augusto, the house father in Ica, is very patriotic towards his country Peru, and every year tells me he feels honored to spend our Independence Day with us (the Dearborn group) in his home. In the three years I have known Augusto, never have I been able to share in his Independence Day, fiestas patrias, at the home in Ica. In 2008, I was in Cusco and last year, I was still working at the Girasoles abandoned boys home in Puerto Alegria.

This year, after leaving the jungle and returning to Lima, I headed south to the desert – partly to help adjust from the hot and humid jungle weather before going to the cold mountains, but mostly to see friends in Girasoles Ica. I arrived to Ica on Tuesday night, the day before the national holiday festivities began.

This morning at breakfast, I asked Augusto if anything special would be happening for the holiday and he mentioned the parade through the city center. We didn’t think much of it and were not planning on going, but we needed to run some errands and ended up walking along the parade, watching the local schools, army, police officers and every form of civil servant march through the streets of Ica. While this was not my first parade in Peru, it was definitely the most organized.

After the parade, we returned to Girasoles and found the boys humming and singing the chorus of the Peruvian national anthem (Somos libres seámoslo siempre, seámoslo siempre!”) and wearing their escarpelas in honor of the day.

Happy fiestas patrias.

The Week in Photos

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Here is a small selection of photos from my last week working at the Casa Girasoles home in Puerto Alegria. Many more photos from the week can be found online at Flickr.

While the work team was at Puerto Alegria, we took one night to celebrate the birthdays that were in July – Oriel, Leyner, Joel and Xavier all turned one year older this month. As part of the celebrations, Gene, the director of Girasoles Iquitos, led us in some party games and songs.


Gene, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

As part of their fiestas patrias (independence day) celebrations, the boys paraded through the playground of their school with various tissue paper lanterns. Each lantern had a lit candle inside and at the end of the parade, the students select a the best design and they win a prize. Here Jair is working on putting the tissue paper on his star.


Jair, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Waldair, who is 10 years old, trying to fit into my duffel bag so he could travel with me around the country visiting the other Girasoles homes of Ica and Kusi.


Waldair, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Luis, the youngest boy at the Girasoles home in Puerto Alegria, during one of the traditional afternoon soccer games.


Luis, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

One of my many photos with Luis.


Luis, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

With Mansur.


Julio Mansur, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Moises, Mery and their three boys – Elias, Dan and Timoteo – came to say goodbye to me at the airport in Iquitos.


The family, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Last Team in the Jungle

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Tonight I said goodbye to my final group that would visit Puerto Alegria this summer. Hailing from South Carolina, many of the people in the group were here last year and it was so nice to see some familiar faces! While I enjoyed catching up with those I knew, it is always great to meet new people. When new people join a group, it means work teams are going home and sharing their experiences and Scripture Union’s ministry with friends and family, getting them interested in what we are doing here.

In an effort to mix things up a little during the work team visit, we held a mini-competition between the 39 boys and 20 team members. The boys and team were mixed and divided into 4 teams, following the 4 final World Cup countries – Spain, Holland, Germany and Uruguay. Within the teams, they had to come up with a choreographed dance to Shakira’s Waka Waka song, which was to be presented on Wednesday, the team’s final night at the home. Since lights were just added to the soccer field (to allow for more opportunities to play soccer), the stage would be set up on the field for the event.

While I enjoyed the competition, lets just say that after hearing Shakira sing “tsamina mina eh eh, waka waka eh eh, tsamina mina zangalewa, this time for Africa!” countless times in both English and Spanish, I am not jumping to hear the song again. After three nights to rehearsals, the four teams presented their choreography and each did an excellent job.

Since this was my last group in the jungle, I have just 4 more days at the home before I return to Lima and start traveling to a few more of the Girasoles homes.