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Billy, Kate & Will in Perú

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Puerto Alegria

Summer season, Part 2

Posted on Tuesday, September 2, 2014 Leave a Comment

We have officially closed the books on the summer volunteer season.

Both July and August were filled with trips to the different homes. We headed to Kusi, Puerto Alegría and Ica to spend time with the Girasoles at each home and assist with the volunteer groups and plus we were able to travel together on many of our trips which always is nice.

This summer we took part in leading Vacation Bible School programs, shared the mission and vision of the Girasoles program with volunteers, mentored the older Girasoles boys as they look towards the future and assisted with general maintenance and some new construction at our different boys homes. Instead of writing much more, we’ll share our most recent travels through photographs:

Luis, one of the boys in Puerto Alegría that I first met in 2008 when he was 4 years old
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Jacobo & Romario – Puerto Alegría and Iquitos
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Ticket from one of many trips to Kusi this season.
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José and Andres – Kusi
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Continue reading…

Posted in: Peru | Tagged: Girasoles, Ica, Kusi, Peru, photos, Puerto Alegria

4 groups & 67 volunteers

Posted on Thursday, March 20, 2014 Leave a Comment

It’s been a busy past few weeks for Billy and me. We have officially kicked off the 2014 volunteer team season with 4 very different groups from around the States.

In February, we traveled to Ica for a week with a small group of 4 adults from New York City. They come every year during the final weeks of summer vacation to play with the Girasoles boys. We played sports, made crafts, went swimming a few times, saw the LEGO movie at the theater, went out for pollo a la brasa and had lots of fun with the kids at Girasoles Ica.

Alex, Cristian, Aldair and Maicol
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Nicolas, Victor, Wilmer
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All of boys and group at Huacachina
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Fabricio
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Just one of the few times we went swimming…
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Shortly after we said goodbye to our friends from New York City, we were back at the airport to welcome another group.

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Continue reading…

Posted in: Peru | Tagged: Girasoles, Ica, Iquitos, Kimo, Kusi, Peru, photo, Puerto Alegria, Valle Sagrado

Puerto Alegria: Round 3

Posted on Friday, July 19, 2013 Leave a Comment

Just a few photos from my last week in Puerto Alegria…

Belén – Iquitos
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Belén – Iquitos
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[Read more…]

Posted in: Peru | Tagged: Girasoles, Iquitos, Peru, photos, Puerto Alegria

Two weeks and two groups

Posted on Thursday, July 11, 2013 Leave a Comment

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?).

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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.

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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

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Posted in: Peru | Tagged: Dearborn, Ica, Kawai, Kusi, photo, Puerto Alegria

A week in Puerto Alegria

Posted on Saturday, June 22, 2013 Leave a Comment

It’s summer volunteer season again!

Last week, Billy and I kicked off the summer season with a few different groups and have already made a few trips. This year, we have 17 volunteer groups coming to support our Girasoles boys homes from June to August. It will be a busy few months and with the exception of 1 group, Billy and I will be traveling apart, each with our own teams.

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Billy has spent the last two weeks traveling to Kusi and Cusco with a Scottish school group, and will finish their time here with a trip to Puerto Alegria. He’s had quite the exciting trip with this group, from one of the volunteers spraining her ankle and requiring a cast, to being able to translate testimonies from a few of our older Girasoles boys from Kusi.

Last night, I returned from spending the week in the jungle at Puerto Alegria with a group of volunteers from North and South Carolina. The last time I was at the home was November 2012 and it wasn’t a very long visit, so I was anxious to return and see the familiar faces of the boys living at the home there – like Alexis…

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… and Ericson and Lenín.

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The volunteers had prepared a 2-day vacation Bible school program to share with the Girasoles and also in two different schools in Iquitos. The week was mostly spent at the home, spending time with the boys and spending 2 mornings visiting 2 different schools in the city. They were able to share their program with a first, third, fifth and sixth grade classes.

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One of the women on the team owns a salon in the US and offered to give all 42 of the boys haircuts. The youngest boy at the house, Job Neber (6) was not interested in getting his hair cut but eventually caved once he saw it wasn’t going to be painful.

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We ended their week in Peru with a day in Lima to see a few sites and spend some time at Señales – the Scripture Union ministry to the deaf. We try to take most of our volunteers to Señales on their last day in Peru, but very few have the opportunity to spend a few hours at the center. Since this group had a long day and a late return flight to the United States, we were able to spend almost 3 hours with the deaf students and teachers at the program.

After introductions and a little background about the deaf ministry, the group was able to share an abbreviated part of their VBS program with the students before we all had lunch together.

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For me, the visit at the deaf center was a great way to end the week and I wish we could spend this much time there with more of our groups. The students were genuinely interested in the group and asked a lot of questions about what they during the trip and where they were from. While we had a language barrier between English, Spanish and Peruvian Sign Language (everything was taken from English, to Spanish and then finally to signs and vice versa), it did not matter to either group. Communication happened and ideas were shared.

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Early this morning Billy headed to Puerto Alegria for the final leg of his Scottish school group’s trip and tonight I board an overnight bus to Kusi, to meet the group from my home church in Michigan.

Pray for us these next few months, we’ll be covering a lot of kilometers, living out of suitcases, apart from each other and busy with long days. Pray that we remain safe and healthy, but also take time to connect with the familiar faces we will see along the way. Pray that our time at each home will help the Girasoles grow and that despite being tired from travel, our ministry to these boys and volunteers will be meaningful.

– Kate

Posted in: Peru | Tagged: Girasoles, Iquitos, Peru, photos, Puerto Alegria
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katebruder

Traveler. Spanish speaker. Michigan native✋🏻. Peruvian citizen 🇵🇪. 📍Lima, Perú

[late post] May have been chastised for taking a p [late post] May have been chastised for taking a photo on the sidewalk in front of the embassy last month but thankful for the opportunity to participate in free and fair elections while overseas. I only wish the ballot drop off hours had been longer so Will could have come with us 🗳️✉️
Thankful for a church that loves its kids, generou Thankful for a church that loves its kids, generously invests in them and shares that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 

@caminodevida @kidscdv #fundayfestcdv
A visit to the Palacio de la Moneda in Santiago 🇨🇱 

#littlewilliamnoah
Spring break trip to Santiago, Chile 🇨🇱 A de Spring break trip to Santiago, Chile 🇨🇱 A dear friend has been working in Santiago and thanks to some great points redemptions for flights and hotel, we made the trip to see her and explore a new city and country. We were amazed at the differences between Santiago and Lima (amazing public transportation! open spaces and greenery!) and loved spending time with @minazavala 😘
Spent the morning in Callao for a track meet. Will Spent the morning in Callao for a track meet. Will competed with the San Borja team in 4 races in the U8 group (50 meters, 200 meters, 4x50 meter mixed relay and 5x50 meter boys relay) and earned a medal in every race. We love watching him have fun and see how his hard work in practice pays off! 🥇🥈🥉🥉 #littlewilliamnoah
Slow days and late summer evenings on the water wi Slow days and late summer evenings on the water with family 🐟☀️ 

#littlewilliamnoah
After 3 years, we finally enjoyed a glorious Michi After 3 years, we finally enjoyed a glorious Michigan summer for a few weeks doing all the outside things possible. Spent way too much time delayed at the Atlanta airport and not nearly enough time with family. 

#littlewilliamnoah
Your greatest contribution to the kingdom of God m Your greatest contribution to the kingdom of God may not be something you do but someone you raise. - Andy Stanley

Happy Father’s Day, Billy! The legacy you are creating for Will and the example you show him daily of how to be a father and husband is our greatest blessing. We love you. 

#littlewilliamnoah
Last night Will went to his first professional soc Last night Will went to his first professional soccer game, a friendly match between Perú 🇵🇪 and Paraguay 🇵🇾. Even though the game started after he normally goes to bed and ended in 0-0, he was so excited to cheer for @labicolor and loved it ☺️⚽️ #littlewilliamnoah
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