Puerto Alegria

Zac

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Due to technical difficulties with my beloved Zac the Mac (like it being accidentally dropped… definitely not good), things have been quite dormant here recently. Don’t worry, things are going just fine in Iquitos and at our Casa Girasoles Puerto Alegria, home for abandoned boys. Thankfully, I have a wonderful friend (once again, thank you!) who was able to get it fixed in Lima and all will be well soon.

Pending time in the city of Iquitos to turn my handwritten stories into text, accounts of adventures with another volunteer group from North Carolina, a visit from two Scottish school groups and a week in the city of Iquitos with quite a lovely Scottish team, will be posted soon. And of course, they will all include photos!

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Stay tuned. Zac the Mac and I will be back online shortly with some lovely stories.

Lessons in Tikuna

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Despite the familiar faces at Puerto Alegria, there are 16 new boys at the home who all come from near the Peruvian-Colmbian-Brazilian border. These boys come from the villages near Caballococha and Cuchillococha and arrived to Puerto Alegria in May.

This has added another level of multiculturalism to the home because many of these boys did not learn Spanish as their first language – and a small handful barely speak it at all. These boys were raised speaking Tikuna (more about that here), which is a complicated native language. So when I translate game instructions or commentary before meals from Spanish to English for the volunteer teams and boys, a brave new Tikuna translates from Spanish to Tikuna for for the rest of the group.

As these new boys are slowly learning Spanish, they continue to communicate amongst themselves in Tikuna. Over the past few weeks, I have learned some basic phrases from some of the more vocal boys and have even learned the words to a song we sing in Spanish before meals here, “Demos Gracias” (We Give Thanks), and I have been welcomed into the fold with my own name in Tikuna – “Pa-ka” (which is pronounced, paa-kay). Here are two videos of one of the older Tikuna boys singing “Demos Gracias” in Tikuna and then again in Spanish.

Taxcü ni a cuega. (Ta-koo knee ah qu-eh-gaa) – What is your name?

Choxega ni a Kate. (Cho-ega knee ah Kate) – My name is Kate.

Puerto Alegria: Season 3

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Boat to Puerto Alegria, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

It has been quite a busy 2 weeks since I landed in Lima in the beginning of June. After a few busy days in Lima, 4 trips to the airport within 5 days, and a very fast 48-hour Lima-Kimo-Lima trip, I hit the ground running with the busy volunteer season.

Last Thursday night I met a familiar team from North Carolina and headed north to the jungle – to the city of Iquitos and our Casa Girasoles home for abandoned boys named Puerto Alegria. You might remember this is the home I spent a considerable amount of time at during the 2009 and 2010 volunteer seasons. (It is the place about 30 minutes down the river from the city, with no electricity and lots of mosquitos… sound familiar?)

It is absolutely wonderful to be back with familiar faces. I was greeted with big smiles, told stories from the past 9 months, and welcomed back into the home with open arms – both literally and figuratively. The team and I spent the week playing games, doing art projects, swinging in hammocks, swimming in the river, sanding wood and mixing cement.

As I left the North Carolina group at the Iquitos airport this morning, I look forward to adventures and memories in store with the other teams that will be joining us over the next couple months.

Samina mina Zangaléwa

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Oh how these videos make me miss the jungle and the World Cup fever! I can’t count the number of times that I heard both of these songs at night when the generator was turned on – it had to be in the hundreds just the five days alone that the team from Mauldin, SC was with us!

Wavin’ flag – K’Naan and David Bisbal

Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) – Shakira

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.