Scripture Union

From Ica to Iquitos

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In the past 24 hours, I have used 3 buses, 1 airplane, 2 taxis and 1 boat to make it from the Girasoles home in Ica all the way up to Iquitos and then, Puerto Alegria. This journey was not quite as exciting as the time I traveled on 5 buses, 1 airplane and 2 boats in 36 hours last year, but equally tiring and just as much traveling.

As my group from Dearborn prepared to return to the States, the last few days in Ica were busy with all of the things we wanted to do with the boys, Augusto and Nancy before leaving for the year.

On Saturday afternoon, our last full day at the home, Augusto, the house father, came to me at 3:30 in the afternoon and said, “Let’s all go to Huacachina and rent sand boards. I’ve called the bus driver and he will be here in 10 minutes to take us.” In good Peruvian fashion, we were out the door in 20 minutes and on our way to Huacachina, the nearby oasis in the desert, where the 40 boys and 15 team members would rent sand boards and slide down the huge sand dunes, inevitably covering themselves in sand. This completely unexpected adventure was a blast and was a great way to wrap up a fun week with the boys in Ica.

Alexis with his board.


Alexis, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

The line of Girasoles with their sand boards.


Sandboarding, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Getting ready to go!


Boarding, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Sunday and Monday were consumed with traveling, and quickly blurred into just one long day. We left the home in Ica Sunday afternoon to make the 5 hour journey from Ica to Lima, where we went straight to the airport. The team was flying to Atlanta at midnight, and I was heading north to Iquitos the following morning on a 6am flight. Instead of getting into 2 more taxis and renting a hotel room for just a few hours, I elected to simply stay at the airport, which made for a sleepless night.

My flight, which was scheduled to leave at 6am, did not depart Lima until at 7:30, making my arrival into Iquitos at 9am. But, the journey was not over yet. I had to wait until noon for our boat to be ready with all of the supplies and groceries to take me to the home. Once they were ready to go, it was another 45 minutes before we made it to Puerto Alegria where I was greeted by 40 smiling faces, and a familiar work team from the Philadelphia area.

It was nice to be “home.”

Water

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A unique opportunity work teams that visit Ica get to participate in is the sharing of clean, drinking water with an underserved area of the city. Each year, our group rents a truck, hires a driver and buys 10,000 liters of water to share with the people of Alta La Tinguiña, a shanty town neighborhood not too far from where our abandoned boys home is located – all for about $35.

For many people we encounter on the trip, this water is crucial, the difference between being healthy and ill. They can spend up to half of their income on water alone, and the truck does not come through these parts too frequently. The water they buy (or receive from us) is essential to their life and is used for cooking, drinking, bathing and cleaning.

In the States, we take water for granted. I know that every morning when I wake up, there will be water in the shower (hot water, not just water) and there will be clean water from the kitchen faucet. We water our lawns to make sure they don’t turn yellow in the excessive summer heat.

Last year during one of my visits to the medical clinic Scripture Union operates in Iquitos, one of the doctors told me that the majority of the patients they treat have parasites or illnesses that come from not using clean water to cook or drink. He said that if people would have access to clean water, they would not have as many health problems and it would help solve some of the problem.

We equate delivering this clean water as Jesus being the living water of our lives. Without Jesus, life is just more difficult, we might fall ill, or have complications, but with the living water running through us, all things are possible. When somebody thanks me as a gringa for filling their buckets with water, I let them know that it isn’t me giving them water, but God. Yes, I paid for the water, the truck rental, the driver, but I was given the ability to do so from God. And only from His blessing am I able to share with others what He has given me.


Delivering Water, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Sarah, sitting on the back of the water truck.


Sarah, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

A bucket full of clean drinking water.


Water Bucket, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Delivering Water, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Delivering Water, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

An old container that is now being used to store water. This was originally used to store phosphoric acid.


Water Bucket, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Sunny Ica

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We’re back in Ica! It’s been 6 months since I was last here and it is so nice to be back with friends. Over the past few years, Augusto and Nancy, the house parents of the abandoned boys home, have become good friends always with words of encouragement and plenty of stories to share and it is always nice to be in company of friends.

Here are some photos from the first few days in Ica.

Alexis and Augustito.


Alexis and Augustito, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Piles of new t-shirts that were brought for the boys.


T-Shirts, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Somebody from the US Census Department donated a bunch of white hats for the team to bring. The boys were given markers and a hat to decorate as they wanted, and quickly they all started to ask for us to write our names on their hat to be kept as a souvenir of our stay.


Hats, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Group photo of the current Ica Girasoles.


New Jerseys, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Boys with their new Dearborn Soccer Club jerseys.


New Jerseys, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

And finally, Billy made a surprise trip to Ica and was able to spend a few days with us at the home. He was here when we went to the Huacachina oasis and despite it being a relaxing afternoon, he still managed to make a few preparations for his next visiting work team!


Billy, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

More photos from the week in Ica (and the past month in Peru) can be found on Flickr, while videos are online at Vimeo.

A Stop in Kawai

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On the way to Ica, we were able to stop for a few hours in Kawai – Scripture Union’s beachside property located about an hour south of Lima on the Pan-American Highway.

While we were only at the home for a few hours, it was nice to see some familiar faces from the home, like Paul and Luis Polanco!

Paul


Paul, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Luis Polanco, who has grown tremendously over the past year. I first met Luis in 2002 on my second trip to Peru. He was 8 at the time and sort of a little boy for his age. He is now 16 and almost as tall as me! Here is a photo of him from this year, followed by one from just last August.

Luis, June 2010.


Luis Polanco, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Luis, August 2009.
luis_polanco

2 Days in Lima

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World Cup, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

After a week in the jungle at Puerto Alegria with my own team from Dearborn, we returned to Lima for a few days – back into the city, “back into civilization” as I heard one member of the team say. It was back to warm showers, soft mattresses, television, electricity, food choices and other people! To go from the little village of Puerto Alegria with its 100 or so residents (45 of which live at the SU home for abandoned boys) to a city of 8 million was quite a change.

We had originally planned on returning to Lima on the 5:50pm flight from Iquitos, but a few days earlier, I received word that our flight had been cancelled and we were rebooked to leave Iquitos at 11:30am. This cut our stay at the house by a few hours, but allowed us to spend a considerable amount of time in Miraflores, one of the nicest districts of Lima, which is something we have never been able to do in the 10 years the team has been coming to Peru.

Today, we spent the day doing the usual Lima things – tour of a church with catacombs, a walk through Lima’s downtown pedestrian street, a few hours wandering in the indian market, and the traditional pollo a la brasa dinner at Pardo’s. Unlike previous years where we have left dinner and proceeded directly to the airport or headed back to Kawai (another SU property and home for abandoned boys), we spent another night in a Miraflores hotel, before heading south to Ica the next morning.

In the photo above, Griffin and Brandon are enjoying the “World Cup Fan Fest” in the Plaza de Armas in downtown Lima.