We were greeted with preschoolers dressed in festive costumes. People who live in the desert mountain region love color, because there land is all dark gray sand. Their entire community, which hold over 1 million people is essentially a squatter community and most of the houses are made from materials as they can find or afford them. The air there is very cool and there is a breeze from the ocean always blowing. Since the area is so steep and sandy we had to park and walk to the student center.
A little girl named Jocilyn greeted us as soon as we got there and walked with us up the hill smiling and wanting hugs (which we were all happy to give). I then handed her a silly band and she got the biggest smile and started skipping up the hill. Then she stopped and said, "Uno photo" and I figured out she wanted her picture with me. She then ran on up the hill. When we neared the top, she emerged from her little home carrying her little sister, who was almost as big as her. When she got to me, I found out her sister was Annabella and she said, "Uno mas photo" and she quickly grabbed the camera, so she could look at the picture we took of her. She hung around the entire day. She is one of 10 children and longs to be at the student center, but the mother has unfortunately chosen not to let her be registered. The church continues to love on her when she comes around, but she is not able to enjoy the program like the other kids do.
We met the staff and the children and then we divided and went on a visit to a mother and her baby who are part of the child survival program. We had to climb an extremely high hill that was made of fine silty sand. When we reached the top, Julie and Gabriel met us at the door. She welcomed us so lovingly and the Compassion staff member from the local church like she was family. There is so much I would like to say about our visit with her, but my heart went out to her so much because she has to stay home with her children and her 10 year old cousin, who she also cares for while her husband and aunt work every day of the week. Her husband leaves at 8 am and doesn't return until 10 pm, because he stays at the market all day to be available to unload trucks, help people to their taxis or buses with goods purchased, etc.
We then served lunch to the children and got to spend the rest of the day talking to them, asking questions, letting them ask us questions, and laughing at all the poor Español being spoken! There was one girl who knew several English words. She was so bright and personable. When we asked them questions, she said her sponsor never wrote to her. It made me so sad, because she seemed like a girl who would really thrive and possible be an LDP student. I asked if I could be a correspondent with her. Ian, our trip leader, is going to check into it. We got to see the hydroponics garden that the teenagers are learning to grow, so they can make an income raising and selling vegetables. They also learn to do silk screening, to make shirts and other clothing and the girls make other handicrafts. The mothers of the CSP program also make handicrafts and we were able to buy some things they made. I bought a picture frame that has shells and sand decoupage on it. So I got to take home a little bit of the Pacific Ocean! I have again been hugged and have held so many kids and everything I have known about Compassion and the awesome church partners we have here, I am seeing with my own eyes.
I have so many faces swimming in my mind and we have another center to visit tomorrow. My heart is so full of emotion right now, I feel choked most of the time from it and I feel like a tear and a smile is always intermixed. I do not feel sorry for the people I am seeing. They are so much like me in all the fundamental ways - the way they love, interact, doubt, hope. They are not here for us to pat on the head and walk away feeling pleased with our attention to them. They are people who want people to know them and hope with them and care that they are on this little piece of earth called Peru, which is what we all want really.
The boys remind me of boys and the girls like the girls I would meet anywhere. They pick on one another, tell inside jokes, and drive their teachers crazy with chattering. I feel sorry for myself that I require so much to be happy and feel safe and, yet I often am left dissatisfied. When we walked out of the church after spending the day in the church building, which is one of the few solid structures in the community, both physically and emotionally for the children, it felt like we were leaving a sanctuary where we truly had forgotten about the trash, sickly dogs, and harsh elements outside.
1 comment:
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences there each day. I'm really enjoying reading them. I hope God continues to meet with you there and encourage you as your week goes on.
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