My apologies for the lack of photos. I will catch up on these once I am back in Canada. In every place that we have been recently the internet connections have just been too slow to upload photos. So watch this space fro photos coming soon.
We have been in the jungle for the past few days so internet access has been a bit sporadic and very slow so as we wait for our next flight I thought I would blog about our home visits.
Home visits are when we go and visit the children and their families who are sponsored by people at UC. I have done these before and have really enjoyed it. this year was no different.
It is a very humbling experience and a real privilege to be invited into these homes. I visited both of my familiy’s sponsor children and thoroughly enjoyed it. Both boys that we sponsor have very different personalities. One is a teem and the other is 10 years old.
We learned alot about each other and our families and shared some fun times together. When I was visiting Jhonotan we played some recorder together as he is learning recorder in school right now. And with Jhon, who loves puzzles, we did a big puzzle together.
I was very encouraged as I see these families working to give their children the best that they can including working on their marriages to create stable families.
At both vistis, the families asked that we pray for family unity, health and education. Family unity is a very big issue for RdS as they work on the issues of family violence in the community.
What a privilege it was for me to share these very special visits with Jhon and Jhonotan and their families.
On Thursday afternoon we hosted the RdS Kids Club. This was the only event that we were actually late for. These children have been so excited that we were coming back to the community and so excited for the kids club that they were already in the community centre when we got there.
This year the group was a bit smaller (which was actually quite nice) due to the time of the day that it happened at. The school day in RdS either is from 8-12.30 or from 1.15 – 6.45pm and so many of the older children in the age group were at school. The age range of the group was from 3 years old to 11 years old.
We started out with about 60 kids and ended up with about 90 children. Descriptions from the team about the time ranged from energetic, intense and exhausting to fun!
It was a very fun time and taught them the chicken dance, shared a story about families (with impromptu acting out of the story by the rest of the team memebers), and played a game with lots of words around things we want in our families and those we don’t. Examples of these were honesty, yelling, repsect etc etc.
We then broke into groups and tried to have some organization as each group spent some time at each station. The stations were a craft (similar to the game), face painting and balloons. We had this great idea that we would put a check mark on every child’s hand in each colour that coincided with the station so that each child would only do each station once. It worked very well for about an hour and then it unraveled and became a little more chaotic.
Interestingly enough, the children all knew the right answers to the questions we asked as well as the questions we asked in the game. It was very encouraging that they know what a family should be like – whether or not that happens at home. This is encouraging to me because the knowledge and understanding is there and therefore as theygrow and mature they will have the ability to break the bad cycles of things that are happening in their families.
One change that I saw in the chilren from the last time I was here was an ability to handle a bit more structure and to follow instructions more easily.
I was involved in the face painting station and I was amazed at how many requests I got to paint a spiderman face! Butterflies were also very popular!
All in all it was a very fun time and I think that we all (our team and the children) learned alot and had a great time.
I just wanted to give you all a glimpse into our team and who it is made up of. As our week has progressed we have all gotten to know each other better I just wanted to share with you what has really stood out to me about each member.
Our team is made up of Griselda, Michelle, Bas, Amy, Mikaela, Peter and I.
Griselda is a physician from Mexico and she has been a great addition to our team – not only because of her fluency in Spanish. Griselda has a very big and deep heart and really has connected with the women of RdS on a very deep level. It has been very obvious that her love for them runs deep and she has connected with them on a level that I think the rest of us are not able to.
Michelle is Griselda’s daughter and so also speaks Spanish. Michelle came on this trip not knowing anyone and I have been so amazed at the way she has just jumped into everything. She has been a great translator as well and has really connected with the youth.
Bas and Amy are married, but let me start with Amy. Amy, who is originally from England, has also been a great addition to our team. Amy has opened her heart up to us and been very real and honest which has been amazing. One of the highlights for me this trip has been to see her in action with the youth. Amy used to be the youth pastor at our church and although I have been on staff with her and she also lived in my basement suite, I have never seen her in action with the youth. Amy really has alot of gifting in connecting with youth.
Bas, Amy’s husband also worked with the youth and it was neat to see how he connected as well. Characteristics of Bas that have really been strong this trip have been that of overall watching out for us and just this sense that he is making sure everyone is okay and everything is going okay. It has been great to have Bas lead us in prayer many times.
Mikaela – aka Michelle has been really fun to get to know – she has been my roomate. Mikaela was willing to share her story with the youth and they were hanging on every word and were very encouraged by it. I am very proud of her for stepping out in faith and trust to share her story.
Peter, our team leader, has been very strong in leading us and giving direction when needed. Peter has incredible insights into what is going on around us and in us and is very good at asking hard questions in a gentle way at the right time. Peter has led two workshop days – 1 for the FH staff and 1 for the mother’s leaders from RdS. I personally learned alot from both of these workshops and I know that all of the people who were part of them did as well.
Karen – well that’s me. Not really much to say except that I have, again, really learned alot and my life and heart have grown and been enriched in a big way while I have been here. I have been challenged to continue to let the walls around my heart be broken down and to be more open and also to trust in God more and face my fears.
The final member of our team – and the most important – God! I am amazed at how our relationship with the people in RdS have grown so deep so quickly. When you think about it, these relationships have been built across culture, across a language barrier, across and a very different social-economic status and yet they are deep. That can only happen by God and his Holy Spirit – the most important part of our team!
So, a great team that grown together over this week and has had a great time.
More to come as I continue to catch up on what has been happening this week!
Karen, thought you and probably your whole family would get a laugh out of this. I know not a very intelectual or deep blog this time but a laugh for you.
Before you think that this might be something very deep and profound let me warn you – it isn’t.
Last night in the middle of the night I finally realized why I am not sleeping well. The head of my bed is actually an inch and half lower than the foot of my bed! Which double with a cold/sinus infection makes it even worse.
Needless to say, I am looking forward to a ‘right side up’ sleep tonight.
The past few days have been incredibly busy with not alot of down time so now it is time to play catch up on the blog.
As we have spent the past two days in the community my mind is full of many thoughts and emotions.
On Tuesday we met with all the mother leaders in the afternoon to hear from them what has been happening in Rinconada del Sol during the past year. They shared some of the highlights and some of the challenges. We shared about what has been happening at UC and also together we talked about our week together and what we were going to do together.
It was amazing to see how quickly the women opened up and shared their hearts about their community.
The biggest highlight this year in their community is the addition of the ludoteca. This is the building right beside the community centre it is set up as a drop in centre for young children. It is almost like a preschool in the sense that it has centres or areas for specific learning. The biggest thing that we have noticed so far is that the ludoteca is a place where children can learn through play. The ludoteca is supervised by the mother leaders in the community. There is a centre for reading, a centre for games and puzzles, an area for story telling and music and area for playing with toys. It is very evident that this play centre adds alot of structure through play to the children’s lives.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (in Spanish – thnx Becca!)
Family violence is the area that this group of leaders is most committed to working on. The shared with us how difficult it is because it is often not easy to talk about violence (whatever kind it may be) in the home.
Another addition in the community is the Community Leaders group. This group consists of a few of the mother leaders and some of the men in the community who are leaders. We met with them in the evening and heard about what their dreams and goals for the community are.
It was very evident and encouraging to me today, to see how this community has grown and changed in the past two years since I was here and how the leaders in the community are facing challenging issues and working on them in order to help their community become an even more strong and healthy community.
Karen, I just wanted you to see the ‘riff raff’ that showed up at our orientation!
See if you can figure out who it is!
What is conflict?
Why does it happen?
Why is it necessary?
These are just a few of the questions we looked at and talked about today during our conflict workshop with the FH Peru staff.
We looked at different ways of dealing with conflict and had some demonstrations of those. We had a demonstration of the ‘turtle, teddy bear, shark, fox, and owl and the triangler’.
We then looked at some Biblical principles around conflict.
I think all of us have come away with some new tools and ideas on how to deal with conflict in all types of relationships – friends, family, colleagues, spouses etc.
I know the ‘shark’ in me has some things to work on!
Conflict makes us grow as we work together with others to resolve it. One of the key things from the day was that we don’t ‘forgive and forget’ but we add reconciliation to that. That is very powerful and key in building broken relationships.
The FH staff also discussed principles around dealing with conflict and behaviours around conflict that as an office they would like to adopt to deal with things conflict that arise.
There was alot of teamwork today and also a very fun lunch out with the whole FH staff.
I definately took alot away from this day and have lots to think about. Also, a great job was done by Griselda in translating the day!
Welcome Signs
We are just heading into day 3, during which we will participate in a conflict management workshop with the FH national staff. But to keep you in the loop here are some photos from the first day.
University Chapel and Rinconada del Sol
- Welcome to Rinconada del Sol
Oops sorry you need to turn sideways for that one! Still learning how to post photos!
Daniels 'Dailies' 