IF I RAN A ZOO….(from Dr. Seuss – adapted)

BUT WAIT, I DO RUN A ZOO!

Unlike Gerald McGrew,

I am not looking for any new animals for my zoo,

I already have two.

I have a Luka-ma-duka-ma-dill

Who has a very strong will

And can sometimes be a bit of a pill

He, (like the zookeeper) loves to ski down a big hill

And can often be found out in the garden with dad helping him till.

Luka-ma-dukas’ favourite games are the rhyma-ba-dyme

And the lego-ma-bego.

They can spend hours upon hours in the ‘construction site’

Building things of extraordinary heights.

The other animal in my zoo

Is a Caleb-bo-baleb-ba-doo

He squeals with delight when his mom is in sight

And it seems that water and bathtime give him quite a fright.

Luke’s name for him is ‘Clonker-bo-bonker’,

As when he is mad he whams his head into any hard surface resembling a floor.

The results of this can be quite poor

With Caleb having a goose egg the size of a store.

Caleb loves to sweep

Although when he trips over the broom it often makes him weep.

They both are alot of fun and are always keeping me on the run,

But I wouldn’t have it any different although I am often spent

And want to go into retirement.

I don’t have to go to far away places to find the animals for my zoo.

I don’t need to go to Zomba-ma-tant and bring back a Bustard who eats custard

Nor do I need to use my skeegle mobile to go to where the winds squeal

I don’t need to go to the north-eastern west part of South Carolina

Or the Island of Yerka to bring back a tizzle-topped Tufted Mazurka

There are no two animals as fine

Than the two animals of mine

The Animals in My Zoo!

So, I am not looking for any more animals for my zoo

And unlike Gerald McGrew I don’t want anything new.

With my two, I know what my zoo is worth

And I have the gol-darndest zoo on the face of the earth!

On the face of the earth!

Rinconada del Sol, Macchu Picchu and Beyond

We have been back from Peru for one week now and I am just getting to the final blog about the trip, that due to settling back into life with two kids here in Vancouver and all that the daily routine entails. I am sure that I will come back often to topics related to our trip to Peru or to things that I learned and things that are just simmering inside as I process all that I experienced there, but I did want to write one more blog to wrap up on our trip.

After we left Rinconada Beto and Michelle headed back to the Vancouver area and the rest of us went on to Macchu Picchu (Aquas Caliente) and Cuzco for 5 days.

We learned from our travel agent that there was a train strike planned for the Tuesday and the Wednesday of that week which would affect us getting to and from Macchu Picchu (MP) and so our travel agent managed to change our tickets so that immediately after landing in Cuzco on Monday we went straight to Macchu Picchu. This had a number of benefits for us. The first was that we didn’t have much altitude to adjust to since Macchu Picchu is at 8000ft rather than 12,000ft, which is Cuzco’s elevation. As well Macchu Picchu (Aguas Caliente), due to the train strike, was empty for the entire time we were there! The market actually closed for two days because there were no tourists to buy anything!  I actually have photos of Macchu Picchu with no people in it, which from what I have heard is quite a rarity.

Machhu Picchu from Inca Gate Trail

This really was a blessing for us after having come from such an emotionally, physically and mentally intense week in RdS.

We did a number of hikes while we were there – up Huaynu Picchu which is alot like the Grouse grind only more elevation gain in a shorter period of time, the Inktu Gate, and the Inca Drawbridge.

A top Huaynu Picchu

It was steep!

Steep staircases that we climbed up and down!

We also spent an hour one morning sitting in the stunning beauty of MP just ‘wasting time with God’. This came out of a Henry Nouwen talk that we listened to in which he suggested just sitting down and not thinking about anything but letting God direct your thoughts. This is a particularly hard thing for me to do for a couple of reasons: 1. I don’t sit still well for much longer that about 10 minutes – maybe less. 2. My mind wanders after about 2 minutes of sitting still, okay maybe after about 10 but you get the picture. I am really not a deep thinker. Like I said in an earlier blog I like to read ‘mind candy’ not heavy, intelectual things.

Out of that hour – yes I did make it through and surprisingly enough I could have lasted longer than an hour – there were a couple of things that I just couldn’t stop thinking and praying about. These are not profound or anything like that but are things that I am learning and hopefully will continue to learn and have them become more a part of who I am.

The first is that God really does want to be in control of my life and surprisingly (to me at times) he is better at it than I am.  It is really hard for me to let go of being in control of the big picture because, boy do I like to be in control.  Probably one of the reasons I don’t like flying very much – I am not in control of that plane and I don’t know if I trust who is.  So letting God ultimately be in control of my life is hard because I really want to fly the plane.

The other thing I kept thinking about was the question of why it was so hard to leave Rinconada del Sol.  In RdS I really experienced the richness the people have in their lives even though they don’t have much materially and that coupled with their realness and openess towards me allowed me to let down some of the walls and barriers I have around my heart .  One of my goals on this trip was to be real (which for me meant that I would be honest with my team members about how I was doing and I would also not put a lid on my emotions and feelings while I was away. The first time I have really been real in a long time and have let my feelings come to the surface.  My thoughts that day up in MP were around hoping and praying that what God has begun in my heart will continue.  I do want to be someone who has a soft heart (I didn’t say high maitenance emotionally!) and also want be able to know how to share the richness that RdS shared with me and have that become a part of my community here in Vancouver.  My biggest fear is that now that I am back here I will forget and will get busy and just build those walls up around my heart all over again. 

 ’How would I sum up this trip?’ is the questions.   I would say that I truly experienced community and generosity in a deep way in RdS and in our team.  Seeing how the people in RdS cared for each other and gave more than I could even imagine made me realize that they have so much more than we do in many ways.  We have so much materially but so little in the way of community and hope.  My hope is to share that community with others – how, I don’t know but I am interested to see how this grows over the next while. 

I want to say thank you to all of you who prayed for us, followed along with our trip and were genuinely interested in what was happening in RdS.  For those of you who helped look after my kids – a huge thank you (especially Grandma and Grandpa – what a special time for Luke and Caleb). 

So, where does that leave the blog.  I have really enjoyed writing it and have found that it actually helps me think through ideas and thoughts that I have that I never usually follow through on – I know I sound like a mental slacker! – so I think it will continue – maybe not daily but weekly.  Trust me though, it won’t always be philosophical or deep, probably more about my kids antics than anything else but feel free to read when you wish.

There will probably be further posts of photos as I work my way through editing 1000+ photos!

Shot from the train

Terraces on the side of the mountain.

Wide angle view of Macchu Picchu

Some of the kids in Rinconada del Sol

Beto working with the kids.

SOLTERO

SOLTERO

We are currently sitting in the Lima airport after arriving back from Cuzco this morning. Our flight out is not until tonight so we are passing time eating, playing cards, blogging and writing a script for a 15 minute photo show that we can show our friends.

Now if any of you speak Spanish you will understand the title of this blog. And before I really get into this one I will preface this with the fact that Brent has given me his full permission to write this.

Soltero means single. Numerous times over the week comments  were made about Brent being single. This all started because one of the women asked if he was single.

This culminated in the final farewell when we all moved down to the soccer field to see and take part in the traditional dances. Once the dances were finished, Santa – the president of the community – got up and said to the whole group (translated by Anna) and said that she was going to demonstrate the different main languages in Peru. She started with Spanish and said ‘I hear there is a person in the group who is single,’ and she called Brent up. She proceeded in different languages to ask him out to go dancing the whole time hamming it up which in English would have been something like this.

‘Hey there big fella, what are you doing tonight? Do ya think that you would want to go dancing with me? And on she went…

Brent was a great sport and played along with her questions. We all wished that he could have had a chance to dance with Santa because Brent is an amazing dancer!  Everybody got a kick out of the conversation and Brent playing along with her.

We all had a load of fun down at the dance and were sad to leave at the end of it all.

SOME PHOTOS

The internet is faster today so I am going to post a couple of pictures. It is amazing how much we (as a society) rely on fast internet.

 

This first picture was taken during the farewell dances on Saturday afternoon.  This is my friend Patty dressed in her tradition Quechuan dress.  The Quechuan people are from the mountains and are descendents of the Inca people.

Patty was one of the community mothers, which means she is very involved in the community helping organize the child sponsors, she is at the new school working every Sunday afternoon with the other women, she helps with the family violence programs and the nutrition programs as well as the kids clubs.  In one of our many conversations during the course of the week she told me of the concern for her son.  He is 11 yrs old and there is a huge problem of young boys being lured into drugs. 

Patty in her tradition Quechuan dress

On another note, we learned while we were there that in these types of communities that 70% of the women report family violence – physical, emotional or sexual.  Because so many of the mothers are single there is a larger ratio of women to men and not enough good male role models in the communities.

The next picture is of Brent and Peter during our rock moving construction day.  We were working with La Roca which is a church that has come into this community and is working together with Food for the Hungry.  They have just purchased this land to build a church.  Clearing land and building here is very difficult because all the rocks needs to be cleared (by hand) and the ground needs to be leveled and retaining walls (made with the rocks) need to be built.  It is back breaking work and takes many many hours.  We moved all the rocks from up high on the site down to where they were building the lower retaining wall. 

It was a great time of partnering with them and we pray for them as they continue in the continue!

Moving Rocks at La Roca, the new church being built in RdS

 

(Sorry the picture is sideways!)

OUR TEAM TAKE 2

OUR TEAM TAKE 2 -

Sorry no new photos as it is taking me 10min to upload one.

Our time in Rinconada del Sol is over and two of our team members have already returned to Canada. As I reflect on our time together one of my thoughts is that this was just and amazing team. So, with that in mind I would like to share with you one of my highlights from each team member (something I think was a highlight) and something specific that I have really appreciated about each one of them.

So to make this easy I will start with the three B’s.

Beto: One of the highlights for me was when Beto was doing the youth workshop. In my mind this is a tough age! You have the ‘too cool’ kids and the ‘wanna be cool’ kids. Beto connected with them so amazingly and they all loved him. He shared a part of his story and they totally connected with him. One thing that I really appreciated about Beto on this trip was his gentleness with the people and the compassion that was evident in the way that he related to them. I couldn’t always understand 100% of what he was saying – as it was in Spanish – but I could just sense his love for the people of RdS and I know they sensed and knew that in him too.

Brent: Brent notices the details that surround him and picks up on many things that are going on that I totally miss. I really appreciated this especially when we would debrief at night and he would add something to a story that someone was telling and it would bring everything into perspective and help us to understand better what was going on. Brent is a carver and he makes these amazing little humming birds and boomerangs. It was so fun to see Brent showing the kids how to use the boomerang and then playing with them with it. He was like a kid in a candy store!

Bruce: One thing I have really appreciated about Bruce is the steady, even-keeled maturity and wisdom he has brought to the team. He notices subtle things, such as mood and emotion and having his perspective has added a lot. I think one of the highlights was hearing about his one home visits where he went with Jenny (who speaks little English) and himself (he speaks little Spanish) and the family he visited spoke no English and yet they were able to communicate and had a great visit. I know that this visit was very special to him as God really showed up and helped them all. I also have a very funny photo of Bruce and David dancing with some of the local women and they look like giants!

David: David has an amazing ability to stand back and just take in the whole picture – the details, the feelings, the mood etc and he seems to think these things through and give really good perspective. These are things I don’t pick up at all and hearing his perspective was always great. He is also a guy with a lot of integrity! I think my highlight for David was when he was doing the youth workshop – he also participated and spoke in the mother’s workshop (and I heard he did a great job there too). He comes up with great questions!

Michelle: It has been so fun to get to know Michelle (she and I have friends in common). She was right in there as a team member and as we shared our stories I really appreciated her sensitivity to the Spirit and her ability to pray into peoples lives with such insight and wisdom. What a gift! One of the highlights for me of Michelle was that she was incredibly well loved by the young girls! Wherever Michelle was there was Daisy or Stefanie or one of the other bright faces. Those girls knew that she loved them and they wanted to be right by her side!

Peter: Peter has been a great team leader and I have really appreciated his ability to ask questions in a gentle way to enable us to look deeper, think deeper and probe more deeply into areas that need to be looked at – sometimes things we don’t want to think about but need to. A highlight for me of Peter was watching him do the Colours workshop with the staff of FH and giving them a tool to help them understand and relate to each other in a more meaningful way. Peter is passionate about this and did an amazing job. One other highlight was of him working with a very small boy during the impromptu kid’s workshop who was really a drooly mess from all over his face and you could tell that the little boy had a lot of difficulties in his life. He would not be a child that one would naturally be drawn to yet Peter was right in there helping him have a good time!

Karen: (From Peter) ‘Karen said that she wanted to be real on this trip and she has been, she has shown her heart and let it be softened.’ (From Karen now) – My highlight (oh I have so many, how does one choose?) was my home visit with Wilber and his family. It was amazing to meet him and his family and now know who I am receiving and sending letters to and know where they live. Now when we pray for Wilber and talk about him at home I can show my family and tell my family all about him. It was so special to sit and read stories with him and have him try to teach me a Peruvian game.

One thing I would like to say about the team in general is that they all are incredibly helpful people stepping in when they see something that needs to be done. For example – the kids workshop. This time was CRAZY – controlled craziness – but still crazy when you have 80 kids who want to do the craft you have prepared. David, Peter and Brent stepped up and took half of them outside to do animal balloons while the other half worked on crafts inside. Michelle, Beto and Bruce worked very hard at getting supplies out to everyone and helping all the kids (during both rounds of crafts) and we couldn’t have done it without every single one of them!

Well done team!

LAST DAY IN RINCONADA DEL SOL

LAST DAY IN RONCONADA DEL SOL – stay tuned for photos as the connection is too slow right now to upload

Sorry for the lack of posts lately – we have all been doing a bit of the ‘Lima Locomotion’ and have just been too wiped at the end of a day to head to the internet café and spend some time blogging. Unfortunately Peter and I have been the sickest and I am getting to the point of wondering just how much Cipro one can take.

Well moving on to something a lot more interesting. Saturday was our last day in Rinconada del Sol, something that I really was not looking forward to. We headed up to the community around lunch time. The mother leaders in RdS had invited the team for lunch. Santa’s husband – Santa is the president of RdS – is a cook in a restaurant and he made a lovely meal for us of Arroz con Pollo – rice with chicken. We all sat up in the new library and had lunch together. This was the third meal that the community mothers had prepared for us which is so incredibly generous of them.

Following lunch we all headed down to the new kindergarten. RdS is SO EXCITED about the school – there is always someone there working on something. It still has a long way to go but one classroom is totally complete, as are the bathrooms and the retaining wall. Something that came out of the parents workshop that we did last night (in which Peter did a great job leading) was that one of the main desires parents (not just in RdS) have for their children is for them to get an education and succeed. That goal here is very important to them because they want their children to be able to get out of poverty. So back to the closing afternoon.

The items that we had purchased for the preschool, along with some of the construction materials we displayed out at the front. Let’s just say our money went a lot farther than it would have here. The items that had been purchased were thing just like you see in any preschool here. It was amazing.

There were many presentations both ways from our team to RdS and from them to our team and whole community back at UC as well as a special from Tecumseh Elementary School in Vancouver. They were so generous to us and as we left gave us the ‘key to RdS’ because we are part of their community now.

We each were asked to share something about our week this week and when it was my turn (I was already having a hard time speaking because I was sad to be leaving) this is what I said – and it came from my heart.

“I am sad to be leaving you today and I feel like I am leaving a part of my heart here with you. But I am taking back a new piece of my heart that is filled with you and I am excited to share you and your lives with my friends, family and community back in Vancouver so that they can become a part of your lives and that our two communities can grow closer together even though we are so far apart physically.”

After the time in the preschool we moved down to the soccer field for some traditional Peruvian dances which was a load of fun.

Unfortunately, then it was time for good-byes. I especially had a hard time saying good-bye to Patty who I really felt a connection to as well as Wilber and his mom Virginia.

But as they say it is not good-bye but ‘until next time!’

STORIES

STORIES – photos to come – our connection is too slow right now

A key part of our experience here in Peru has been our story-telling time. At some point during every day, one member of our team has had an hour to share about her or his life. This has been followed by questions and some input from the others and then prayer for the person sharing. For many of us, it is the first time that we have been listened to for that long. We are learning to listen with our heads and hearts – to hear at a whole new level – and to discern the voice of the Spirit. As we practice this new “muscle” we are able to speak God’s words into the life of another.

These times have been very meaningful and every one has had a chance to share. There have been lots of laughs and lots or tears and lots of similarities in terms of the way we have felt at certain points in our lives and some of the things we have gone through. It is also helped us to connect as a team and understand each other better and has helped us to work together better and more efficiently as a team, using each others gifts and talents to their potential.

This has been an amazing time for me as I am someone who tends to cover up what I think and feel and really don’t tell people what I am going through or the things that have been and are difficult in my life. The transparency that each person on this team has had about their lives and struggles has made it easier for me to ‘be real’. Many of you who know me well know that I really don’t like to cry. I think it is totally fine for others to cry and admire that it many people and have absolutely no problems with it (I actually often admire those people as often they seem very real to me), in fact it lets me know and those around them know in a tangible way that they need help. But for me to cry makes me think and feel that I am not strong enough. I tend to think that if I show my emotions (the crying ones anyways) that I will become a high maintenance person and I will seem weak or needy. I like for myself to look all put together even if I don’t feel all put together.

That really hasn’t been the case since I have been here. I was an emotional wreck before I left because I was leaving Nathan and the boys at home, and was fearful of the six upcoming flights in the next two weeks. As I have seen and experienced things here in Rinconada del Sol and with our team through stories I have cried with happiness, with sadness, with a breaking heart and with joy. Now don’t get me wrong – I am not crying all the time or anything like that – but it has been a real heart softening experience. Jesus had and still has a soft, compassionate heart and yet he could be tough when he needed to be. When I came I said one of my goals was to ‘be real’ on this trip and through sharing my life story – the good, the bad and the ugly – I have experienced acceptance and love from those around me and am slowly starting to realize that it is not a good idea to totally suppress your emotions but, indeed, it is okay to cry once in a while.

My new goal – is to continue to ‘be real’ and to also have a heart like Jesus has.

THE DAY OFF – SORT OF!

The Day Off – Sort Of!

Today we have spent most of the day at the guesthouse preparing for our evening parenting workshop up in RdS. We will also be having dinner in the community tonight with the 150 expected participants. It has been nice to have a quiet day and we also celebrated Brent’s birthday with a beautiful cake from the panaderia.

Yesterday was a full day with the mom’s workshop in the afternoon and the youth workshop in the evening. There were 40 mom’s in attendance and a few dad’s too. I heard that it went very well with Brent, Beto and David sharing about their moms. I, unfortunately, didn’t get to take part in it as Peter, Bruce and I were leading an impromptu children’s club next door in the new library building. I had brought a bag of beads, string and key chain rings up with me just in case we had some kids who came with their moms. We had so much fun with the kids. We made beaded key chains, Peter and I told the story of Noah and did a big rain storm in the middle of the story and then we sang impromptu songs. It was certainly a time that my old camp songs came in handy. Also, we did ‘There’s a Bear!’, which if any of you know this skit, it is hilarious. We did it in Spanish and the kids loved it!!! At one point we were having so much fun that they came over from next door to tell us to quiet down a bit. There is about 1 foot between the walls of the two buildings and the walls are about ¼ inch thick!

Beading with the kids!

The evening youth program also went well. It was really fun to see the kids and boy did it ever bring back memories of those days – giggling girls and ‘too cool’ boys! David, Brent and Beto did a great job sharing about role models and Beto shared some of his life story (more on stories in the next blog) about choices and how they affect your life.

The Sock Game!

Other news, and some of you will think ‘what are the chances of that?’ is that our Macchu Picchu trip has been changed slightly due to……you got it…..an upcoming train strike. Does that sound familiar to anyone?

If anyone wants to see more pictures from the past few days, we have uploaded pictures onto the following Picasa website. Use this link to get there – http://picasaweb.google.com/Get.involved.in.Photography/Upload1# ?

Thank you for praying for us while we have been here – we appreciate it SO MUCH – and we ask you to continue to pray for us as we finish up our time in RdS and head on to the next part of our trip!

HOME VISITS

HOME VISITS

I am so excited to tell you all the story of my home visits but I would like to preface it by saying that I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to studying some Spanish before I came. I am understanding about 70% of what is going on and the speaking is slowly getting easier every day.

Yesterday afternoon the community mothers of RdS organized for us to visit our sponsor children. Three visits were made at one time – each for ½ hour – and each group had a translator.  My group, Michelle, Brent and I, waited for a translator for about 10 minutes but none were available so Jenny (RdS community promoter) just decided that we would go with no translator because between herself and me we would be able to get by. Our first visit was to see Wilber (whom my family sponsors).  I don’t even know where to start but will try to give you a picture of what it was like.

Wilber has three siblings, Judy who is older, Shayla who is younger, and Michelle who is 6 months old. Their family is one of the poorer families in RdS yet they invited us into their home and we introduced ourselves and talked and visited for half and hour.  Wilber was quite shy and reserved but we had a good conversatio.  I asked Wilber about school, what his favourite subject was – science and reading     – and told him about Luke and Caleb and the things that they like to do.  He did try to teach me how to play tops (a game that children here love to play), I didn’t do very well. We sat with the whole family and read one of the story books that I brought for Wilber.

As I was visiting Michelle took in a lot of the surroundings and the family dynamics and she noticed a few things that I did not as I was trying so hard to speak in Spanish. Wilber’s mom is very reserved and seems very lonely. The sense was that she knows she has a hard life ahead of her. Almost as if she is resigned to the fact that life is going to be hard for the next 25-30 years. Her feet have walked many hard roads.

Wilber’s house was very small and they didn’t have much but there was a sense of pride and caring in his mom as everything was neat and orderly, the beds were made and the dishes stacked and clean.

It was such a privilege for me to be able to visit with them and I so wish that my ‘boys’ – Nathan, Luke and Caleb – had been able to be there with me to have this experience because I don’t think that words can truly encompass all that I experienced.

Wilber and me, with his family in the background

If that ½ hour of my life with Wilber was the only time in my life that I was going to be able use the Spanish I have studied I would say that every one of the many minutes and hours I put into the two Spanish courses was worth it – if just for that! (MUCHO MUCHO GRACIAS PIA!!!!!!!!)

We all have many, many stories of our home visits that we would love to share with you when we get back to Vancouver. All of us though were blown away by the incredible generosity and hospitality that these incredibly poor people showed us!

Days 3 and 4 in Rinconada del Sol

Our Team with some FH Peru Staff

Peter:

Yesterday, Monday, we led the whole staff of FH Peru (about 30 people) in a True Colours workshop. After singing and sharing about our mothers (Mother’s Day is a huge deal here in Peru), we spent 3 hours learning about ourselves and others in the workshop. I led and Beto translated. The energy, interest and enthusiasm were very high and the groups were functioning very well. Lots of buzz during and after.

After a lunch break, we returned to Rinconada del Sol to work on the kindergarten building. There was a huge pile of rocks and dirt (15’ x 8’ x 6’) to be moved to become fill behind a new retaining wall. The sun was hot and the work was hard. Yet there was something very fulfilling and joyful in what were doing together. We were joined by men, women and children from the Community and there was laughter mixed with sweat and dirt as we worked alongside each other. There is hope here: hope for education, hope for being a united community; hope for families and children. And there is the deep pride of accomplishment. Karen and I are really happy about getting a chance to use our elementary Spanish with our new friends; all the hard work of studying with Pia is paying off. Each day, we are getting a little more confident in speaking; and each day we are understanding more of what we hear.

After a hearty meal, and a time of sharing, I fell into bed exhausted – with a big smile on my face…

Today, we visited the FH Peru office and were heartened to hear that already everyone was using the “Colours” language and putting their new found tools to work. I love that about Colours; it is easy to learn and understand and thus it gets used.

We learned about the family violence work and the health and nutrition work of FH Peru in the Lima hillside communities. About 70% of the women in the communities report physical, psychological and/or sexual violence. The need for education and transformation is huge.

Then back to Rinconada for Kids Club – two hours of organized pandemonium – with the children of the community. For the first half hour, more and more kids kept coming, girls and boys, little wee ones and their older siblings, a few moms and soon we had nearly 100 people in the 5m x 8m room. Karen and Bruce did an excellent job of creating and delivering a two hour program of teaching, songs, games, puppet show, story, crafts and more. The energy level was high and stayed high and the theme of “Respect” was well communicated and reinforced. The children were very comfortable around us “Gringos” and we all had a great time. Some of the children wanted to hold our hands as we walked down the 45◦ path back down to our minibus. God grant that I never take their joy and love for granted…

We take the FH Peru staff out to a nice restaurant for dinner. It is our intent to honour them and give them an experience they rarely get to enjoy. We are joined by Rosaura Menzones, former Country Director, who led our team in 2007. It is great to see her again and to share stories with this wise and elegant woman who loves the Lord and loves her country.

Pedro

 

Bruce:

Buenas dias friends, Hilary, Tim and Iain!

Tuesday morning, David and I were awoken by “Poopy” and his sidekick – Maria’s two lively dogs. Before leaving for the Food for the Hungry office, we had our usually healthy breakfast. All team members have been provided an opportunity to tell their “story” and this day Beto gave an account of his unique “story”. Travelled on the bus to the FHI office for two seminars (health & family violence). The highlight of the day was participating in the Kids workshop in Rinconada del Sol. Approximately 80 enthusiastic kids arrived in the community hall with Moms looking in from outside. Karen, with help from other people, led the kids through several activities: the “rain” game, two songs, a puppet show, crafts and story!

There was an incredible amount of energy and joy displayed by the kids. David and Peter also created “balloon” figures outside during the Craft Time. Afterwards, we had a delicious meal in Lima with FHI staff.

Bruce