Peru, Part 3--A Very Special Day

When I woke up on Thursday in La Merced, I was excited again because we were visiting another child center and making another home visit. On this day, we split into two groups. One of us went to PE-354, and the other to PE-352.

When we arrived at 354, a man was outside recording is. Paparazzi?? I kept wondering where the children were and which door we would enter. When the last van finally arrived, the big wooden doors opened, the people inside yelled, "Surprise!" and people stepped outside with a banner to welcome us. Well, that was pretty cool. But then we stepped inside, and a child came to each of us, one at a time, pinned a pin on us, took our hand, led us to a chair, and then sat beside us. It was soooooo sweet!!

The boy who led me to my seat (or dragged me, as one person said) was named Alex. He asked me where I was from and then asked if I knew his sponsor. Aw. He was one of the boys who performed in the dance, so he put his necklace on me until he had to dance. When he needed his necklace back, he called me "Madrina."
I mentioned that to Janette, one of our translators, and she said that to each kid, we represent his or her sponsor. She said it's easy for them to grasp the concept of Jesus loving them even though they don't see Him because they have someone in another country who loves them even though they've never met them. I love that parallel.

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Next we went on another home visit.  We visited the home of Bonnie (I know it's not spelled that way in Spanish), one of the teenagers from the project.  She has four siblings, and her father works on a farm during the week and is only home on the weekends.  Here are some pictures from her home.

Bonnie and her mom

Kitchen

Bedroom

Bonnie's bedroom with her sweet little sister in the foreground

The wall in Bonnie's bedroom

Bonnie is quite talented and intelligent.  She showed us her history notebook.  She had drawn the faces of important people in Peruvian history, and the drawings were amazing.  She also had very neat and colorful notes.  This is something that she learned to make at the project.

While we were talking to Bonnie, her cousin, who lives next door, tapped me on the arm and showed me a picture.  I asked if the family in the picture were his sponsors, and he said yes.  He was SO proud!  We really do mean a lot to our children, much more than I ever realized.

Our group with Bonnie and her family members

In the front with the glasses next to Bonnie's cousin is Rachel.  Her daughter is in the very back.  They had decided the night before to sponsor Judith, a girl in this project.  We discovered later that another group had made a home visit to Judith's house.  During that visit, Judith and both of her parents prayed to accept Jesus.  Wow.  Wow.  Wow.

We took Bonnie back to the project where a feast awaited us.  One table was full of local fruit (oh how I wish I could have brought some home, especially the pineapples), and another with the main course food.  I was overwhelmed by how much they had for us to eat.  One lady offered me a fried banana slice, and I told her I couldn't eat it because I'm allergic to bananas.  She said, "What will you eat?"  Oh my!  The tables were full.  No problem there!

We didn't eat the flower.  I just think it's cool.

Once again, I was amazed at how giving the people were.

We went upstairs where the children were eating, and of course, I took many pictures.

These boys kept saying my name.  :)

The cabinets in the background hold their toothbrushes in the brightly colored cups.

I love how the children always hug each other for pictures.

Learning a new song

So here's the really special part.  I have always wished I could see the reaction of the child and his or her parents when they find out they have a sponsor.  On this day, I saw that.  The leaders had packets for children at this project.  During lunch, I wanted to look at them.  I said, "Okay, Lord.  If one really grabs my heart, I'll know I should sponsor him or her.  If not, then I'm okay with what I'm doing now."  I asked to see the packets, and the very first one was a 4-year-old boy who had been waiting 8 months for a sponsor.  I took one look and said, "He's mine."

So here he is, my newest child.  His name is Jhuniors.

We went to his class so I could meet him.  First the children sang some songs for us, and then their teacher taught them a short lesson.  Janette introduced Randy, Cheryl, and me to the children, and then asked them each of our names.  They couldn't remember Randy and Cheryl, but the little boys were chanting, "Mindi!  Mindi!  Mindi!"  Hahahaha!!  I LOVED it!!
We did a craft with them, and then Janette told them that she had "good news" and then announced that I was Jhuniors' new sponsor.  Here he is when she told him:

His mother was at the project, so I was able to meet her.  It was an amazing experience.  She was SO happy.  Jhuniors didn't say anything, and she said that he's very shy.  I explained that when I was his age, I used to hide under the TV stand when someone came to visit my home because I was so shy.  Later, Sean asked, "Where is yours, Mindi?" meaning the child I had sponsored, and Janette said, "IT is running around here all over."  Sean said, "How surprising that you would pick the one with the energy who loves life."  Remember that for later.

This is Jhuniors' mother, Elizabeth

After I left the room, Jhuniors was asking for me, but when he found me, he hid behind his mother.  She gave him an ice cream bar to give to me.  He walked up to me, handed me the ice cream, and then ran away.
We were scheduled to go on a boat on the river, and the Compassion staff decided to take all the children (and their mothers) who had been sponsored that day with us.  What a treat for them and for us!  Of course, Jhuniors had never been on a boat before, so he kept looking all around in amazement, yet when I asked him if he liked the boat and the river, he said, "No."  Funny boy.

Janette, who became my dear friend in just a few days.

Jhuniors, his sister, and their mother

It rained while we were on the river, just to remind us that we were in the jungle.

What an amazing day!  I couldn't believe that I was actually with this sweet little boy and his mother and was able to see the joy that they each had when they learned about my sponsorship.  It was a very special gift from God.

I went to Peru planning to visit one of my sponsored kids and ended up visiting two.

Part 4

Peru, Part 2

Tuesday, October 16th arrived hot and humid--"mucho calor" in Spanish--but I didn't care.  I was SO excited because today was first day that I would get to interact with kids.  I just couldn't wait to get to the Compassion project.

Our plan was to visit PE-350, which is a large project.  It houses a Child Survival Program, a Child Development Program, and a preschool not connected to Compassion.  We left the hotel in various vans because we were also going to make home visits.  I was excited for that, too, because I knew that would open my eyes to a world of poverty that I could never imagine.  It's not that I'm excited about poverty; I just wanted to understand the lives of my children better.

When we arrived, the staff and some mothers and their children met us outside.

After we were introduced to the staff, some of the mothers performed a traditional dance for us, which is why they are in costumes.  I wasn't in the front, so there are a few people in the way,  but you can still see the beauty of the dance.

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After we listened to a few of the staff talk, we went out on the balcony where the staff had set up displays for us to learn about each area of development--spiritual, cognitive, physical, and emotional.  I was very interested to learn the details of each.  For instance, every three months, they trade out toys for each child so that the child has the toys appropriate for his or her age level.  They teach the mothers how to stimulate the children to advance physically, such as learning to walk, and how to praise them when they accomplish goals.

We then went downstairs to see the rooms that are used for physical stimulation.  They showed us how they weigh and measure the height of each child.  This little guy fell asleep in his mother's arms, and even though they put him on the scale and on the measuring table, he never woke up at all.  That's how I sleep!!

Toys for the children

Sean Dana, our tour leader, with a sweet little girl

Doug West, co-leader and leader of the Northeast Advocates Regin with the same little girl and his iPhone.  Don't you love the look on her face???

One of the best parts of the visit for me is that I was able to have a conversation in Spanish with one of the mothers without a translator!  This is huge for me.  First, I was very nervous about speaking Spanish before I went on the trip, and secondly, I have only been studying it for about a year and a half.  

Here are some of the preschool children playing with a Frisbee:

The inevitable fight for possession

Next we went on our home visit.  We visited the home of Serafina, who has a one-year-old boy named Meykker.  She told us that she has four other children, the oldest of which is 19, and that she wants Meykker to be a light for the rest of the family.  Here are some photos from that visit.

Maykker and Serfina

The ceiling

Seven people live in one room

Maykker and his 9-year-old sister Jackie

More of the living area

Maykker's corner

The path down to the kitchen

The laundry--she gets water for only one hour a day

Guynabana tree--this is significant.

The view from the kitchen

The kitchen

Meykker loved the sweet potatoes in the lunch.

Our group

Our lunch--I couldn't even eat half.

The 9-year-old girl, Jackie, really touched my heart.  Even though she didn't talk, we made a connection.  As we were leaving, she gave me two fruits from the guynabana tree.  Those were for the family to eat!  I was amazed that this little girl gave me such a huge gift.  I will never forget her and her gift to me.

After lunch, we went back to the Compassion center where the children were eating the same lunch we had just enjoyed.  They soon joined us in the sanctuary of the church and were so excited to talk with us and just be with us.  No sponsor groups had ever visited the Compassion centers in the jungle, so this was a great treat for them.
The four- and five-year-olds performed a dance for us.  It was so cool!

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Here are some of the children at the project:

iPhone pictures:

 We went outside to play with the kids, and it was great fun.  One of our translators, who is an American who married a Peruvian and has lived in Peru for 4 1/2 years, decided to teach them to play "Duck, Duck, Goose," although in Spanish, it is "Pato, Pato, Gonzo."  That was a HUGE hit with the kids!  Our circle got so big that we had to take the little ones out and put them in their own circle.  We did not want to leave, and the children didn't want us to, of course.

¡Fútbol!

Pato, Pato, Gonzo

crafting

Oh what a surprise!  Little boys wrestling.  Hilarious

This little girl asked me to take her picture with Tracie.  Sweet.

After the visit with Serafina and with the children at the project, I couldn't understand how anyone could possibly complain about something a trivial as air conditioning in the hotel that might not be quite up to first world standards.  Poverty is moving when we read about--that's why we sponsor these children--but when I saw it with my own eyes, it humbled me.  I grew up in a family that sometimes had to scrape for food, but this was totally different.  I will never forget it.

Part 3