I came on the World Race because I wanted to help the people that no one else notices: widows, orphans, migrants, trafficking victims, the poor and homeless. Other teams have thankfully been able to make an impact in these areas, but the opportunities for me to do the same have been few and far between (my thoughts on that are coming in another blog).
However, this past month Chandler and I got to take the chance to volunteer with a homeless ministry started by Carlos and Miriam from Estacion Esperanza. As I mentioned before, we painted at their center for two days. At lunchtime on Tuesday, they mentioned what they would be doing that night and invited us to come along, even pushing back our start time for the next day so that we’d still be able to get some sleep.
So that’s how Chandler, our translator friend Joseph, Carlos, and I ended up in a taxi at 9:15 pm Tuesday night headed to downtown Lima.
Our first stop was in front of a beautiful little church. We waited out front for the rest of the group to arrive – a mix of about 15 Peruvians, Americans, and Swiss who came from different churches and backgrounds but had all been involved with this ministry for a while. The men then went inside the building across the street to gather the children who live there. It appeared to be a typical colonial building, a bit shabby on the outside. But inside, we were told, dozens of families were crammed into small living quarters. Drug use, prostitution, and glue sniffing are common. And this is where at least a dozen impoverished children live.
When all the children had joined us, huge smiles and hugs all around, we started the program with some songs led by Jenny from Grace Life Church, who also does the children’s programs there. Then was a performance of the Good Samaritan story, where I got the opportunity to play the helpful Samaritan. The kids were all so enthusiastic in responding to the story and excited about the ways they could help others! At the end, we passed out sandwiches and poured cups full of avena, the chocolatey oatmeal drink that my host mom always made me when I was in Peru five years ago.
We got lots more hugs and kisses goodbye and then walked over to a nearby park. In an area almost like a mini-ampitheater, more than twenty men and women were waiting for us. We began again with songs (although this time there was no jumping, marching, or hopping) and then passed around booklets for a Bible study from the book of John. There was a fantastic message to go along with this and then we ended again with sandwiches and avena.
This time, we stuck around a little bit longer, and I was really struck by how deeply forged the relationships between the volunteers and their homeless friends are. The group knew most of the people in that park by name and knew their stories, asking after their health, their families, their job prospects. This was an effective ministry, just because people kept showing up, Tuesday after Tuesday.
Even though we had to stay up late and it was sometimes uncomfortable (talking to new people, especially in my second language, is not my forte), that night was one of my favorite ministry moments because I could see things changing for everyone involved. We got lots of weird looks from onlookers who normally would have completely overlooked these marginalized groups, but instead saw others paying attention to them. I truly saw God moving in the joy that the children and adults exhibited from just these small interactions.
That’s what I came on the World Race for.
