This week my team worked with Joca (Hoe-ka) and his ministry called Inca Thakhi. Joca is 25 years old and was born and raised here in Trujillo. A couple years ago he felt called by God to do something for the good of this city. Trujillo has a high crime level mostly controlled by gangs. The outskirts of the city where our compound is is even more dangerous. Gangsters control the streets, small family businesses, and overall life. The law enforcement is riddled with corruption. The combis and taxis have to pay the gangs to ensure “safety” on their routes. There is an overhanging darkness that hangs over the community like shackles. These gangsters recruit young boys and train them to kill since the law won’t try them as adults if they are caught. These children are taught to terrorize. And in an instant they go from children to criminals. Joca saw that he couldn’t tackle the massive problem of the gangs in Trujillo, but he could make a difference by starting at the source. He could try to reach those boys before the gangs could. So Joca uses activities that boys 5-15 would be interested in to minister to them, sandboarding, skimboarding and soccer. He spent 6 months hiking up the massive sand dunes, overlooking Trujillo and asking God what He had planned for this ministry before he started. Now, about 2 years later, he has a following of boys that look up to his leadership. He won their attention by being a big brother or friend, and in turn he can pour his heart into theirs. What better way to build a relationship with an 11 year old than to give him a board and let him slide straight down a 100-yard sand mountain? Everyday we worked with the kids Joca started out our time with a devotion. He would teach them how to pray and teach them that there’s a God who listens even in the deepest darkest corner of the mud brick houses in the Trujillo projects.
On Friday afternoon we climbed the hell-ish hike to top of the sand mountains. I left the compound dreading the effort of the hike and honestly not in the best mood. Let me paint somewhat of a picture for you: imagine the movie set for ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (or it made it way more fun to think of ‘Aladdin’), full afternoon sun, and 30 minutes of trying to walk up a down-escalator. I reached the top with zero oxygen in my lungs and a lot less water since I gave it to the kids. As the boys started in with their boarding all we wanted to do was collapse for a bit and regain normal consciousness. Joca asked if we could hike a little farther while the kids were boarding and talk. He brought us over to another peak just a little bit away and just asked how we were doing. He asked if we’d take about 10 minutes to just sit, relax, and listen in the peacefulness of the view. I scooted down a little to lay in the incline of the sand and closed my eyes. The sand was so warm under me and felt like silk as I ran it through my hands. I looked over to the left and studied the expansive view of our community. I saw the same thing I’ve seen all month in the streets: mud houses, trash everywhere, stray dogs, unidentifiable clouds of smoke and debris, nothing green whatsoever, just a wider view of the same poverty. But this time I didn’t see the dark shackles over the city like normal. There’s a line in a song that says “break my heart for what breaks yours” and I’ve prayed that prayer for years. I don’t always have the heart of sympathy and brokenness, instead sometimes I have a heart of anger and confusion when I see a community weighed down with murder, rape, poverty and corruption. But instead I saw Trujillo how God sees Trujillo. He sees these people as beautiful, not dirty. He sees these houses as blessed, not dilapidated. He sees light, not darkness. He sees freedom, not shackles. When people like Joca slow themselves down and get over their own agendas or plans, Christ speaks. I don’t hear Him all the time. But I’m thankful for Joca, who heard and did.
