some days it’s hard. some days it’s great. other days it just is…. kinda like life right?
some highlights from my week:
–i’ve had to battle the “traveler’s bug” like so many here. thankfully my stomach has been kind to me these past days!
–i’m getting used to being with a large group of people… [usually it takes a bit of time to feel comfortable]
–last weekend was awesome we went SANDBOARDING!… think of snowboarding, but on huge sand dunes for only $10! my camera died… hopefully i can get some pics from others in the next few days.
–there have been other people from the united states that have come to help in the chincha community too… it was an awesome surprise on sunday to see so many people from the US here.
–and this week i feel liked i’ve been lead to help with tarps.
we have had a little extra money from the peru earthquake fund that people have donated to AIM. i’m not gonna lie – it’s overwhelming because so many people need help and supplies are low, but it’s the one-on-one relationships that go the distance. so me, matt, robby, & kelton have been going around in the refugee camp and helping some of the families that we have already have established relationships with.
one of the families we have been helping is mateo’s family. we noticed once we first arrived that their tarp situation was really bad. (i wish i had a before picture of what it looked like)
this is where mateo’s family’s house used to be. you can see it was a pretty large home that was destroyed by the quake.
in front of all of the fallen adobe brick is where they have made their temporary home with tarp.
after taking off the old tarp we realized that all the beams that were holding it up were rotten. some of the guys went to the lumber store and bought some bamboo to replace the beams.
even though we didn’t have translators that day… we did really well (or i should say the guys) did really well speaking spanish and communicating – praise the Lord!
now if the Peruvian people offer you food… and even if you aren’t really hungry or know what it is… it’s a give in – you can’t say no and all you can do is hope and pray that it is “safe” and doesn’t make you sick. here we are enjoying our the food that they prepared for us.
earlier in the day they were telling me that if their father does not work for that day they cannot afford food and yet they feed us. they barely have ANYTHING and their generosity is so great.
it was a full day. we finished the house yet it may be only a temporary fix we are definitely going to still be working with this family until we leave. next week i will ask for donations of supplies to help this community out. i’ve drafted a letter together and will go to companies in lima to see if they can help out… you know just going back to my jenefit roots. (haha!)
that’s all for now, but there is so much more to write about what has happened to mateo’s family… i will have to continue this in my next blog.
