We are finally at our new home in Trujillo, Peru. We are in a very small, very poor, suburb called Porvenir. This month we are completely blessed to be on site with another team from our squad- we are working side by side with 6 more from the ‘Dub Squad’ this month.
We are staying in a future “children’s home” (basically an orphanage, but some of the children here won’t technically be orphans, so it won’t be called an orphanage).
The Lord has totally blessed us this month in terms of living conditions and contacts. We are in a couple of different rooms with bunk beds (YES! Bunk beds, no tents this month!) Our contacts all speak English. Our main contacts, the Kimbrow family, is a family from Boone, North Carolina who has lived here since January. Mike and Karen have 4 awesome children, Kaleb (16), Luke (14), Kassidy (10), and Karson (8). We are also blessed with Annie- an intern from Inca-Link who speaks fluent Spanish, she is our age, and her year looks extremely similar to ours, so she’s very easy to relate to.
The WORK this month is also extremely different. We are doing manual labor every single day from 9 am – noon, and then again from 2-4pm. At the end of the work day, we are exhausted, dirty, and wore out. Something great about this place is the “vision”. Our team has adopted a new phrase “Catching the vision”, which is something we have all done this month. The vision comes into play with the work that we are doing:
There is one house up right now that will house about 24 kids, and 2 more houses are being built on both sides of it- allowing this property to house up to 72 kids. There will be a grassy area out front that the kids can play in, with fountains that we have been hauling, mixing, and pouring the cement for. On the outskirts of the houses, there will be a trade school. I love this idea because so many orphanages give kids a great place to live, and then once they turn 16 or 18 they have to leave the home. This trade school will teach the children 1 of 4 different trades: cooking, shoe making (which is a HUGE industry in Trujillo), music, and/or carpentry. By offering this special trade school, the kids have a future to look forward to once they leave the orphanage. The Kimbrow family will be running the orphanage, and be the “parents” of the children, along with many house volunteers.
The funding from the orphanage is also going to come through a wilderness camp. On the outskirts of the orphanage is a HUGE plot of land. Inca Link is turning the land into a camp for kids in the area. The camp will be an outdoor camp and it will include an underground maze, a ropes course, etc.
The work is difficult, and it is tiring. I go to bed exhausted every single day. Having “caught the vision”, it makes work so much more enjoyable and doable. When I get tired, I think about how this job HAS to get done, or the children can’t come in. When I come in after the day and my back is throbbing, I think about how the pain is worth it, because right now there are children on the streets that need this home. They need to know that they are loved beyond measure, and that they matter, their life matters, and their life can make a difference. They need to know the everlasting love of a Father. Child like faith is such a beautiful thing; and these children deserve to have it.
“Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I assure you: Whoever does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” -Jesus (Mark 10:14-15).
