Peru 2009 - Beauty, Teamwork and Unfathomable Needs

It's already been a great trip in many ways. Here's a picture of the coastline as we drove up from Lima to Trujillo. We had sand and mountains on one side of us and sandy beaches on the other side. The airplane ride from Newark to Lima was about 8 hours and then we went to sleep at house of a kind woman from one of the churches in Lima. It was a short night of sleep before we caught the almost 10 hour bus ride from Lima to Trujillo. The good conversations and card games along the way the were obvious signs that this mission team would work well together.

Our first day of construction at the orphanage proved we would work well together. Here's a picture of some of us in action. We spent the morning moving rocks, mixing cement and hauling cement to prepare the footer for part of the wall around the orphanage. It was a great feeling to work hard together. It's a high crime area so the wall is important to the safety of the children.

After our hard work in the morning, we went to the dump site where families live and work. I wish there was some way I could describe the needs we encountered. It's hard to fathom the desperation that must be felt so that people would live and work in this dump. The trash trucks bring in the garbage and then adults and children sort through it trying to find items they can sell like aluminum, glass and rubber. They compete against the pigs to sort through the trash because pig farmers actually pay the dump to let their pigs feed off the garbage. Just about every step leads to the possibility of stepping in pig dung. It smells beyond imagination. In addition, they have no running water so the people have dirt caked on their hands and clothes. One of the greatest acts of love we could show the people was to hug them and kiss them and shake their hands. We sought to honor them with our affection in this way. We spent the time giving away fruit, playing soccer with the kids and some adults and giving away balls, bubbles, hygiene items and clothing. It was sobering to experience this need and I honor IncaLink for carrying on this ministry.

I do not know how often I will be able to do this from Peru, but I will definitely write a post to sum up the trip when I get home.