Days out with Raquel and Percy

I have known Raquel and Percy for nearly 13 years since Percy was a baby and they are still an inspiration to me.

It’s wonderful to be able to see each other when I’m in Lima. I met up with them at their church one Sunday, and then afterwards we went for lunch (we always have Chinese - they make me choose but I know Percy loves it) and I took them ice skating. This has been a plot of mine ever since I found out there is an ice rink. It’s a tiny rink, outdoors (amazingly in the sweltering heat of Lima) but surrounded by plastic screens. Peruvians seem much more safety conscious that the British when it comes to ice - we all had to wear helmets and were not allowed to skate round in a group in case one fell over and took everyone else down too. Any time someone fell, an instructor would rush over and help them to get up.

 

Raquel and Percy had never done it before.  I took them each round one at a time, staying close to the edge but trying to persuade them not to grab the barrier unless they were about to fall.  Percy did really well and by the end we did a whole circuit hands-free.  He was keen to try out the middle but at that point our time ran out.  I really enjoy seeing him try new things and slowly open up as the day progresses.  He’s always very quiet when I first see them, and then slowly gets more and more smiley and chatty.

Next door was a set of miniature models of different parts of Lima, so we enjoyed walking round that and planning future days out. 

The next weekend we went to Huancayo, where Raquel’s parents live.  After an overnight bus ride of 8 hours (which is short compared to the Abancay journey) her mother gave us breakfast and her niece gave us showers.  I was dozing off every time I sat on the sofa but we eventually made it out and went to a trout farm.  These are really popular up here and nice places to eat.  This one was really lovely and on the edge of a woodland valley, so we walked up after lunch to find a rumoured waterfall.

Next day Raquel and I got up early and went to see the sights of Huancayo - although her parents live there she didn’t grow up there so much of it is new to her as well.  It was great to have some one-on-one time to talk together.

Prison visit in Lima (sorry, no photos possible)

In January, the AIDIA office in Abancay is closed, and the staff are mostly on holiday.  Last year I found it very hard to structure my time in January so this year I decided to spend most of the month in Lima.  It was great to have a place to stay where I could also work on planning for the year, but also lovely to be involved with the women’s prison ministry, help with catering at a student training event, and spend time with Lima friends.

I was asked to prepare a study about the Bible for the prison ministry i.e. who wrote it, where it comes from, when and how it was compiled together, how we know it’s reliable, and so on… I certainly found when I started looking into these things many years ago (rather than thinking of the whole as some mystical book that it was best not to question too closely) it increased rather than decreased my confidence in the Bible, and I hoped to do the same for the ladies the ministry works with.  I led this study with 2 groups of English-speaking ladies - first with those on parole, and then with a group inside one of the prisons.

Visiting the prison is a long job, often involving many prayers that we will be allowed in!  We left at 6am to catch a 2-hour bus to the other side of Lima where Ancon prison is.  The journey was complicated by our first bus breaking down on the motorway, so we had to join the crowd clamouring for a refund then wait for another bus.  Arriving at Ancon, we got a taxi (a motorbike with a 3-seat rickshaw fixed behind) up the dusty track to the women’s prison.   

The list of things you can take in is quite strict - we had to wear skirts just below the knee, no hats or sunglasses, nothing red, no keys or phones… so house keys had to be left in a little bag with a lady outside.  We joined the long queue of people waiting to visit friends and family - all women as men and women have to visit on different days.  Eventually a guard came to put a stamp and a number (our place in the line) on our arms.  Thanks to my necessary suncream’s effect on the ink, by the end of the morning I had inverted “167”s all over my body and clothes!  After a further wait we showed our ID and were through the first gate, where we walked up to the main courtyard and joined another queue to have our names and who we were visiting written in a logbook.  Here there were benches and shade, so after giving our information we sat and talked and prayed.  

Numbers were called, 50 at a time, and after about an hour it was our turn to go in through the main doors.  We queued again (it’s not just the British that love it) to hand over our ID and be given a plastic card with a number on. And then again for our bags (and us) to be searched.  Here I foolishly described the hand-washing gel we were taking as “alcohol gel”, so that was confiscated. The lady supervising the search also decided that today no Bibles were to be taken in, although it’s not on the list of official items (and there’s no problem with the ladies inside having their own Bibles) - but the guard who was searching my bag let mine through.  The other 2 had to take their Bibles all the way back to the lady outside the first gate, and then come back - fortunately having received their number already they could come straight through this time.  After that it was a 5 minute walk through 2 more checkpoints (where more numbers and stamps were put on our arms) to the right prison module, and then we could each give the names of 2 inmates to visit.  Only people who are called out by their visitors are allowed out to the courtyard.  There were 3 of us visiting today, and there are 6 ladies who like to come to the group so it was the perfect number.  By the time we got there it was 11am.

We hired a plastic table and a sun umbrella, bought some milk and sugar and sat to chat and have coffee. I led them through my study and there were lots of questions - not all the ladies who come are Christians but they all have an opinion or something they want to find out.  We ate lunch together (rice and lentils that we had brought with us) and talked some more.  At 3pm the guards gave the last call for visitors to leave. It seemed a very short time to visit, and the ladies (who are not Peruvian) don’t tend to get any other visitors. It put my life and time away from my family in perspective - I miss them after a year and a half away, but I have just been back to visit.  These ladies can’t see their families for about 10 years.

 Getting out was a lot quicker than getting in - we walked back, showing our arms at every checkpoint, paid 10p when we got outside to have our arms cleaned with acetone, picked up our keys and then got the bus back to the other side of Lima.  A long day, a very hot day - but wonderful to be able to be involved in those visits.

Pampallacta again.. and again...

I've been really excited by the opportunities to return to Pampallacta.

The church from nearby Tintay visits every week and AIDIA often accompanies them - between them they visit people, encourage the small group of believers, teach literacy, do a kids club and a short church service. 

Literacy classes...

... and church!

I take my guitar, which the kids really seem to enjoy - both listening to and playing. It also means I'm learning some songs in Quechua.

I've been meeting with different people associated with the district.
The health worker tells me that it's a newly created village - the government moved people from unstable land further down the hill for their safety.  This means there's not much community feeling or cohesion established yet, and little motivation to develop the village.  It's also an area where alcoholism and domestic violence are a big problem.
The government water representative for the district seems very keen to have any help I can offer with training or maintenance / improvement.  He also said that he's seen the same church working in other similar communities, where as a result there's been an amazing improvement in the alcohol and violence problems.  He said nothing about any personal belief he might have in God, but it was wonderful to hear that he has seen the power of God transforming communities - and asked us to carry on.
I´ve been back 3 times since the dental visit and am starting to feel I know people a little.  

In November AIDIA received a shipment of about 2000 emergency food boxes (which we spent several hours unloading - it hurt even to lift a glass of water the following day).  These are gradually being distributed via the local churches to needy people in their communities - i.e. widows, the very old or injured - those who don't have their own land or are unable to cultivate it for food.  We took a few to Pampallacta.

We returned just before Christmas for an afternoon of activities, culminating in giving out presents (donated by a visiting church from Lima), panetone and hot chocolate - traditional Peruvian Christmas foods.  I wasn't going to be able to go, but my Diploma graduation ceremony was postponed at the last minute, so it was good to be able to be another familiar face amongst all the Lima visitors.

Stories and games about water:

 

Chaos: queueing up for Christmas presents

 

The following morning - more hot chocolate, playing bowling games with the empty milk tins, and sitting in the only shade available to watch a drama (by the truck we travel in)

 

Oh and here's a little video of the journey there:

Dental visit to Pampallacta (and back for a wedding)

I'm always keen to visit new places, and Pampallacta is new both for me and for AIDIA. 

A nearby (well, 2 hours away) church decided they wanted to start work in this area where people have previously never heard the good news, and have been visiting for just a few months.  There's a mixed response, with some people believing and very keen for us to keep visiting, others who are in favour of our visits but can take or leave the message we bring, and others who resent us and blame us for the lack of rain (there is a complicated - or so it seems to me - set of nature and spirit gods who of course would be upset by a change in allegiance on the part of the village).

This was the second dental visit for the team, but my first time here.

Yes, sheep in the surgery is entirely normal... they even put one in the dentists' chair last time!

Puppet shows are very effective for parents and children alike - this one about cleaning your teeth

In the "waiting room"

There were lots of visiting helpers so I wasn't very involved in the dental work today, but instead chatted to lots of people about their water supply, and helped to make the lunch (we weren't eating the guinea pigs, they were just helping clear up the potato peelings).

There weren't many patients in the afternoon, so we packed up and I was back in Abancay in time for a quick transformation, and then went to my friend's wedding.  Fortunately it started about 2 hours late which gave me a chance to find it (in a different location to what was said 3 days ago!)