Happy Independence Day in Peru! Today, the country celebrates 189 years of independence from Spain.

The last few years, I have spent the 4th of July at the Casa Girasoles home in Ica with the group from my home church, First Presbyterian. Augusto, the house father in Ica, is very patriotic towards his country Peru, and every year tells me he feels honored to spend our Independence Day with us (the Dearborn group) in his home. In the three years I have known Augusto, never have I been able to share in his Independence Day, fiestas patrias, at the home in Ica. In 2008, I was in Cusco and last year, I was still working at the Girasoles abandoned boys home in Puerto Alegria.

This year, after leaving the jungle and returning to Lima, I headed south to the desert – partly to help adjust from the hot and humid jungle weather before going to the cold mountains, but mostly to see friends in Girasoles Ica. I arrived to Ica on Tuesday night, the day before the national holiday festivities began.

This morning at breakfast, I asked Augusto if anything special would be happening for the holiday and he mentioned the parade through the city center. We didn’t think much of it and were not planning on going, but we needed to run some errands and ended up walking along the parade, watching the local schools, army, police officers and every form of civil servant march through the streets of Ica. While this was not my first parade in Peru, it was definitely the most organized.

After the parade, we returned to Girasoles and found the boys humming and singing the chorus of the Peruvian national anthem (Somos libres seámoslo siempre, seámoslo siempre!”) and wearing their escarpelas in honor of the day.

Happy fiestas patrias.

Happy Fiestas Patrias! is a post from: A Life in the World.

In this video, Sarah, Brandon and Griffin take you on a ride through Ica to a market where they purchase various Peruvian candy bars to share with the 33 boys living in the abandoned boys home at Girasoles Ica and the children of First Presbyterian Dearborn.

Ica Candy Trip is a post from: A Life in the World.

As my group from Dearborn prepared to return to the States, the last few days in Ica were busy with all of the things we wanted to do with the boys, Augusto and Nancy before leaving for the year.

On Saturday afternoon, our last full day at the home, Augusto, the house father, came to me at 3:30 in the afternoon and said, “Let’s all go to Huacachina and rent sand boards. I’ve called the bus driver and he will be here in 10 minutes to take us.” In good Peruvian fashion, we were out the door in 20 minutes and on our way to Huacachina, the nearby oasis in the desert, where the 40 boys and 15 team members would rent sand boards and slide down the huge sand dunes, inevitably covering themselves in sand. This completely unexpected adventure was a blast and was a great way to wrap up a fun week with the boys in Ica.

Alexis with his board.

Alexis, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

The line of Girasoles with their sand boards.

Sandboarding, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Getting ready to go!

Boarding, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Sunday and Monday were consumed with traveling, and quickly blurred into just one long day. We left the home in Ica Sunday afternoon to make the 5 hour journey from Ica to Lima, where we went straight to the airport. The team was flying to Atlanta at midnight, and I was heading north to Iquitos the following morning on a 6am flight. Instead of getting into 2 more taxis and renting a hotel room for just a few hours, I elected to simply stay at the airport, which made for a sleepless night.

My flight, which was scheduled to leave at 6am, did not depart Lima until at 7:30, making my arrival into Iquitos at 9am. But, the journey was not over yet. I had to wait until noon for our boat to be ready with all of the supplies and groceries to take me to the home. Once they were ready to go, it was another 45 minutes before we made it to Puerto Alegria where I was greeted by 40 smiling faces, and a familiar work team from the Philadelphia area.

It was nice to be “home.”

From Ica to Iquitos is a post from: A Life in the World.

For many people we encounter on the trip, this water is crucial, the difference between being healthy and ill. They can spend up to half of their income on water alone, and the truck does not come through these parts too frequently. The water they buy (or receive from us) is essential to their life and is used for cooking, drinking, bathing and cleaning.

In the States, we take water for granted. I know that every morning when I wake up, there will be water in the shower (hot water, not just water) and there will be clean water from the kitchen faucet. We water our lawns to make sure they don’t turn yellow in the excessive summer heat.

Last year during one of my visits to the medical clinic Scripture Union operates in Iquitos, one of the doctors told me that the majority of the patients they treat have parasites or illnesses that come from not using clean water to cook or drink. He said that if people would have access to clean water, they would not have as many health problems and it would help solve some of the problem.

We equate delivering this clean water as Jesus being the living water of our lives. Without Jesus, life is just more difficult, we might fall ill, or have complications, but with the living water running through us, all things are possible. When somebody thanks me as a gringa for filling their buckets with water, I let them know that it isn’t me giving them water, but God. Yes, I paid for the water, the truck rental, the driver, but I was given the ability to do so from God. And only from His blessing am I able to share with others what He has given me.

Delivering Water, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Sarah, sitting on the back of the water truck.

Sarah, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

A bucket full of clean drinking water.

Water Bucket, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Delivering Water, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Delivering Water, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

An old container that is now being used to store water. This was originally used to store phosphoric acid.

Water Bucket, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Water is a post from: A Life in the World.

Here are some photos from the first few days in Ica.

Alexis and Augustito.

Alexis and Augustito, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Piles of new t-shirts that were brought for the boys.

T-Shirts, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Somebody from the US Census Department donated a bunch of white hats for the team to bring. The boys were given markers and a hat to decorate as they wanted, and quickly they all started to ask for us to write our names on their hat to be kept as a souvenir of our stay.

Hats, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Group photo of the current Ica Girasoles.

New Jerseys, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Boys with their new Dearborn Soccer Club jerseys.

New Jerseys, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

And finally, Billy made a surprise trip to Ica and was able to spend a few days with us at the home. He was here when we went to the Huacachina oasis and despite it being a relaxing afternoon, he still managed to make a few preparations for his next visiting work team!

Billy, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

More photos from the week in Ica (and the past month in Peru) can be found on Flickr, while videos are online at Vimeo.

Sunny Ica is a post from: A Life in the World.

While we were only at the home for a few hours, it was nice to see some familiar faces from the home, like Paul and Luis Polanco!

Paul

Paul, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Luis Polanco, who has grown tremendously over the past year. I first met Luis in 2002 on my second trip to Peru. He was 8 at the time and sort of a little boy for his age. He is now 16 and almost as tall as me! Here is a photo of him from this year, followed by one from just last August.

Luis, June 2010.

Luis Polanco, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Luis, August 2009.

A Stop in Kawai is a post from: A Life in the World.

Here are three of my favorite videos, two from Ica and the third from Kusi.

After a long day of adventures, these boys from Girasoles Ica were exhausted and ended up falling asleep at the dinner table. Those that didn’t wake up on their own, were carried to bed by Julio, the educator of the home. Notice the boy seen at 23 seconds into the clip that is asleep and still eating!

Anything with Sanchez makes my top ten, and as you can see in this video, he is quite a busy and energetic kid. If he stops running around for just 2 minutes, he quickly falls asleep (as seen by the previous video). Here you can see Sanchez being silly and sharing a little love with Billy while Pampachay practices in the background.

And finally, Kusi. One of the things we brought down to play with the boys was the game, Rummikub. We first introduced this game to the boys in Ica when we were there in June, but I think the meaning and rules of the game were lost on many of the boys. Nevertheless, it was included in our suitcases for Kusi. Maybe instructions were more clear this time, or they just understood better. In this video, Eloy, Cococho and Eli are playing together. Cococho (in the blue shirt) somewhat understood, Eloy (in orange) was getting the hang of it, but Eli (in the blue Southlake sweatshirt), was an expert! If this was chess, he would be in candidate master territory.

A few of my favorites… is a post from: A Life in the World.

(More videos will be posted soon.)

Flickr & Vimeo updates is a post from: A Life in the World.

If that was my “best gift ever, ” this would be a short post and most likely not named “Peruvian Christmas.” If you haven’t figured it out, I was given a plane ticket to return to Peru for the holidays, 12 days with good friends, the Girasoles and the beautiful sunny countryside – all accompanied by my mother and brother.

We leave tomorrow morning, yes on Christmas Day, and will spend 5 days in Ica, 4 days in Kusi (including New Years Eve) and the final day in Lima.

So as of tomorrow night, I’ll be back in one of my favorite places.

(Videos, photos and stories will be posted upon my return.)

Peruvian Christmas is a post from: A Life in the World.

Read the article here in Spanish or below for the English translation. Photos of the boys and home are on the Telefonica website.

Pampachay Girasoles organization is in partnership with the Casa Girasoles Ica, home to 40 children and adolescents between 3 and 16 who have experienced family violence or who have been rescued from the street.

The project Pampachay Girasoles seeks to implement music workshops, singing and dance for children of the Casa Girasoles develop artistic skills and teamwork. In turn, these workshops and projects will help generate income to ensure higher education studies after graduation from high school.

The purpose of the group is two-fold: use of recycled material for the creation of musical instruments and the formation of a band and recording and selling CDs. “Pampachay” is a Quechua word that means “overcoming difficulties” and Girasoles (Spanish for sunflowers) represent the life that always looks forward.

Pampachay Girasoles started its activities by hiring a professor of music and then the purchase of musical instruments like a guitar and keyboard, which will be used in addition to the recycled material required for the construction of instruments.

On Saturday November 7, Pampachay Girasoles spent the fay making their recycled musical instruments with the help of Telefonica volunteers. At this time they have practiced a number of musical pieces, and together with their teacher are composing and writing new lyrics. Thanks to efforts of the director of the Casa Girasoles Ica, they will produce a new CD soon.

Girasoles Ica Make CD Debut is a post from: A Life in the World.