Here are a few videos from the summer:

Boys from the Girasoles home in Kusi performing a choreography to Marcos Witt’s song “En los Montes, En los Valles”

David, one of the youngest boys at Girasoles Ica, sharing a birthday message to Jonathan, another boy from the home.

Part of the traditional soccer game that occurs every afternoon before dinner at the Girasoles home in Puerto Alegria. Hox is singing the Peruvian National anthem in the background.

More videos are online at Vimeo and photographs on Flickr.

Back Home. is a post from: A Life in the World.

Yesterday was my last day in Kusi for the summer.

On Monday and Tuesday, the work team from Virigina wanted to host a VBS-like program for the Girasoles boys, children that attend the SU-operated school at Kusi and children from the nearby villages of Ongo and Aira. Both days the team prepared songs, games, dancing, a craft, story and skit to share with the children, which was both successful and lots of fun. On the second day, they ended the event with a big carnival in the main square of Kusi. There was face painting, crafts, games where the children spun around a baseball bat (which is quite funny for those watching) and where they had to match numbers on floating little yellow rubber duckies. They even had a beauty station with manicures for the mothers that came with their children. It was a great way to end the two days of events!

Last Day in Kusi is a post from: A Life in the World.

In an effort to do something different and have a little fun on my last night in Kusi, Katy (another translator who is here from England) invited Rosa, the house mother at Girasoles Kusi, and her 13-year old daughter, Alexia, to spend the night in our bungalow and have a pijamada!

So, after returning from having a delicious pollo a la brasa (rotisserie chicken) dinner in Yungay with the work team and all 40 boys plus staff, we returned to Kusi, spread out the mattresses, grabbed our blankets and got comfortable! Pretty soon, our bungalow was full with Katy, Rosa, Alexia, Carmen (another translator with us in Kusi), and the three ladies from the work team.

We started the evening with a short devotional by Rosa and then had a time of prayer, where we were able to specifically pray for the needs of the group. We ended the night watching “Una Noche Fuera de Serie” (Date Night).

It was nice to take an evening “for the girls.” Alexia, who lives in Kusi with her brother, parents and 40 boys, is usually the only girl at events and rarely has the opportunity to spend time with friends, or have friends come visit. It was nice to be 12-13 again and spend the night just watching movies and having fun.

I couldn’t have asked for a better last night in Kusi.

Pijamada, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Of course, there were some silly moments throughout the night. :)

Pijamada! is a post from: A Life in the World.

Today I went up to Llanganuco and the Huascarán National Park for the last time this year with work teams. This beautifully blue-green lake, which is 30 meters deep, is located in the valley between Peru’s tallest mountain, Huascarán, and others in the Cordillera Blanca.

Thankfully, we had beautiful weather for spending the morning at the lake and then walking through the park.

Since Billy was with me this time, we took a photo together – something that has become sort of a tradition over the past few years (in 2008 and again in 2009).

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

The last few times I have been in Kusi, Rosa, the house mother that takes care of the 40 boys living at the abandoned boys home, has always asked me to have a “girls day” with her in Yungay when we had some free time between teams. Her idea is to go into the town and spend a part of the day together, doing things like shopping, going to a café, and getting our haircut. In previous years, we have done everything but get our hair cut.

Last night, I floated the idea of going to get our haircut to Rosa (who I knew was going to love it). Of course, within 10 minutes she was on the phone asking about an appointment for the next day.

Katy (a fellow SU translator who is here from England) decided to join us and we spent the morning at Yungay’s nicest salon. We all got our hair wash and cut, and all for an amazing price of S/.5. That is just $1.73. After leaving a tip, the entire morning did not cost anything more than $3.

More photos from our morning in Yungay are on Flickr.

(In the above photo, Katy, Rosa (in the middle) and I are with the two ladies that work at the salon after getting our hair cut.)

Haircut in Yungay is a post from: A Life in the World.

After a few months of the jungle in Puerto Alegria/Iquitos, a couple weeks in the desert Ica, and some random days in the city of Lima, I have finally made it to the Andes – in Kusi!

I first visited Kusi in 2006 with the group from my home church, First Presbyterian. At the time, there was not much on the property. We stayed in a nearby city – Caraz – and spent all of our time making hundreds, if not thousands of adobe bricks that would be used to build the city of Kusi.

It was not until 2008 that I was able to return to Kusi. I was fortunate to spend a month at the home. At this time, more buildings had been completed and there were approximately 35 Girasoles boys living in Kusi, along with the house family. The city had begun to grow and now included a functioning elementary school, bungalows, and foundations for future buildings. During the month I was in Kusi leading and translating for work teams, I was able to get to know the house family and Girasoles boys – something that has made Kusi one of my favorite places.

Thankfully, I have been able to spend more time in Kusi over the past year and a half – both with work teams and simply vacation.

This year, I have returned to Kusi with a team from Virginia. They will be here for about 10 days before returning to Lima. I will be able to stay here for a few days after the group to meet the next (and final) summer work team.

The photo, which is one of my favorites, was taken in 2008 when I took some of the youngest boys with one of my teams to Llanganuco, a national park near Kusi. I am happy to say that all 6 of these boys are still living in Kusi – they are just much taller and a few years older!

Hello Kusi! is a post from: A Life in the World.

While in Kusi, we spent one of our days at the local pool. Everybody loaded up in a bus with swim gear, sunscreen, soccer balls and of course, lunch (which no surprise was rice, potatoes and chicken) to enjoy the beautiful sunny day at the pool.

Here’s a video of the boys going down (and back up) the slide.

More videos from Kusi are on Vimeo.

Summertime means a day at the pool! 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.