Visit with Dilan

Our sweet ride for the day. I loved it.

Dilan and his mom enjoying ice cream

Dilan receives his soccer ball. He was very happy to have it.

Picture of Dilan's family and Compassion staff. notice all the steps going UP

The Welcome sign made for us.

The restaurant where we ate.

Dilan and his mom, and the Compassion translator enjoying the meal. Dilan took home about 1/2 of it.

Dilan and Christopher. almost the same Height.

Dilan reading the cards he made for us.

The front of the Home Dilan's Family lives in.

Dilan's Family with us.

Christopher showing Dilan and his family our photo album that we gave him. We've left lots of room for other pictures to come.

Greetings all. So, this entry will be of Christopher and my visit with Dilan our Compassion Canada Child. This entry is for my family, but you may certainly eaves drop into our day so you get an idea of what goes on if you sponsor a child through Compassion.

We began our trip in style. A beige 1982 VW van. Vintage, and in pretty good condition. Luis, one of our translators, agreed before we came to Peru to take us for the day as our taxi and tour guide. I discovered that his van was running on three of four cylinders. Good thing he’s also a mechanic by trade.

We drove the roads of Lima from a new perspective this day. I am still amazed at the driving here. How close everyone comes to hitting each other, but really not doing so. The fumes from the vehicles burns in your throat more, as we are closer to the exhaust. We drove for 40 minutes to get to the Compassion head office in Lima. We ended up taking a major highway and we saw many different things from our lower perspective. Luis’ van was simple inside. A four speed, with no heater or anything fancy. It sat 10 comfortably, but I think we could have fit many more inside if we needed to. We wore our seatbelts and it was a good thing too. Many quick stops.

We arrived at the simple Compassion office and were met by a female Compassion representative. Sorry, I forget her name. It was then another 40 minute drive south to Dilan’s compassion site. We drove through downtown Lima. We saw a mixture of old and new buildings. A brand new Scotia Bank building, and other financial buildings in the heart of downtown. Also several churches, and gov’t buildings. The roads were narrow at times, and the buildings blackened by the exhaust from the vehicle that constantly go by. We drove by the presidents palace and the catacombs that we will be visiting on Friday.

As we continued south the hills of rock came into view. We turned right and began to climb the mountain, or hills as Luis calls them. His VW strained to make it up the steep grade. The roads were paved, and the buildings were concrete and I realized that this is what Patchecutec would look like in 15 years or so as the Gov’t continues to pour money into infrastructure.

Christopher and I were both excited today to be finally meeting Dilan. We had brought him and his family some gifts and we were looking forward to seeing Dilan in person. We arrived and were greeted by the Compassion staff of the church that sponsors the Compassion Project. It is situated in a church and has several floors. We were lead to a small room where we put our bags and then Dilan came down to see us. We hugged him and began the process of getting to know him.

Dilan is 11 years old. Slightly smaller than Christopher. He took the day off of school to meet us. Normally he would have been in the school in the morning, and then come to the Compassion site in the afternoon. He eats lunch at the site 3 days a week. He also does his homework at the site, as well as learning about Jesus and about how to be a responsible boy as he grows up.

Dilan lead us to the room where he does his work. He pulled out a box and showed us all of this things. He had his favorite game, Monopoly, as well as several crafts. He gave us some wrist bracelets that he made for Katrina, Sarah, and Joycegina, and also a picture of himself when he was 3 ish. He also gave Christopher and myself a card. I asked Dilan to read his card to us, because he didn’t have it in English. As he read my card, he broke down in tears. It was very touching.

Ever since Dilan was sponsored by us, he has be praying that one day he will be able to meet his sponsor family. He had know idea that it would be so soon. He also read the card made for Christopher as well. Dilan is a quiet boy. He contemplates lots of things they tell us. Yet, to see him cry in front of all of us was a big thing as often times men in this culture do not do this.

We also got to see Dilan’s report card. A +s in every subject but math. Only an A there, and Dilan wasn’t satisfied with that. He is striving for an A + there as well.

After Dilan showed us all of his things, we went down to a small room where we talked together for about 40 minutes (all of it on tape dear). Dilan and his mom were there, as were the translator from Compassion, the pastor of the church, and two Compassion workers. We were often surrounded by lots of people. Dilan asked us many questions about our family and we discovered that we have many things in common. Dilan has two sisters younger than him, and so does Christopher. Dilan fights with his sisters at times, and so does Christopher.

Dilan asked about where we live, our favorite sports, he learned about snow and winter, and hockey, and in all of this, Christopher did most of the explaining. I just filled in where necessary. The time went too fast.

We then went to Dilan’s home to meet his father and two younger sisters. It was only a 5 minute walk from the Compassion site, at the base of the big hill with LOTS of stairs. A modest pink home, that was not owned by Dilan’s parents. Either Dilan’s Mothers mom, or Father’s Mom owned the home. As we came up to the home we also met Scooby, Dilan’s dog. A friendly mutt.

We all sat down in the home. Concrete floors and walls, with a TV that had Dora on in Spanish. A curtain behind the TV separated the bedroom/Kitchen from the living room.

We met Dilan’s father who took the day off of work to meet with us. That was no small sacrifice for him to do. He too, is a quiet man, but was very thankful for all that we were doing for his Son. We talked for a bit, and then Christopher gave the family some gifts from us. A soccer ball and pump for Dilan. We pumped it up for him, but broke one of the needles doing it. Some coloring paper and note pads for the girls. Wash cloths and soap for the family, and a back pack for Dilan for school. We found out that Dilan didn’t actually have a back pack any longer, so this was a very good gift. He was also hoping for a new soccer ball, and this gift was an answer to prayer. I just hope it stays inflated for him.

Christopher then pulled out some maps I had taken along, and he showed the family Canada and where we lived, as well as a map of Ottawa and pointing out in more detail where we lived, where our church was, where our school was, etc. Christopher did very well.

Then it was off to the mall for a meal with the family. About a 15 minute drive down the “hill”. As we approached the mall Christopher and I were shocked. It was fairly new, and very modern. Kind of out of place from all the other surroundings. We walked into a store that reminded me of Sears. Doors wide open and air conditioning inside the building escaping outside. The clothing and merchandise was just like back home. We felt eerily at home.

As we exited the building we saw many other modern stores. Radio Shack among others. A move theatre and some nice restaurants. We gave Dilan the choice of where to eat. He chose a place called Pardos Chicken. He could have picked KFC, or Pizza Hut, or Burger King, but he chose a place he’s never been to before.

It was a nice place. Kind of like Swiss Chalet. We ordered our meals. The parents ordered tenderloin. Something they would never be able to afford. The kids got chicken, as did Christopher and myself. We also tried some Cow Heart, and Chicken Gizzard. It all tasted VERY good actually. Christopher said he’s never had better chicken.

It was with mixed emotions that I ate that meal today. Watching a family that would NEVER be able to afford to come to a place such as this. I wondered what they were really thinking about our being there with them. I hope they were thankful for our generosity, but one never really knows. What I do know is that the price I paid for the meals (about $83 US) came to close to 3 weeks wages for the father, just to put it into perspective.

We finished off the meal with some ice-cream at another vendor in the mall. Well, the family had ice-cream. We didn’t because we were full, and we didn’t trust the water that the ice cream scoop was being dipped in.

During the meal I discovered that Dilan’s oldest sister is also sponsored by a family through Compassion. You can have up to two children per family sponsored. I asked about the youngest child. She would not be sponsored, but in having the other two sponsored, it allowed the family the ability to focus on supporting her, which was doable, because the other two were being taken care of. Here’s how:

1. Dilan gets good health care. Regular check ups to make sure his nutrition is good.
2. He receives 3 good meals a week, which his parents don’t have to worry about.
3. He receives money for school supplies.
4. He has a place to do homework each day, and also to be taught the Scriptures, language training, health care, and career counseling.
5. By that I mean that they begin to council Dilan in choosing a career and working out goals in order to make that career a reality. For instance, if Dilan wanted to become a doctor, he would have to do certain things in order to make that happen. Compassion would set up targets for Dilan to meet so he would be able to become a doctor, something that doesn’t happen in the public school system on its own.
6. Compassion also helps the family out at times when Dilan’s father is unemployed. Dilan’s mother desires to be at home for her children, and that is a huge sacrifice to make seeing as her working would bring much needed income into the home. If our sponsorship helps her do that for her children, it’s worth every cent. From what we’ve seen in Patchecutec, that is a very important thing to have in these families.
7. All in all, Compassion gives children a chance to break the cycle of what Pepe has often called “ignorance” in Peru. They ensure the children are healthy and stable with the hope that this in turn will create individuals that will improve their communities.

I was impressed with what Compassion was doing for Dilan. A sweet, sensitive young man who loves Jesus and is serious about his studies.

We drove back to the Compassion site, and just before we left we met Dilan’s other classmates. They too said Dilan didn’t say much, but was a kind friend.

We discovered that this project has 80 kids at the moment. In the mornings the younger kids are in the building, and in the afternoons the older kids. It’s a place that filled with the noises of young children and young people and I admire the efforts and work that is being done by the Compassion staff to ensure the Sponsored children are taken care of.

I did ask if any of the children get jealous of each other. Our translator said that that only happens in the area of letter writing. Some sponsor children like Dilan receive regular letters from their sponsors (Dilan has saved every letter, and showed them to us in his box of things). Others don’t receive any letter and that is discouraging for them. I can’t imagine why a sponsor wouldn’t want to write their child, but it does happen. It can be very sad for the workers to watch the child not receive letters, while others do. So, if any of you reading this decide to sponsor a child, WRITE to them.

All to quickly is was time to say farewell. This was not done quietly with Dilan, in some secluded place where we could hug and savor the moment. No, it was done with about 30 others standing around us wanting to hear every word that was spoken. So, hey, we did just that. Many sponsors don’t get the chance to come see their child, so the children wanted one last look at us. Christopher joked to me that he has never felt so popular in all his life. He was swarmed. I think he liked it.

It was not easy to leave, but we left with happy hearts for Dilan knowing that we are helping his family to be more stable and that we were able to meet him and get to know him. We are able to make a small difference in the life of one child, one family, and hopefully a broader community.

It was good to have come to see Dilan. Maybe one day we will see him again.

As we drove home the adventures didn’t stop. We ended up stopping with Luis to visit his uncle who had an operation in the morning. We got to see a private Peru hospital up close. Clean, but quite old. It reminded me of our hospitals of 30 years ago. His uncle was getting good care because it was private, but the family was paying for the cost of the hospital stay, 4 days.

As we left the hospital Luis got a call that the hospital needed $ to pay for some medicine so we pulled over and parked. He went to take care of this, leaving us in the VW. About 5 minutes into the wait Christopher notified me that he had “to go”. Well, it was the longest 15 minute wait of his life. When Luis finally showed up, he took Christopher back to the hospital to “take care of business”. I waited in the van for another 15 minutes. When they returned, Christopher was much lighter in his step, and Luis said he was a new man inside and out. : )

So, that was our day. Hope you appreciated all the text today, and I hope you got a flavor of our day Joycegina, Sarah and Katrina. Dilan would have loved to have seen all of you too. We love you and will share more of our time with Dilan with you when we return. Blessings to you sweetie.