It's Monday morning and a big day for Chris and myself. We are going to see our Compassion Children Keysi and Fernando. We sponsor Keysi and my mom Fernando.
But first, it was time for breakfast. Erin made "hole in the walls" which is bread fried and an egg in the middle of the bread after it has been hollowed out. Ham and cheese, and another slice of bread finish things off. It was delicious. I'm going to have to make this when I get home.
Ah, yes....as we drove out to the Compassion site we passed by our beloved Canadian Embassy...I have not so fond memories of that building......
A view of a river as we continue on our journey.
Erin came along as my videographer....she's going to kill me when she reads that... : ) No, really, Pepe and Erin came along because I invited them to come. : )
Pepe arranged for a friend of his to drive us to and from the site, in a nice van, and our Compassion translator, Natalia met us at Erin and Pepe's home. This is the church on the Compassion compound. Each Compassion site is run through a local church.
Keysi and Fernando weren't at the site when we arrived, but here they come.
Side note...supposedly we just experienced a tremor here in Lima. Pepe and I didn't feel it, but it's all over Facebook in Peru.
We took a tour of the Compassion site. Here is the instructor showing Keysi's journal and other documents. They keep meticulous records on each child.
Keysi is now 12 years old. She has grown a couple of inches since the last time we saw her. Her brother, Fernando, is 5. She is a very responsible person. I could tell that right away. They both had to walk 3 km's from their home to the Compassion site. I wouldn't be letting my 12 and 5 year old do that.
This is Fernando's class room. Colourful and toys..and as you can see, Pepe found the toys.
Keysi comes to the Compassion site every Wednesday and Friday morning, has lunch, and then goes to school from 1 - 6 pm. On Monday's she has a tutor come for about 1 hour to help her with her subjects. She goes to school from Monday to Friday.
Here's a picture of the 4 of us together.
Down to their level.
Both Keysi and Fernando.
Isn't she such a sweet young girl? I fell in love with her last time, and re fell in love again this time. She is funny, has a great smile, and positive personality. She wants to be a doctor when she grows up...a Pediatrician to be exact. Her grades are very good, and she takes her studies seriously.
She loves English (she counted to 10 for me in English) and communications. I can see that she will do well, given the chance to get the education she wants.
Keysi loves volleyball, and was very happy to hear that I coached and Chris plays.
She only found out yesterday that we were coming. They do that to ensure they aren't disappointed in case the sponsor can't come for some reason. She was very excited, and nervous too. It showed, as she was pretty quiet at first, but warmed up as we continued to talk.
Fernando was quite shy too. He's 5 and loves playing in the Compassion Centre. He's so cute..I just wanted to pinch his cheeks, but I resisted.
This is on the way to their home.
This is the inside of their home. Not much to it. Cardboard style walls, with a couple of rooms for bedrooms. An old chair, and even older table. Her mom runs a small shop selling candy and pop and other items. Keysi has 5 other siblings and her mom and dad. Her dad only works once in a while. They are a family in need, and our sponsorship has helped the family a great deal. Only two children per family are allowed sponsorship, but in this case, the youngest, who is 3 can also be sponsored next year...any takers?
Here is Fernando continuing to be shy..........
Here is his brother......Saul (pronounced sahOOL).
We had brought some small gifts for the family, and Keysi and Fernando. This is the point where Fernando came out of his shell. : ) Mom, he LOVED the colouring stuff and pencils, etc. And he was very good about making sure he shared the pencils with everyone. One for each person in his family. That touched me. He paged through the Dora book, but has never heard of Dora before.
This is Keysi's new backpack for school. She loved it.
Here is Fernando starting to talk a blue streak. He loved the stickers and other things.....
As part of the trip we asked Keysi where she wanted to go for lunch. She picked the same place as last year. Here you see Keysi on the left, Fernando, her sister Synthia, Saul and the mom. Synthia, we discovered, is pregnant, and the father is not in the picture.
Before lunch we had some time to kill so we took everyone to a small park. The rides weren't open yet, but these small rides were. Saul liked them....
As did Fernando.
Keysi watching over her brothers......
Time to come out Saul....NO he says...I'm having too much fun. : )
Pepe with Fernando.
We heard there was a trampoline just around the corner, so we paid for Keysi to try it out for 10 minutes.
She had a hoot!
Fernando joined her for a bit.
This is the chicken place we went to. Norky's.
As we met for lunch Keysi and I talked a great deal. She asked lots of questions about Canada, about my mom and dad, and Chris. She's smart this girl. We had a blast.
She thinks I make a good youth pastor because I act so silly. I'll take that as a compliment.
Fernando discovered Chris' camera. He was a pro in 5 minutes. We have lots of his pics on the camera now. Here is Chris giving Fernando some Inca Cola. Keysi LOVES Inca Cola...and so do I. Another reason to love this girl.
I don't know how much food this family eats, but I do know that they don't go out to eat. The last time they did, was 2 years ago when we came. They ate pretty much everything we served, which was Salad, French Fries, and Chicken. We gave them the leftovers, including Inca Cola. Her mom said this was a very special day in the family, and would be remembered for many years. We were just glad to be a blessing and continue to get to know them.
This is a self portrait picture that Fernando took. Priceless.
Keysi wanted to see the camera too, and this is the picture she took.
This is the outside of Keysi's home. Not much to it, and the only one for blocks that does not have block walls. The corrugated tin roof was something my mom and our family put up after our last visit. They have lived here for 17 ish years.
Just before leaving the family as our visit is almost complete.
Before we did leave, we/I prayed for the family.
A close up farewell from the family. Almost made me cry...almost...
Good-bye.
As we pulled away in the van, there were the mixed emotions, as there always are at times like this. Seeing the poverty of this family was hard, but seeing the life and vitality of Keysi was encouraging. We talked about her love for Jesus over lunch, and I encouraged her to not give up on her studies and dreams, and that with God's help, she could realize those dreams. Natalia made a point of saying that sponsoring this family has made a big difference in the life of the family.
It hasn't been easy, and having a pregnant daughter will not help things. That is why Compassion is so important. Keysi will be getting homework help at Compassion, but she also gets hygiene lessons, as well as lesson on sexuality and birth control. There is a high percentage of teenage pregnancies here in Peru, as in other developing countries. Having Keysi in Compassion's program gives her a fighting chance to not become one of those statistics.
I was touched by the resilience of this girl and her positive spirit. I think she will do well, but education will be the key for her. As a family, we will try to help her with that as much as possible to give her that chance to succeed.
It was good to see Keysi, and be reminded of how blessed we are to have her, and now Fernando, in our life. We have many memories of them now, and they will be cherished.
After our time at Keysi and Fernando's we drove by the Blue market.
We parked and went inside to walk around. Ream and reams of stuff, all for very low prices...prices many Peruvians can afford.
There must have been 20 or more video stores.
All the merchandise and more PACKED into this place.
Another picture of my favourite building in Peru...the Canadian embassy.
After our time in the Blue Market Erin and I went back to the Inca Market to get bracelets and Necklaces for Lucy, and a Pendant for Dianne's Daughter. Apparently several pieces of luggage were ransacked on the way home and some items were stolen. Sad.
WE will be putting our valuable in our carry on luggage, so you can be assured you'll be getting your stuff Lucy and Dianne.
On the way home from the Market we stopped by to get another bag to put our increasing supply of stuff in to...Chris will be taking that bag home as carry on luggage. It will house some of Sergios gifts, as well as the place mats owing to Cornwall.
Oh, BTW sweetie....yes that you Joycegina dear...we will be travelling to Cornwall this Sunday AM Service, if that's okay, to celebrate and reflect with them on Peru. They will do the same for us..hopefully. : )
After buying the bag we took a bus home. It looked like a bus from the 50's. : )
We walked home, and are now starting to pack our things.
We are having spaghetti for dinner, and then off to a late night movie.....Things in Peru don't get rolling until 9 pm...oh, that reminds me....we had dinner last night at a Chinese place at 7:30 pm. We then walked near the ocean. We came home and Pepe and I relaxed on the balcony while sipping some VERY good Argentinian red wine. The best I've tasted in a long time.
Tomorrow it will be time for a relaxing day at the beach and some Peruvian sushi. Then off to the airport. I will not be blogging tomorrow, as I will be giving this computer to Pepe to give to Sergio. When I get home, I'll put up a final entry about our travels home.....hopefully having them go smoothly. : )
I'll have 8 hours in Newark to write some stuff down and then post an entry so stay tuned. We are scheduled to land at 4 ish in Ottawa...which reminds me dear, I need to send you that email about our flights NOW. That's next on my list.
So until we return home, I hope you enjoyed our day here as much as we did....and we'll see you when we are home. D.V.
