| It´s been a couple of days now since arriving in Peru. I am currently in the Lima area, Cieneguilla to be exact, and spending this week preparing for the arrival of a mission team from Christ Fellowship Church. I flew out of Miami early Saturday morning, and after a brief layover in Panama, continued on to the seaside capital of Peru, Lima, which sits under a seeminly perpetual covering of cool mist and haze. Over the past few years of traveling to and from Peru I've landed in Panama numerous times, and each time is like a tease as I look outside the windows of the terminal at the surrounding jungle and mountainous countryside that once was my home of many years..I keep telling myself that some day I'll go back for more than a fly through. On my connecting flight to Peru, I sat next to a sweet middle-aged couple from Puerto Rico - and they asked me if I was Peruvian - yesss! - I love it when people ask me if I'm from Peru!! But of course, no, I replied that I´m from the Panama Canal Zone - just as it was disappearing from my window over the horizon - and that I've been adopted by Peru..
Once in Lima, I was greeted by my friend, Esteban, the accountant at Posada de Amor orphanage where I've been working over the years. We took the harrowing taxi ride through Lima on an exceptionally busy Saturday afternoon to our destination in Cieneguilla which sits above Lima (and the cloud cover) to the east. I´ve been able to spend the past couple of days with the kids and the staff of Posada. Cesar, the director, and myself spent most of today talking logistics for my team. Cesar is a brilliant man of God in his 50´s, an engineer by training and a project planner in every sense of the word. With his wife, Sila, an orphanage was born about 15 years ago from a vision to improve the future of their country one child at a time. That vision continues and today is lived out by over 80 kids in two orphanages and by many others who have graduated from Posada de Amor over the years. I have been able (and ver much blessed) to participate in this vision since I first arrived here in 2002.
This time in Peru I have a couple of large projects to work on. The first is setting up for the upcoming mission team and then for a second team due in July. My second project is research. As part of my M.A. in Geography I'm developing a thesis on urban growth developments in the jungle town of Pucallpa and its impacts over the past 10-20 years on the Shipibo Indian communities who have existed in the region for many generations prior. For me it's exciting for many reasons; I get to work with the Shipibo Indians who I've worked with on previous trips to Peru, plus I get to stay with some amazing missionaries who I've befriended over the years. I see my childhood dreams of National Geographic-like assignments coming to life, while exploring long-term strategies to help the people of Peru, and incorporate it all into a master's degree - sweet!! Well, I've got some more work to do..more to come later... |
