Day 4: Lay of the land

Buenos Tardes!

It has been a few days since we have blogged so there is much to catch up on! They are keeping us quite busy, but with no meals to prepare and clean up after, no laundry, housecleaning, etc. we do have free time. I have been using mine to read, which is another luxury. Kathleen has been doing the same and we are both making new friends. First, I would like to tell you what we have done and then share some observations of what I have seen.

Santisimo Sacremento

Sunday morning we, along with many others from the church, toured a few of the sites owned and run by Santisimo Sacramento, the parish run by Fr. Joe (or Padre Joe as he is so fondly referred to by the Peruvians). We boarded 3 very large vans and toured the school which Kathleen and I had already been to, but this time we heard Padre's visions for the future. They have already started what is similar to our technical colleges. He is excited to be providing skills that will earn the people here decent wages to support their families. They already have cosmetology, masonry and computer programs with plans to start auto mechanics, etc. It is somewhat attached to the Catholic school, The Mother of Good Counsel, which teaches 3 year old through high school, with a student population of 880. The school is in the process of adding on, including a soccer field and possibly a pool. Padre would love to be able to teach the children to swim.

We stopped at a village church which was completed just a year ago. Santisimo has 30

churches/chapels under its care. Not all have mass everyday, but they try to staff them as often as possible.

We went to 12:00 mass at San Jacinto. We were welcomed by children holding a banner and given many greetings, hugs and 'Thank yous'. We haven't done anything for them, but they are so gracious and appreciative. Father does an unbelievable job of switching from spanish to english and vice versa. He does all the readings, homily, etc in spanish but gives us a brief summary of both in english.

We headed back to our church for lunch at 1:00 (meals are at 8 AM, 1 PM and 8 PM). Later in the afternoon we went to the girls home, Madre del Redentor. This is a home for girls in middle school through high school. Many do not have parents, but many have been surrendered to the sisters because either it is unsafe for them to live with their families or they cannot afford to take care of them. Again, as we got out of the vans, they descended upon us with welcome hugs and kisses. We were individually escorted on tours where we saw their kitchen, dining area, dormitories, gathering room, chapel, etc. There are 2 dorm rooms with about 30 bunk beds each. Each bed was neatly made with a mosquito net above and one stuffed animal on the pillow. The girls seem very happy and treat each other very kindly. They sang "Halleluiah" in spanish and you would have thought they were a well trained heavenly choir! It was so beautiful, my eyes filled with tears. Later, we were entertained with Peruvian dances and pulled on stage to dance with them. Before I left, Ken told me to dance on this trip. I don't think he meant literally, but I did dance! And it was fun! After dinner, we played cards with newfound friends.

Since this is long enough and I don't want to bore you, I will save my observations for another blog.

Take care,
Cathy (and Kathleen)