Feeding the families of Los Polverines

This morning, we gathered in the parish hall and packaged rice and pasta to deliver to families in Los Polverines. 

After packaging 40 bags, we loaded into the van and headed out to the families in Los Polverines.  It was a hot morning and walking through the village was emotional as we had just danced with some of these families the night before. 

We visited the families and offered them each a bag of pasta & rice. Families were very grateful for our generosity. 

This afternoon, we visited two Piura parishes in the center of town and had some ice cream to celebrate our last night here. The churches were beautiful - simple displays of faith.

We are so grateful to Padre Joe and all of the incredible community members who have welcomed us to the Santisimo Sacramento Parish for the past week. It has been an incredible experience that has left an indelible mark on our hearts. 

Water is Life

Our day started with a tour of Madre Del Buen Consiglio - the school sponsored by Santisimo Sacrimento Parish. We visited all of the high school classes, which were students aged 13-16. 

The girls took turns answering questions about life in the USA. The kids were interested in learning about the ages of the girls, the languages they study in school, the sports & instruments they play and what they like to do in their free time. Our delegation did a great job singing Ursuline's Alma Mater for the oldest students in the school. 

After singing, we headed to the indoor court where the girls played a rowdy game of handball. UA spirit and tenacity was in full gear as our girls quickly learned the rules and took on their Madre opponents. 

We finished our morning with a tour of the kindergarten, 1st grade and special education classrooms where we gifted them with some of the school supplies with brought from home. They were thrilled! 

In the afternoon, we were invited to participate on a special mission to deliver water to the Monte Castillo neighborhood where we cleaned houses yesterday. The water supply in Monte Castillo has been cut off for a few days due to the fact that the truck that typically delivers purified water to the village had broken down. Families were forced to drink contaminated water or go without - neither of which are options we were comfortable with. 

So, we loaded into a truck with a handful of other volunteers and headed to Peru's version of Costco - Macko. We purchased 65 jugs of water for less than $100 US dollars and loaded up the truck. 

30 minutes later, we were in the heart of Monte Castillo delivering two jugs of water to some of the houses. Many were the houses that we had the privilege to clean yesterday. The families were so grateful, inviting us into their homes and thanking us with hugs and smiles. 

No person should live without access to clean water. No one. 

To cap off an incredible day, we headed out to Los Polverines village after mass to have a cultural fiesta. We watched great traditional dances and kicked up our heels with the kids from the neighborhood. It was a festive celebration for this lovely community. 

Out in the communities of Piura

After a good night's sleep, we got up and made our way to breakfast singing our grace with the community as we do every morning. 

After breakfast, we loaded into the Nissan and drove out to a community called Monte Castillo - another poor community on the outskirts of Piura. It is similar to the bush villages of Africa - little

communities of one-room houses lined up one after the other. 

This morning's work was hard - not as physically challenging as yesterday's work but more shocking because we were in people's homes. Our tasks were to clean the houses for the community and our supplies were a few brooms, a dry rag and a dustpan. We set to work in a few homes and were immediately taken aback by how hard it is to "clean" a home made of banana leaves, bamboo & mud with dirt floors. We brushed the ceilings & walls, we washed dishes & bathrooms, we swept the floors but many of the girls remarked that it didn't appear to make much change in the atmosphere. At one point, we wondered if our work was helping at all and then we remembered that part of what we were tasked with was to be in the community and give to the families - and in the spirit of Serviam and St. Angela that is exactly what we did. 

We returned to the parish for lunch & a siesta before resuming our work in the afternoon. 

The afternoon brought us to another community, Cumbibira, which sits about 45 minutes outside of Piura with rolling hills all around - likely huacas of priceless tombs & ruins buried beneath the surface. 

We met about 25 children at Vacation Bible School after their school day ended. We gathered in prayer in their chapel and then played puzzles & drew pictures with them. The children were so excited to have these activities to fill their afternoon, clambering for one more paper or crayon. 

After our inside activities, we headed outside to play. We gathered in a circle and then broke into several games of soccer, tag and races. The kids had so much fun, laughing and giggling all afternoon. It didn't matter that we didn't all speak the same language - joy & fun are universal!

We loved being with the children and felt so honored to be able to give back to them while also having some fun ourselves. 

As we traveled back to the parish for mass & dinner, we remarked about how happy these communities are with such simple things and how grateful everyone has been for our gift of time.