One of my areas of work is already taking shape – church related work with the 10-14’s (fortnightly) and at the mountain communities, although that’s not yet regular. One other area has just begun – visiting families of the micro-finance project, and the other, with the very neediest/abandoned children of Cusco, is something I’m starting to investigate. To start with, I have a half-day a week for each area of work. We’ll see in the long term whether I keep all three areas or narrow down to concentrate on one in particular.
Family Visits
This week I did my first visit to a client’s family. The client is a mum, Pilar, who sells craft items at one of the tourist sites just outside Cusco. She has 4 children (9, 8, 6 and 3) and they live on the hill directly above us, along with Pilar’s mother, two younger sisters, and aunty, who also has two children. Pilar’s husband has left recently, which she is happy about as he was beating her up regularly. The only problem is that he gives her no money to support the children. The family have a lounge, one bedroom, a bathroom and kitchen, plus another section for the extended family. They are just constructing another room so that the children can have a room separate from Pilar.
The aim of my family visits is firstly to do a questionnaire with the family to see how their lives are and how the loan they have received has enabled them to improve their situation, and secondly to get to know the children, play with them, read them a Bible story and invite the family to one of the special family events we are planning to arrange at church once a month. Once Sammy is back at school I will do the visits with Roland so that he can talk about the business with the client and give advice.
This first visit with Pilar and her family was really encouraging. Pilar was really happy to have someone come and spend time with her kids and the children were really happy to see me (and Benjamin!). She said the loan had enabled her business to grow and this means she has been able to start constructing the extra bedroom they need. I am hoping to visit families like this, who live relatively near to us and the church, fairly regularly, but given I have only one morning a week for this and there are a lot of families, those living further away will only be able to receive occasional visits, unless of course we can get a visiting team together which is a possibility for the future.
Hospital
I have been to the ‘Lorena’ hospital three times now. It’s definitely worthwhile although there have not been many children in, which is obviously good! This hospital is mainly for people who come from the countryside around Cusco, generally small farming communities. They are materially very poor and speak Quechua as their first language. Although they speak Spanish too it is not always easy for us to communicate as we are both using our second language and have an accent neither is used to!
The other day I had the opportunity to visit the other hospital where poorer people go. These people tend to live in or near to Cusco and the hospital is situated a little nearer to where we live. A man came to the door at Lily’s house when I was at my language class asking for money for medicines for his son. He had a believable story and gave us the boy’s ward and bed number in the Regional hospital. I said I would go and visit, which I did, but the boy did not exist! Anyway, it was a good excuse to have a wander round the hospital and ask about visiting.
Today I went back with a friend, Adeline, who is a missionary from Canada. She is interested in visiting regularly too. It’s great because she has been here a bit longer and has better Spanish. She is more gifted at talking with the mums and teenagers, whereas I am better with the younger ones, using a Bible story, puppets and a colouring/quiz sheet if they are old enough. We saw some very sad families and children today. The first little boy, aged 4, has a tumour and is going to Lima tomorrow for an operation. The second child was sleeping but the mother said she expected her to die as she had a rare illness and the doctors didn’t know what they could do. Another mother had a very malnourished tiny 7-month-old baby. She said the family didn’t have enough food to feed their two young children. The child in the adjacent bed was 18 months old and had no one with her. Her mother had been in yesterday but not today. One of the main problems is that there are so many single mothers and they cannot spend much time at the hospital if they have other children to care for and also work to do.
Today was a very interesting day for me as I also went to the police station and the ‘Palacia de Justicia’.
Police Station
I had been to the Police Station with Adeline last week to meet the kids picked up from the street who are kept in a room there. There were over twenty children of all ages there. Some have been stealing, some are run-aways, others are abandoned. They have to wait in this room for weeks or sometimes months until they are either returned to their families, sent to a correction centre, or taken to a children’s home. One boy of about 9 told us he had run away from home and been brought to Cusco by an older child. This boy then just left him in the street with nothing. The police picked him up at night. He sat and sobbed the whole hour we were there.
Anyway, today I went back to try and learn a bit more about the situation with these children and to find out which homes they could be sent to, etc. I couldn’t find out much more than I already knew and the lady I spoke to did not speak very clearly so it was a bit difficult. I walked down to the main plaza, wondering how I could find out more, passing on the way a small toddler with no shoes, no trousers and no nappy, standing beside her sister (about 7) who was trying to sell sweets. A police woman was talking to the older girl and she told me the mother was in a nearby plaza , also street selling, and that she would find her. In the meantime I bought the baby some nappies and put one on her, as it really wasn’t very warm and I couldn’t bear to see her standing in the street with her little bare bottom. I then walked passed the cathedral where 3 elderly ladies sat begging in the doorway, two of them with grandchildren beside them. Although there are various charities helping people like these, it made me think how there is still so much to be done here.
I decided I would try going to the ‘Palacia de Justicia’, as people have repeatedly told me that ‘the judge decides where the children go’. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to find ‘the judge’, but it was worth a try. I walked in and was directed to the offices of the family judges straight away. After a bit of a journey through the building to find a judge that wasn’t on holiday, I eventually ended up speaking to one of the family judges who offered to photocopy me the list of all the children’s homes in the Cusco area. The list also includes agencies that help street children and children in poverty. That is exactly what I was looking for, but I never dreamed it would be so easy to just walk into the building and talk to a judge, and then get offered the list of homes without even asking for it! This list will enable me to get an overview of all the work going on here and see where best I can make my small contribution.
I will finish this blog entry with a quote I find challenging from a book I have started reading tonight:
Love without courage and wisdom is sentimentality, as with the ordinary church member. Courage without love and wisdom is foolhardiness, as with the ordinary soldier. Wisdom without love and courage is cowardice, as with the ordinary intellectual. But the one who has love, courage, and wisdom moves the world.
(Quoted by Shane Claiborne in The Irresistible Revolution)
May those of us working in Cusco have love, courage and wisdom so that we can do something to move this little bit of world in the right direction.
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