A day of extremes

Today we visited project PE-444 in the outskirts of Lima, high in the mountains - not far from the foothills of the Andes. We were welcomed warmly, as we have been everywhere and again made to feel so very important; it was incredibly humbling. The children from the project all came out to meet us and greeted us with songs, cheers, huge hugs, and smiles so wide and beautiful.

Girls in traditional costume danced to a Peruvian worship song and then a younger group of girls added their own dance, all with incredible enthusiasm. We shared time with the pastor of the associated church and his staff and were shown around each of the project classrooms. Once again we were amazed at the dedication of the leaders and tutors. The Compassion literature is excellent and we could easily see how the children just love coming along.

We then visited a number of homes further up in the mountains and were met with stunning views as the bus trundled ever so slowly up steep pot-holed roads: however, the magnificant views were paled by the sights of extreme poverty around us as we drove through a wide expanse of ramshackle buildings. Almost all of the homes were like those in this picture.

When the bus could go no further we walked for another few hundred yards upwards before having to climb again up more than a hundred of the steepest set of steps I have ever climbed.

This little girl lives with her mother and two brothers. The mother and children walk three times a day down to the area near the project (from where we got the bus) and back up to this high dwelling - and she does it all with her smallest child strapped to her back! They live in this small building the size of a garden shed. The living area was divided from the bedroom by a few strips of rough material. All in all the entire building couldn´t have been more than 10´x 8´ and the heat inside was stifling.

And here is the strange paradox, in spite of this extreme poverty this was a home where Christ lived. He was evident in the smiles and the warmth of the small family. And the little girl treasured the letters from her sponsor - another powerful reminder of the impact of writing letters to your sponsored child.

After praying with the family we picked our way back down to the bus and returned to the project where we had lunch with the staff. We all prayed with the Pastor and project workers and they prayed for us.

This ended another incrediblly powerful day spent with people who have almost nothing but who are prepared to share it with us anyway. Tonight at dinner we shared our experiences of the day. It was good to share and talk about what we had seen today. We needed to open up.

Alastair.