Mayes Family in Peru

Meeting Alejandra -- First Two Days

2012-02-10T09:12:00.000-08:00

First Two Days With Alejandra!

2012-02-07T17:20:00.001-08:00

T-Minus

2012-01-31T16:39:00.000-08:00

We will be meeting Alejandra next Monday, February 6, at 3:00pm!

Here is the website of the orphanage where she lives:
http://www.artworkers.net/amantani/indexeng.html

The Forgetful Club

2012-01-25T06:59:00.000-08:00

We were at a meeting last week with the school counselor at the boys' school. She had asked us as a family to join a team to help evaluate and come up with new ideas for her action plan. At one point she was telling us about current clubs and groups that are either meeting or have met in the past -- ways to offer support to children in certain areas -- and she asked us if we had any other suggestions. Ben (8) raised his hand and asked, "What about 'The Forgetful Club?'" No one knew what he meant, so we asked him to elaborate. "You know, for kids from families that forget things all the time." Thanks, Ben. We had a particularly bad week last week -- I'm quite certain that we won the 'Most Absent-Minded Family of the Week (Year?) Award"!

That said, we are especially busy and distracted these days as we prepare to go to Peru. We keep commenting that while we are going about our daily lives here, there is a little girl going about her everyday activities who will soon be part of our family!

Ali's first birthday was on October 29th, so, God-willing, she will be a "Mayes" by the time she is 16 months-old. (As an aside, we have decided to keep her name as is, with the Spanish pronunciation and spelling, but we are going to call her Ali.) From the four current members of the "Forgetful Club", we appreciate your patience and especially all of the kindness and support you have offered to us!

¡Alejandra!

2011-12-31T03:20:00.000-08:00

Admittedly a bit corny, Rick and I keep a "Book of Memories". We started it while we were still engaged, and it contains a yearly update of highlights of things that have happened in our lives and also a list of hopes and aspirations. On the first page, when we started this book over 15 years ago (!), we recorded our shared desire to have children, both biological (if possible) and through adoption.

Our growing interest in adoption meshed with our love of the country of Peru about five years ago and since then we have been preparing, praying, and waiting for a match with a child from there. We were told early on that Peru doesn't do a lot of adoptions -- for various reasons -- and that our desire to adopt a little girl under the age of two was very unlikely, if not impossible. As a result, over time we changed our parameters to either a girl or boy, 8 years-old or younger, and the possibility of a sibling pair. We were open to all of these various scenarios, but in all honesty we were still hoping for a little girl.

It has been a long, unpredictable, and at times difficult process and so we consider it a small miracle that on Thursday, December 29, we received word that we will have the opportunity to welcome Alejandra into our family and lives! She is 15 months-old and lives in an orphanage in Cusco (one that we visited in the summer of 2007) where she has lived since she was 5 days-old.

Needless to say, we are extremely excited and eager for 2012 and can't wait to have Alejandra here with us!

Our Favorite Things about Peru and Our Year Here

2009-06-28T07:55:00.001-07:00

We are down to our last month in Cusco after an amazing sabbatical year here. We thought we would keep a running list of our favorite things about Peru over the next 30 days -- the people, the place, and the culture -- in no particular order.

30. Parades -- any time, for any reason; a great way for people to come together to celebrate.

29. The Children -- they're precious! We can't wait to welcome one or two of them into our family...SOME day!

28. Our Neighbors -- we will miss them!

(celebrating Rick's birthday with our neighbors--
they call us "Reeky", "Jainy", "Teemy" and "Bainy")

(our other, "across the passage" neighbors --

we mentioned them in a previous blog entry)

27. Jack's -- our favorite restaurant in Cusco (anywhere, for that matter)

(with several of the people who work there -- now friends!)

26. The Weather -- warm during the days, cool at night, dry (apart from the rainy season, which was more occasional storms than the regular rain that we expected).

25. Los mercados -- outdoor markets with local vendors selling fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, etc.

24. City Life -- walking a lot, public transportation, and the proximity of everything.

23. English Football School -- One of the missionaries here (from England) runs a soccer program for children on Saturday mornings from 9:30am - 12:30pm. Tim has been participating for several months and loves it; Ben started playing about a month ago and has a lot of enthusiasm (smile).

(the other team LOVES when Ben decides to play goalie!)

22. Our Neighborhood Park -- we have spent a LOT of time there this year...

(Tim with his buddy whose mom owns the rides and trampoline at one end of the park)

21. The Cost of Living -- very affordable for us at 3 soles/dollar. Cusco is quite expensive for the Peruvians from and living here, though, because they don't make much money.

20. Trips to Machu Picchu-- Rick and Tim with the summer school students and Rick's brother, David, in June and July, and Jen with her parents in February.

19. "Our Comfort Zone" -- being outside of it so often, living in a different culture and with more needs surrounding us, and being pushed to think about things in different ways.

18. Promesa -- the Christian, bilingual school that the boys have attended during our time here. It is run by Ron and Regina Schultz, missionaries from the U.S. who are both incredibly warm, kind people. It has been a pleasure to be part of this community during our time here.

( Tim with his class on his last day of school at Promesa.)
(Ben with his teachers and class.)

(gathering of students and parents outside of Promesa)

(the boys in their school uniforms at our house)

17. Visits from Family and Friends -- it has been so special for us to share our "world" here with family members and friends this year. For those of you who want to come in the future, we're hoping to return every summer for Rick to teach a summer school class for 6 weeks, so don't count out the possibility!

(visit with Jen's parents in February)

(Burgesses' visit in April)

(Rick's brother, David, visited us in May)

16. Summer School -- Rick has taught his Health Care Policy and Global Health class here in Cusco to two groups of University of Richmond students in June and July. It has been a real pleasure to get to know them and introduce them to Cusco.

(most of the students from the first summer school group)

(some students from the second group at Machu Picchu)

15. Friday afternoon soccer games at El Arca Orphanage -- we have loved getting to know the children at the orphanage and playing with them each week!

(group stretching before the game)

14. Game Nights -- the missionary community here from the U.S. and Canada get together regularly to play cards or a game of some sort. They were kind to include us -- it was a lot of fun.

13. Carts -- there are vegetable and fruit carts, snack carts, ice cream carts, and even some with appliances for sale. Some are stationary and others have a bike and wheels attached and the vendor moves around with his/her microphone saying "Papayas, mangos, platanos..." We´ve told Tim if he wants to make some extra money we can make one of these carts for him to ride around the streets of Richmond...

12. The Library at Promesa -- We arrived here last October with as many children´s books as we could add to the rest of our luggage, but we VERY quickly read those books to the point at which we were all bored. This spring, we have been extremely grateful for the opportunity to use the library at the boy´s school!

11. Friends, Part I

10. Señor Carbon -- Our other favorite restaurant in town. Great salads and vegetables and all-you-can-eat meat...plus an indoor playground for the children!

9. Local Catholic Church/Priest -- This church has been a huge blessing for us over the past several months. We love it and it´s less than a two-minute walk away. The priest is evangelical and preaches the gospel!

8. Friends, II

7. Trip to Bolivia in February -- We took a family trip to Copacabana, Bolivia -- on Lake Titicaca -- to renew our passports in February (previous blog entry). It was a blast and we have a lot of fun(ny) memories.

(right after we walked across the border into Bolivia)

(Tim and Ben on the beach in Copacabana, Bolivia)

6. Violin Lessons for Tim -- Thanks to a friend here, we knew about the excellent music school here in Cusco prior to arriving, so we were able to arrange for Tim to start immediately. He has enjoyed taking lessons all year and is now playing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" like a champ!

(last day of class today, 7/22)

5. The Local Panaderia (Bakery) -- There is a wonderful bakery within a two-minute walk from our home. We have been there a lot for coffee, juices, pastries, bread, etc., and have had the chance to get to know the people who work there.

(Tim standing in front of bakery)

(Jen with the owner of the bakery, Mari)

4. Andes Mountains/Stunning Views -- Cusco is surrounded by mountains. The views are stunning in every direction, though pictures don´t do it justice.

(view from the boys school)

3. Sabbatical -- The opportunity that I, Rick, have had to finish existing research projects and start new ones. I also had the chance to start the new summer study abroad program, which would have been impossible had I not been living here.

summer school student, Giles Thompson, with children at el Arca Orphanage

2. Learning Spanish -- We do not speak perfectly, or even great for that matter, but we all have learned to understand and communicate in Spanish over the course of the year. It has been particularly fun to hear the boys become more and more confident in speaking. Rick commented that he thinks Ben can speak better Spanish than he can!

1. The Country, Culture, and People of Peru!!!!!!

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Things we will NOT miss:

1) Peruvian driving (with all due respect to our Peruvian friends)

2) stray dogs everywhere, barking at night and pooping on the sidewalks (not sure how to phrase that differently)

3) hand-washing our laundry

4) beds that have matresses held up with boards that constantly fall out and make a lot of noise...even with lots of duck tape holding them together!

5) being so far from family and friends

6) getting out of the shower and freezing (cracks in the windows, no heat, very cold in the mornings and night)...though we really shouldn´t complain because many of the people we know don´t even have hot water!

7) exhaust from cars and trucks -- there are no regulations no car exhaust/emissions here

8) Paros ("strikes") -- these occur frequently here: roads are blocked, people protest, sometimes a little violently, and most things shut down for the day (no transportation, no school, etc.). For poor Peruvians--the majority of the population--this is the only way they can get their government in "distant Lima" to remotely pay attention to them.

9) The postal service and Peruvian bureaucracy, in general.

10) Pollution -- there is trash everywhere, in the streets and rivers because it is cultural to litter (and there aren´t many trash cans around, either!).

Micro-Credit Financing in Cusco, Peru on a Small, Personal Scale

2009-05-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

You may be aware of micro-credit financing, a world-wide phenomenon that is a popular and effective link between the developed and developing worlds. The concept behind micro-credit financing is that those of us with resources can loan money to people without them, interest-free, to help them start their small businesses. We are able to give these people an opportunity they otherwise would not have; they pay back the loan and are on their way. Two well known models are the Grameen Bank (http://grameen-info.org/) and KIVA (http://www.kiva.org/).

We would like to try this on a small, personal scale. We personally know a lot of hard-working Peruvians who would benefit greatly from this model.

If you are interested in being part of this, we are setting up a separate blog with more information: http://cuscogracias.blogspot.com/. Obviously no pressure whatsoever to read it, much less to make a loan.

Thanks!

Rick and Jen

Riding the Leishmaniasis Van, the Burgesses and May Term

2009-05-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

Leishmaniasis:

In the United States, one of the most prominent markers of poverty is people's teeth (see great Malcom Gladwell article on this phenomenon -- http://www.gladwell.com/pdf/hazard.pdf). Poor people in the U.S. can rarely afford optimal dental care or braces. And a positive, attractive personal appearance is important for the social demands that middle and upper-middle class existence requires. In many parts of Peru, one of the prominent markers of poverty is a disease called Leishmaniasis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leishmaniasis). It is contracted in jungle and tropical areas where poor people have to travel to find work and do not have sufficient resources and/or knowledge to sleep under tents at night and to work in areas where there are minimal mosquitoes and sandflies. Thus, they get bit by these insects and contract the parasitic disease, which leaves bloody scars and deformed faces (similar to leprosy). Someone who has contracted Leishmaniasis--and the scars that come with it--is said to have the "Mark of the Jungle."
Dr. Maria Cruz, one of our neighbors and the wife of Jose--the professor of ornithology who took Tim and me bird-watching--recently took me on a trip 2 hours east of Cusco to the town of Sicuani where she treats a large population of very poor Peruvians who have contracted Leishmaniasis during one of their work visits to the Amazon. One of the biggest problems with the disease is that most people do not know that Leishmaniasis is NOT contagious. Hence, people with the disease are often shunned and discriminated against. Fortunately, Dr. Cruz and her patients have formed an organization to change people's perceptions and to increase their knowledge of the disease. They are succeeding in many ways.
Given the negative public perception of Leishmaniasis, it is striking how starved for affection most patients with the disease are. I have rarely received so many hugs and handshakes in so short a period of time. On the ride home to Cusco, we brought 7 patients with us in our van, so that they could stay in an apartment in town and receive more aggressive therapy at the local medical school. This trip is made monthly by Dr. Cruz and is known to police officers who patrol the highway as the "Leishmaniasis Van." I was very proud and happy to have been permitted to ride in it and look forward to future trips!

The Burgess Family:
Last week we had the distinct pleasure of hosting the Burgess family (Andy, Brenda, Rachel and Nathan) from Richmond who are very close friends of ours. We have partnered with them for years with the college ministry at Third Presbyterian Church. And when we need a home to crash at during our homeless layovers in Richmond, they have always graciously allowed us to stay with them. Our beloved 1997, duct-taped Volvo station wagon is currently residing in their driveway. During their visit here, we took them to the local orphanage, El Arca, where we work, to church at our boys' elementary school, and to the local village of Pisac. They traveled on their own to Machu Picchu and Lima. Their visit was a joy for us. They also brought brown-sugar, new Legos for the kids, and books and documentaries!
May (and June) Terms:

Next week 11 University of Richmond students arrive in Cusco for a 1-month summer study abroad program on "Global health, Pediatrics and Human Rights" with me. Jen and I are very excited to host them and initiate this new summer program at UR. The students will take Spanish lessons in the morning, volunteer at the orphanage, elementary school and anyplace else they like in the early afternoon, and then take the global health class with me in the late afternoon. We will make trips to Quillabamba, Machu Picchu, and other destinations in the area. They will be staying at a hotel in the nearby farming village of San Jeronimo (near the school and orphanage). When they depart in mid-June, a new group of 12 UR students will arrive for a June Term of the same program.

Adoption, Cuy and Bird Watching

2009-04-16T07:51:00.001-07:00

Adoption:

We are coming to grips with the fact that we may not be returning to the States this summer with another child or two in our family. As with many adoptions, ours is taking longer than expected. That being said, living here and becoming part of this culture, we are all the more excited and eager to welcome a Peruvian child or sibling pair into our family...at some point. We figure another trip back during the coming year is not a bad thing! Plus, Rick will be teaching a study abroad program here in Cusco for University of Richmond students this May through July, and we hope to make this an annual trip for our family.

What saddens us the most, as we await word regarding the adoption, is that there are so many children here without homes and families. The system only allows those children who have been formally abandoned to be adopted. Many parents put their children in orphanages for various reasons -- usually financial -- and then continue to visit them occasionally. So, given that we have been fairly specific in our request (a little girl or sibling pair 6 years-old or younger) means that we may have to wait a while. We'll see... We are certainly learning patience.

When in Rome...

One of my (Jen) best friends here is the 80+ year old woman who lives across the way/sidewalk from us with her 98 year-old husband. We are constantly exchanging food and gifts, and I have recently been attending the local Catholic church with her. Well, on Easter she brought over a plate of food for us that was difficult for me/us to look at, let alone eat. It was "Cuy", which is a local delicacy here: cooked guinea pig. I am attaching a picture. You may be able to see the little arms and paws sticking out. Thankfully she didn't give us the whole body (including head/face), which is how they usually serve it here. Had we been invited to their house, I would have done my best to clean my plate! I'm not sure how the boys would have done, though...
Bird Watching:

Tim and Rick had the opportunity to go bird watching with our neighbor who is a professor in Ornithology at the nearby University. Tim loved it. We're all going to go again soon.

MDR-TB, Tropical Medicine and Soccer Jerseys

2009-03-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

I (Rick) just returned from a trip to the high jungle town of Quillabamba with Dr. Bill Allen, his adopted son Vladi, and one of his clinic's nurses, Jasmine. The village is only 75 miles northwest of Cusco, but it took 6 hours of driving over snow-capped mountains and then down to the edge of the Amazon jungle along the Urabamba river. Bill has been approached by senior health officials in the Cusco region and Partners in Health to help them with the growing number of patients with TB and some with multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB). This increase in TB and MDR-TB cases is very worrying to public health officials because it is a respiratory disease. You can catch it simply by breathing the exhaled breath of someone who has the disease next to you in the market, on a bus, in your home, etc.
The very fact that the disease is even in the Quillabamba region is something of a mystery (and scary), because TB and MDR-TB exist primarily in densely populated urban areas like Lima and prisons. The two patients we met with who are receiving treatment and are recovering from MDR-TB have probably not been beyond Cusco or even Quillabamba (pictured below).
Therefore, Bill wants to figure out how these individuals got MDR-TB and whom else might have been exposed. He also wants to find ways to more reliably diagnose patients with TB and increase the likelihood that patients will receive proper and thorough treatment. It is excruciatingly hard. Appropriate treatment for TB consists of directly observed therapy (drugs taken orally) for six months, otherwise known as DOTS. MDR-TB treatment requires injections for 6 months and then 1.5 years of follow-up drug therapy. Currently, it cannot be delivered in places like Quillabamba. Patients are supposed to come to cities like Cusco and Lima to receive treatment, but that is almost impossible and extremely impractical for people with TB, because they tend to be poor and reliant on daily labor for their existence. Traveling to Cusco, much less Lima, for 6 months for treatment takes them away from their crops, families and/or daily work on which they depend. Bill's hope is to bring state-of-the-art diagnosis and treatment to them in their remote communities in order to help them survive and to halt the spread of the disease.
The clinicians with whom we met in Quillabamba were especially appreciative of Bill's efforts to collaborate and partner with them. They said that in the past some NGOs would come to the village to provide some type of medical care, but they would do so in isolation from the existing hospital and public health services. Consequently, their lack of coordination and communication led them to seeing far fewer patients, accomplishing little and eventually leaving town altogether. Bill's ambitions are to work closely with the local medical providers and complement the great work they are already doing and the extensive knowledge they have of the area. Why reinvent the wheel?
This trip allowed me to see my first ever patients with tropical, infectious diseases like TB and malaria. As one would expect, it is very different from reading books and articles or watching documentaries about them. It is much more emotional and personal to interact with a fellow human being who is suffering from a disease like Yellow Fever (for which I am very grateful to have been vaccinated). It is especially sad and painful when they are children.
On a lighter note, Jen and I have been enjoying our soccer games at El Arca Orphanage even more recently since we got all the kids red and white soccer jerseys. It is much easier to known who is on your team and whom to pass the ball to when everyone is wearing the same colors!

p.s. - Tim kicked his way to a yellow belt in Taekwondo, so watch out evil-doers! His reward was to be able to march in a parade in the Plaza de Armas in the center of Cusco with the board he kicked in two (video of dangerous kicking below).

Adventures in Bolivia, Bud Lenz, and a Visit from Jen's Parents

2009-02-21T09:44:00.000-08:00

(our bus broke down on our way to Bolivia, so this was Tim and Ben's chance to pick flowers)

Adventures in Bolivia

We just returned from a few days in Bolivia, where we traveled briefly to have our passports/visas re-stamped for another 183 days in Peru (the maximum a tourist can stay). The trip went relatively smoothly until we arrived at the Bolivian border. The driver of the bus stopped at the military checkpoint and began speaking about "muchas problemas." We were so distracted by getting our boys through the passport/visa stations that we we didn't focus on why these "problemas" might be important to us. We soon found out. As it happened, local Bolivian elementary teachers had recently rioted about something. Part of their rioting included blocking the only road into Bolivia with large enough rocks and tree branches that all local transportation ground to a halt. Later on someone explained to us that this kind of rioting is the most common and effective form of getting the attention of local authorities. Why? It keeps the tourists and their valuable foreign currency from entering the country. It certainly got our attention, because we had to exit the bus, get all of our luggage, and start walking the last 8 kilometers to Copacabana. We were rescued by a passing van from one of the local hotels who took pity on us with young children. He was bribing his way through each rock point trying to pick up the hotel's customers.

Copacabana is a small fishing village on the southern tip of Lake Titicaca. They boys were bound and determined to do some swimming, although the locals thought they were crazy (the water temperature is somewhere in the 50s to low 60s and nobody in the area seems to do this sort of thing). The boys look especially comical next to the local women doing their laundry in the lake!

Bud Lenz

Bud Lenz is the "father" of the 35+ orphans at La Arca orphanage where we visit and volunteer regularly and are getting to know the children. I (Rick) was supposed to travel with a pastor to the town of Porto Maldonado, in the Amazon, this week to visit Bud and help him as he is building a new facility to accommodate their growing family. Upon our return from Bolivia, we received word that the trip was canceled because Bud had a heart attack and had been flown back to Cusco! Obviously, this is a huge blow to this (extended) family and the community. Please pray for Bud (and his wife, Laura) and for their children. Here are some pictures from the orphanage:

Jen's Parents' Recent Visit

We had a great time in early February when Jen's parents visited us. They were our first visitors and it was special for us to share "our world" here in Cusco with them. Jen took them to Machu Picchu for two days in addition to our activities around here. Below are some pictures from their trip:

Parades, Fireworks, La Arca Orphanage, and TaeKwon-Do

2009-01-13T16:43:00.000-08:00

One of the things we have noticed, both from our visit last year and our three months living here, is that (without making an over-generalization) Peruvians LOVE parades and fireworks.

It seems that whenever we go to the main square in Cusco, La Plaza de Armas, the roads are blocked off and there is a parade or protest of some sort -- either large, with lots of different groups, or just one group -- marching with drums, trumpets, and other instruments, banners, and a lot of enthusiastic participants. This is a picture of Rick, Tim, and Ben watching a parade last month.

And fireworks are not only part of these parades (we still jump out of our skin whenever they go off), but are part of everyday life here. People set off fireworks at any time of day or night. We even joined in on the fun on Christmas Eve, when I think our elderly neighbors (85+) were out before us setting some off, too.

Below are a few pictures from the orphanage we visited last month, La Arca. They have since moved from this house, pictured below, which they had outgrown, into a temporary facility much closer to us (20 minute combi ride as opposed to an hour). So we are excited by the opportunity to visit them weekly as a family and especially to get to know the children. Our boys hit it off with them and can't wait to play "futbol" and hide-and-go seek on a regular basis.

Lastly, the boys have taken up TaeKwon-Do and are enrolled in daily classes this month with a group of Peruvian children. Here is a short video clip of Tim and Ben "in action":

Barbecue Bathing, Combis, Laundry and Tim's 1st Violin Recital

2008-12-13T12:28:00.001-08:00

Barbecue Bathing

Above is a picture of the hot water heater and propane tank in our bathroom. Any time we take a bath or shower, the flames fire up and for the first few minutes the bathroom smells like a barbecue. Another unique aspect of this type of water heating is that you never know exactly when the propane tank will run out...until the water turns REALLY cold (instantly). Thankfully we've never had shampoo in our hair at that point.

Combis
The dominant form of local transportation here in Cuzco is the "combi" (pronounced "comb-bee"). They're 10-15 passenger vans that race all around town for 60 centimos per ride, which is basically 20 US cents. You often find yourself sitting next to a farmer with his or her bundles of produce or people with their various animals. Last week we rode next to a woman who had three bags of live chickens that were clucking and moving around.

Laundry "Old School" Style

We now think twice before throwing our clothes in the "dirty clothes hamper," because we have to wash everything by hand. Below is a picture of our laundry drying in our outdoor washroom. We are really going to appreciate the luxury of a washer & dryer upon our return to the U.S. (not to mention a dishwasher, kitchen appliances, an oven that indicates the temperature, hot water in our kitchen sink, a vacuum, etc.). Though we live in an urban home, we sometimes feel like we are enjoying life in "The Little House on the Prairie." It's actually a lot of fun.

The Inaugural Performance of Timothy "Itzhak Perlman" Mayes

Tim performed in his first violin recital last night. The way the recital was organized, the older and more experienced violinists played first and then with each subsequent song more kids joined in (whomever had reached that level of playing). Tim started his lessons two months ago and is still at the one-note rhythm point. He and his cohort were to play last in the concert keeping rhythm to "Estrellitas" ("Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"), repeating the one musical note that they have learned. Well, Tim was so eager to get up and play that when he heard mention of this song--which was for kids who could actually play it--he jumped onto the stage. His teacher was way at the back of the group and could not see him to tell him to wait. I (Jen) frantically tried to get his attention by calling his name and waving, which he interpreted as excitement and support on my part and waved back to me. I could not get there in time to get him off the stage. Below is a 13-second video clip of his memorable performance. My apologies for the shaking of the camera; I was laughing so hard it kept moving.

Love to all of you and Feliz Navidad!

Isaiah 9:6
"For to us a child is born and to us a son is given...And He will be called 'Wonderful Counselor', 'Mighty God', 'Everlasting Father', 'Prince of Peace'."

Tim's 8th Birthday and Weekend in Pisac

2008-11-18T05:23:00.001-08:00

We spent this past weekend in the nearby village of Pisac to celebrate Tim's 8th birthday. Here are some pictures from our trip...

Family shot over Cusco on our way out of the city.

Lupe's son, Farik, joined us on our trip. Ben and Farik at the hotel bar.
Ben's not sure what to get. Hmmm...apple juice or Sprite?

The boys at the hotel pool. Farik had never seen a pool, let alone been in one. It took him a while to build up the courage to put his feet in, but once he did, he loved it. The rest of the day he kept asking, "Podemos volver a la piscina por favor?" ("Can we please go back to the pool?").

Lunch at the hotel restaurant.

Walking into town from our hotel.

Tim and Ben in the market with Quechua women in traditional garb.

Rick and Ben looking at the Incan (Pisac) ruins.

The ruins.

Tim, Ben and Rick with Pisac in the background on our way out of town.

Back home for birthday cake and ice cream.

We'll never forget Tim's 8th birthday!

Promesa, Neighbors, Adoption Update, & Zucchini Bread

2008-11-09T19:41:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! Just some random updates...

The Boys' School: Promesa

The boys are attending a bilingual, Christian school here. They love it. Ben is going 5 days a week and Tim is going for 3 (the other 2 we're home-schooling him -- come December, when the academic year ends here, they will both be home). The picture above is of them playing soccer, which they do every day. They are two of the only non-Peruvian, English speakers, so they are learning a lot of Spanish. Ben actually hasn't figured out that most people don't understand him and just talks to them in English. He has two close friends there, Reynaldo and Sofia, and the three of them play together constantly (photo below). It's really cute. Tim has learned the expression "no entiendo" ("I don't understand") and tells us he has to use it frequently. He has also explained that he never gets in trouble in class because he can't speak the language. That's good...I guess. Anyway, they are both enjoying school and making a lot of friends.

Our Neighbors:

There is a cute, older couple who live in the home across the street (or passage, as they call it here, since it's a sidewalk that separates us). They are probably in their 80's. The husband wears a three piece suit all day, and on days when the sun is out he sits on a chair outside their house or walks up and down the sidewalk. He cannot see or hear very well, so when we greet him, we need to get up very close and speak loudly. Ben blows them kisses every time we see them, which I guess translates in every language. Last week the woman dropped off some sort of fruit (???still not sure what it was) from a tree outside their house. Tim and I went to the market later that day and got them breakfast rolls and fruit for the next morning. Two days later, on Saturday, our doorbell rang at 6:30am (thankfully we're early risers!), and our neighbor was at our door with some pears in juice and some yummy bread. So, now we're in an all out "I can't understand what you're saying, but I'm going to try to give you lots of great treats and show you what a nice neighbor I am" exchange.

Adoption Update:

For those of you who are interested in an update about our adoption, we are in the final stages of having our dossier approved. This means that our agency in the States and MIMDES, the government agency here in Peru that oversees adoptions, will begin to look for a "match" for us. This can often take several months, but we feel encouraged that we're getting closer. The process has been long and tedious at times, but we trust that God has the whole thing figured out already, so we are not getting stressed about the details or timing. We talk and pray about the little girl or sibling pair that will one day be part of our family. We're all really excited.

Zucchini Bread:
Lastly, Ben and I were very proud of our first baking effort in Peru: zucchini bread. It was no small thing given that 1) the oven doesn't have a thermometer or any way to gauge the temperature; 2) when we went to the store, I didn't know the names of many of the ingredients in Spanish; 3) all measurements are different here; 4) we have no measuring cups or spoons anyway, and, 5) the high altitude totally throws baking off. Oh the adventures of living -- and baking! -- abroad.

(Tim and Ben helping Lupe clean the patio)
(Tim is learning to play the violin.)

"Poverty Parenting," Ice Cream and Ben's 5th Birthday

2008-10-27T13:08:00.001-07:00

Often, the person you least want to be around is someone who has just returned from working with very poor people in an impoverished and desolate area. He or she can be very impatient with and downright judgmental about the relative ease and comfort to which they have returned and in which you have been living (comfortably they assume) while he or she was away. This is the scenario into which our older son, Tim, inadvertently fell the night I returned from working with Dr. Bill Allen and two colleagues in the isolated and remote village of Santo Tomas about 120 miles south of Cusco. Just driving there took 7 hours over mountains and across rivers. The village lies around 12,000+ feet above sea level, so the nights are frigid and you can easily get sunburned during the day. We had traveled to Santo Tomas to assess what the town's health needs and infrastructure are and how a team of clinicians from the University of Georgia could best help when they visit in February. We also made a point of meeting the town's pillars (its mayor, pastor, doctor and hostal owners).

Like so many towns and villages in developing countries, the ratio of local residents-to-doctor is enormous. In Santo Tomas there is one (very young) doctor who has just finished his training and has been posted to the town for 1 year to pay back his medical education debt to the government. He is supposed to provide care to the town's approximately 8,000 residents and the 10,000-15,000 residents that live in the surrounding areas. He has to be the ultimate generalist: pediatrician, OBGYN, internist, geriatrician, infectious disease specialist, you name it. He has a few nurses to help him, but he is otherwise completely on his own with decent but limited facilities. Even some of the high-tech equipment he has, which was donated from somewhere else, he can't use because some part has broken or he simply does not know how to use it yet. There is no one to train him. For example, the week before we arrived a young baby died just after delivery because the mother had complications the doctor could not handle and she was sent on the 7-hour drive to Cusco. She made it, but her baby did not. Such is life's "lottery of birth." Some babies are born to loving parents with extensive resources and access to the best of modern medicine. Many, many babies are born with so much less or nothing at all...

So, back to our son and poor parenting on my part. When Tim told me that he did not like the ice cream I had brought home the night I returned and wanted something else (which, given, is obnoxious), I reacted more emotionally than thoughtfully. I told him he was spoiled and that most of the children with whom I had been interacting the last 3 days had probably never tasted ice cream. They lived literally in 1-room dirt-floor homes with minimal schooling and virtually non-existent opportunities for betterment in the future. In short, they had next to nothing and were grateful for anything that came their way. Tim stepped back from me wide-eyed, sensing that I was in something of a rarified mode. My response to Tim's comment reminded me of how my dad sometimes responded to me on those days when he would come home from work at the hospital and had had to do radiological work on young children with terminal conditions. On those occasions, the first thing I wanted to discuss with him was the horrible unfairness being visited upon me because mom would not give me the keys to the car or, when I was younger, the injustice of having to eat meatloaf. I think my dad actually handled those occasions better, because he would basically just tune me out and retreat to the quiet of his study. He knew I was utterly clueless about the world and behaving very poorly with a bloated sense of entitlement. But he also knew that he was not in an emotional state to explain that well to me. So he would wait until a more opportune time. Here's a link to a video of our trip: ( http://web.mac.com/allensinperu/Hinterland_Health_Ministry/Movies/Pages/Road_to_Santo_Tomas.html ).

The next day was Ben's 5th birthday, which we celebrated in fine fashion with a slumber party with his friends that included pizza, cake, ice cream, and a showing of "Peter Pan" in Spanish, which we did primarily for Farik (the little 4-year old boy who comes most days with his mom who helps in our home). He speaks no English. We had a blast!

Clean Water Anytime and "No Lettuce Please"

2008-10-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

I, (Rick), had the honor of attending a special ceremony in a local neighborhood where one of Bill Allen's colleagues, Rich Wagner, built and donated two massive water tanks with a solar-powered purification system (with help from "Water for the World": http://www.purewaterfortheworld.org/). This was a huge deal. Prior to this, the local residents had to cue up around 4pm every day for local water spigots to turn on for only two hours at a time with a supply of very dirty water. It was bad enough that they only had two hours of each day to get water, which is extremely heavy to carry; it was made even worse by the fact that the water was the source of so much illness and suffering in this village. This is true throughout much of rural Peru. All this to say that it was special to witness and be part of this ceremony.
At the end of the ceremony, a slightly awkward situation arose for me. Bill Allen pulled me aside and whispered, "You probably don't want to eat the lettuce." As it turns out, the local residents were so grateful for the new water system that they prepared a special meal for us with local produce. In these areas, any produce not thoroughly cooked or washed with clean water (which again, is hard to obtain here) is often a recipe for mild to serious gastrointestinal problems. But perhaps even worse, on a social level, is to refuse the food. So, hence, a diplomatic dilemma. It is amazing how quickly one can deploy "food hiding skills" from an early age. I did my best...

First Week in Cusco

2008-10-09T09:23:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone! Greetings from Cusco. We are feeling settled here, thankfully. The transition has been fairly smooth, particularly, we think, because we were here last summer for a month, both in this city and home. So we all knew what to expect of our surroundings. It's a great place.

Here are a few highlights from our first week:

1.) Tim has developed a passion for Monopoly. We ended up buying the game in the “mercado” (market) on Saturday (in Spanish, mind you) and he will often choose to play by himself, against himself, if he can’t find a willing opponent. “I won!” we will hear him yell from the other room.

2.) On Sunday we attended church with our special friends from last year, the Allens. They are missionaries through MTW (“Mission to the World”) and Bill Allen is a doctor who has established a clinic to treat the poor on the outskirts of Cusco. We’ll probably mention this family a lot, as they are amazing. This is a picture of Tim and Ben with their three girls, Noelle, Sarah, and Kate (recently adopted).

3.) The woman who helps take care of our home, Lupe, will be bringing her little boy, Farik, with her every afternoon. He’s adorable and he and Ben have hit it off (both 4, going on 5). This is a picture of them coloring together.

Airport Fun

2008-10-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

Well, we're in Peru after our overnight flight, though we missed our connection to Cusco and are spending several hours in the Lima airport today. Not the seamless arrival for which we hoped. Oh well. I wouldn't say any of us are at the "top of our game" (whatever that is) after our long, delayed flight last night, but it is good to be here.

Rick and I have both had the experience already when we started talking to someone in Spanish, they cringed and started speaking back to us in English, so clearly we have a ways to go in our linguistic ability. Here's a picture of the boys playing cards in the airport terminal. Think we "Gringos" stand out a bit here? Greetings to all from Peru!

Sept. 2008 -- Maine

2008-09-26T19:14:00.000-07:00

Here we are in Maine having dinner at the Jordan Pond House, with the beautiful Jordan Pond and Bubble Mountains in the background. What you don't know in looking in the picture is that 1) we got lost in finding it (yes I, Jen, have been to this place every summer of my life); 2) it was starting to get cold and windy as we finished our meal; 3) having biked several hours already, Ben was beginning to find the adventure "not so much fun anymore" and was starting to melt-down; and, 4) we only had 45 minutes to get back to our car before sunset (at least a 45 minute bike ride, esp. with young kids and a huge uphill ahead of us). All this to say that pictures can be deceiving. Keep this in mind as you see our pictures and read our posts in the future.

We leave for Peru on Wednesday and are very excited about the adventure that lies ahead. We are eager to return to Cusco. We thank God for this opportunity.