Week Numero Tres

Monday, July 27, 2009 (Day 17):

Happy Monday!

Today seems to be the day that the exhaustion of the trip caught up with us. Everyone, including myself, were talking about how tired we were today. We persevered though and loved on kids!

Today we went back to the girls home that we visited a couple of weeks ago with the church that was here. It seems like forever ago that we went, but it was only two weeks. This is the home with all the teen moms. All of the girls have been sexually abused and as a result, have children. It is so sad to watch because these girls are still children themselves. They do not know how to fully care for a child. It was very interesting watching the girls carry around their children. Some would barely hang on to their 4 month old babies. I can tell some of them definitely want to still be a child and not have to take care of a child.

As has been the case the whole time in Peru, we had to be flexible again today. When we got to the home, we noticed all the girls had their kids dressed up in red and white and their strollers were decorated. Come to find out, they were getting ready for a little Independence Day parade. Tomorrow is the actual Peruvian Independence Day from Spain. Another girls home from down the street came down to watch the parade and show the girls put on. This other girls home is actually about to combine with the one we are going to this week. Both homes have new directors and they are wanting to combine forces. Hopefully, this will be a good move for all of the girls. Kelli told us the other home was run down and used to have a terrible director. It's our prayer that the girls have an easy transition with new leadership and new roommates.

The celebration started off with the singing of the National Anthem of Peru. It was so cool to hear all the girls singing their national song so loudly. I wish Americans would sing the Star-Spangled Banner as loud as these girls sang their song. Then one of the directors read off the facts about Peru's independence. Of course it was all in Spanish, so I had no clue what was being said. Then the parade started. The little twin boys and a girl were the leaders of the parade. They were just about the cutest things I have ever seen. Then all the moms pushed their little ones in strollers. After the parade, the girls dressed up and performed some traditional Peruvian dances. Everyone then started dancing...what's a fiesta without dancing?!?

While we were hanging out, talking with the girls, one girl asked Robyn how many children she had. She said, zero. The girl looked at her and said, no, one, two, three... Robyn still confused asked someone to translate. Sure enough, the girl was asking Robyn how many children she had. I think the girl assumed that everyone young woman around our age has at least one child. The girl was shocked that we didn't have children.

After lunch, we had a question/answer session with the girls. Of course, the all asked if we had boyfriends and asked why we didn't. Then we played the pass the ball 10 times game and soccer. The girls loved getting to play the games. Some of the interns watched their children so they could come play. Right before we left, this one girl, Jackline starting clinging to me. She is 12 and has a 4 month old baby. I think her mentality is probably around 6. She tried to feed her son an orange earlier in the day. She also wanted to play with Play-Doh with me. She is the main one that I can tell is not mature enough to have a child. It's so sad because I know she wants to play like a normal 12 year old. She doesn't want the responsibility of having a child. But some horrible person abused her and got her pregnant. I'm hoping I can form a relationship with her over this week.

I was actually surprised that the girls were willing to latch onto us. I figured they have more of focus on their children and not forming relationships with us. Hopefully through the teaching of Esther, these girls will realize that they are beautiful and that God loves them more than anything else in this world.

Please keep these girls in your prayers. They have been through so much already in their young lives. Pray for them and their babies. Also, be in prayer for the transition of the new director and that the girls from both homes will mesh.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support! You all are amazing!!

God Bless!
Dawn