Joy of Reading & Colors of Life: 2 Ways to Get Involved

Greetings Family and Friends.

I am excited to share with you what I have been up to these last few months. Since moving here I have held many positions, from healthcare worker to Sunday-school coordinator. I love the different names I am called as I go about my work. When we first arrived, everyone called me "gringa", the given name to any foreign looking person. As I started working at the clinic and got to know the mothers and children, inevitably a small child would shyly greet me with "Hola doctora" as I walked by their house. (That name sure gave a boost to my self esteem) Then as I made my way around the neighborhood on home visits with our church group, I was called "hermana" the same name that Peruvians call nuns. Eventually, I became "vecina" or neighbor. I am often shouted at across busy avenues in another part of town. Mostly, I don't know who is calling me as I return their greetings with a smile, except that they must live somewhere near me and are happy to find a familiar face in the busy downtown.

Now I have been given a new name, "Profesora", and like all my names, it makes me smile when a little child greets me with a boisterous "Buenos días Profesora". This new name has surprised me, as I never expected to find myself teaching while in Peru. But one thing I have learned in life, if you ever say that you are not going to do something, get ready, you will probably end up doing it.

Joy of Reading

In our neighborhood, as soon as a child can walk, they are often left to wander and play in the streets with the other neighborhood kids. Few are the children that receive special attention from their parents. The daily reality of poverty often causes parents to be so preoccupied with work and finding the next meal that children are neglected. These little faces often appear at our door, peaking in windows to see what we are up to. They love to be invited in to spend time with our family. The problem is often I am busy with my own children, reading to them or helping them with homework. But how could I turn away such precious faces? I would invite them in to sit on our couch while we finished up homework. They often wanted to know what we were reading or studying and I realized that these children do not have any books. They have never been read bedtime stories or fairy tales. So, I began reading books with them. Slowly, my collection of books grew as did the little faces showing up at the door.

That slowly grew to become Kumamoto's first reading club. While many of these kids have enthusiasm to learn and advance, oftentimes the culture in which they live does not foster a love of learning. Bart and I wanted to do something to change this and decided to spend our mornings working on reading and writing with some children. The children we work with do not study at school. Their parents are unable to send them. Often they have to stay home in order to be around when the water in our neighborhood turns so that they can fill buckets of water. We only get water every other day for an hour and a half. Most families live with 5 buckets of water for two days. These children also have to watch younger siblings and cannot go to school. Sometimes their parents simply can't afford the uniform and school supplies that must be purchased to attend the free Peruvian schools.

So now these children come over in the mornings and we have school here at our pastoral center. I tested 20 children and have 4 reading groups, from first readers to an advanced group. The youngest children are working with Bart while I work with the advanced kids.

(Some of the girls in the highest reading group. The girls with the veils belong to a religious group called Israelistas)

Some of these children are unable to write their names while others are can read short words. Whatever their level, they need attention if they are ever going to be able to transcend the situations in which they live.

Initially we wanted to gather 3 times a week, but the kids love it and asked to do it everyday.

We would very much like to buy more books and materials for "Joy of Reading." My little project is growing faster than we can keep up with and we would like to invite your financial help. I can buy copies of books here for little cost. Each book is about 3 dollars. We also need materials like pencils and papers. We would like to get small tables and chairs for the younger children and buy some book shelves. I hope you would considering helping us with money to buy these items.

Colors of Life

Another project started when a neighbor and I sat chatting in front of her house a few weeks ago. She was talking about how hard it is to make money as she was knitting a beautiful scarf. I asked her why she didn't sell scarves and she replied, "who will buy them?" I realized that she has a talent but lacks the resources to share that with others. Many women in Peru knit as a way to earn a bit of extra income and we came up with an idea to gather woman in our community and help them start a small women's co-op. We invited women in our neighborhood to a meeting. The plan is to make and sell quality hand-knit products, such as scarfs, in the United States. The name of the group is "Colors of Life."

Colors of Life: Our first meeting

Get Involved

Want to get involved in a project to bring about change in the world?

Our scarfs (see images below) range in price from $20 to $25 depending on the style and materials. The beauty of this project is that we can custom make a scarf to your specifications. Just let us know your colors and we are happy to get knitting.

We are also happy to offer a two for one deal: for a $100 donation to the Joy of Reading program we will send you one complementary scarf of your choice.

If you are interested, send me an email and I can tell you the best way to send money. I hope you will think about giving homemade Peruvian scarfs to your friends this Christmas, or sending an alternative Christmas gift by buying books for Peruvian kids.

Flor, Teresa, and Deysi with three color patterns: more choices in process!