A letter from Debbie and Harry Horne in Peru
July 14, 2010
Hoping, Serving, Changing …
A year of service for a lifetime of change — That’s the motto of the Young Adult Volunteer Program of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Six Peru YAVs in Huanta.
Within the first hour of September 1, 2009, six tired, happy-to-be-here and expectant young adult volunteers arrived at the Jorge Chavez International airport in Lima, Peru. Several of us had already been waiting for these six young folks to appear through the double glass doors exiting from Customs for a couple of hours. We were tired, but they were even more tired after a full day of travel. In spite of their exhaustion, they were happy to be here and were excited about the beginning of their year of service in Peru as PC(USA) Young Adult Volunteers, finally, after all of the waiting and preparations since the YAV Placement Event about five months earlier. I imagine that there were a number of other things going around in their minds at that time, too, including wondering just exactly what lay ahead for them this year in Peru.
Now, as the year draws to a close, I sit here contemplating on these six young folks and remembering their tired, happy, and expectant faces upon their arrival almost 11 months ago. Just what did they expect during their year here? What were their hopes and dreams for this year? And have their expectations been met? Have their hopes and dreams been fulfilled? Dashed? Are they returning to the United States after their year of service hopeful and changed because of their experience in Peru?
More faces of hope, younger faces of hope, also tired, happy and expectant, here in Peru.
They are the children of the TAMAR Association. They are children who are victims, survivors, of sexual abuse, who receive shelter, along with educational and psychological help from one of Peru’s Joining Hands’ partner institutions, Paz y Esperanza, Huánuco, Peru. They are tired — tired of being poor, tired of being used and abused by their aggressors. At the same time, however, they are happy and hopeful, thanks to the ongoing work of Paz y Esperanza and of one of our Young Adult Volunteers, Sarah Chancellor. Sarah has worked with the TAMAR children here in Peru this year and has been a part of giving them hope for their futures through her work and play, and just her presence.
They are the children of the Compassion International Program in a church in Collique, Lima, Peru, a member of another one of our partners, Fraternidad Cristiana Vida. They are tired, tired of living in extreme poverty, struggling just to have the basic necessities in life like running water, electricity and food three times a day. Peru YAV, Ginna Irby, has spent three days a week there with them throughout this YAV year, working alongside the Compassion Program’s teachers. The children receive Christian and secular education along with a good nutritious lunch through the Compassion International Collique Program. At the same time, they have also learned what it means to be a follower of Christ and what it means for someone, even a lively, funny young adult volunteer from the United States to genuinely care about them and want a good life for each of them. Ginna’s work and accompaniment in this poor area of Lima has given new hope to these children and to their families.
Joe and Anna with a few CAMBIALO children.
They are the children of the new project in La Oroya called CAMBIALO. They are children whose very lives are threatened by the contamination of the mining plant Doe Run Peru. They are tired, tired of living with lead in their blood and contaminated air to breathe. They are also tired of the conflicts that have been going on for years now between the Doe Run company, the mine workers and the government, and want it all to be resolved soon, and in a way that will provide them healthy bodies and clean air to breathe. Through the work of Peru’s Joining Hands, partner institution Filomena Tomaira Pacsi, and YAVs Joe Tobiason and Anna Gray with CAMBIALO, struggling for their well-being, these children of La Oroya are beginning to feel happy and hopeful again and to believe that change is coming for them.
Hoping, serving, changing… A year of service for a lifetime of change. Yes, indeed!
To support Young Adult Volunteers, go to this list of giving opportunities. For more information about the YAV program, see the Young Adult Volunteers website.
Blessings,
Debbie and Harry Horne
The 2010 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 294
