Desirae and Joe were married not too long a ago, but I hope this makes it feel like just yesterday. Even more awesomeness to follow this week. Keep your eyes open for more.
Growing up, I usually had one pair of sneakers, and that was it. I didn’t really have dress shoes, because I didn’t get dressed up. I was a kid, and playing was my job. It took months before I would come close to wearing out my shoes, and then my parents would take me out to get a new pair. Even now, before I came here to Peru, my sneakers were getting pretty close to wearing out from months of abuse, so I decided to purchase some new ones. Growing up, and even now, it never crossed my mind that people would ever wear two different shoes. But some situations don’t allow you to choose. The boy in this photograph, from the all boys home Axshel and I visited, has only this “un-pair” of shoes. I’m not sure why he is wearing two different shoes, but it definitely catches my attention, makes me think twice about how blessed I’ve been growing up with two parents, let alone shoes that match.
Construction on the older boys house has begun! The photo above is of the first room to be stuccoed after all the beds and closest have been moved to the other side of the apartment. Everyone is still living in the house and continue on with their daily lives, only a bit closer together. Things can get pretty cramped when you have all 11 boys on one side of the apartment with the bunk beds practically touching each other. But it’s worth all the agony. The walls were previously covered with a woven white plastic material called “rafia” which covered the exposed brick for safety reasons. Once the team from Liberti Church (located in Philadelphia) arrives, they will begin projects like painting the boys apartment which will give the apartment a much nicer look and feel even more like a home. Once all the walls are painted and all is finished, the exterminator will come and rid the apartment of pests. This wasn’t possible with the rafia on the walls, because the pests would just return again and again. But, now with stuccoed walls, they have no place to hide :) I can say, from my own point of view, that this construction is very exciting!
As a kid, riding your bike is something you can do for hours. You can do it with your friends or by yourself. You can ride in circles or in a straight line forever, and it never seems to get boring. As a kid, your imagination will create some sort of imaginary game, event, or person to do it with when nothing or no one else is around. Here at New Hope, the kids got tired of one of the bikes sitting around with two flat tires. So, as boys do, they got their hands dirty and used their imagination to remove the flat tires and decided to ride the bike without them! Genius! They took turns riding the tireless bike for hours in circles, riding it around the futbol court. When it was someone else’s turn, the others would sit on the sidelines and count the bike rider’s laps around the court until it was their turn again. In this photo, it was Freddy’s turn.
Since we began our project to photograph children here in Peru, we have met some amazing people, interesting people, amazingly talented kids and have heard stories which you just can’t even comprehend. The above photograph was taken at Casa Hogar el Amor de Dios, another children’s home in the same neighborhood/area of Arequipa that New Hope is located (Pachacutec). Casa Hogar el Amor de Dios currently has about 17 kids (3 not pictured) under the care of Jose and his wife. While New Hope is supported by individual donors and people who sponsor the children on a monthly basis, Jose and his wife are currently supporting all the kids, and monthly expenses are out of their own pocket. Jose is a pastor, and I don’t know what his wife does for work, but I know she works a lot. Jose and his wife recently took over the home and have made some great improvements. They have planted trees, started a garden, built a large bird cage, and raise baby chickens. They have really made the place look amazing for the kids. The kids are really well cared for by Jose and his wife, and, with the two days I have spent with Jose, I can tell he loves each one of these kids as his own.
