A Great Saturday In Pachacutec!
What a great day we had in Pachacutec on Saturday!
Pachacutec is a shantytown of 300,000 people. It is located in the sand dunes an hour and a half north of Lima. It is a place of not just poverty, but extreme poverty, and is mainly made up of people who come from the provinces to Lima hoping to find work, but then do not, and wind up stuck far away from home and with little or no money. The average person in Pachacutec tries to survive on about a dollar a day. Most homes are really shacks, and few have electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing. Many of the homes feature a single mom trying to take care of several young children.
40 of us from FRC Lima boarded a big bus on Saturday and rambled up to Pachacutec. We were loaded with paneton, chocolate, candy, caramels, cookies, juice, and a ton of Christmas toys and gifts. Our folks also prepared a show for the children, featuring clowns, dancers, Santa Claus (or "Papa Noel" as he's known here in Peru), Winnie the Pooh, prizes, confetti, and silly string! The kids in Pachacutec ate it up! They had a ball - and so did we!
In total, more than 400 kids in Pachacutec received Christmas gifts, thanks to the generosity of our folks at FRC Lima. For probably 99% of the kids who were there, those were the only Christmas gifts that they'll receive this year.
I want to say a special thanks to Pati and Adele, who did a fantastic job planning and preparing the Pachacutec party. I also want to say a special thanks to Kuntur, who was the star of the show that was performed for the children.
It was an honor for all of us at FRC Lima to be able to bless our young friends in Pachacutec this Christmas - but in reality I think that we received an even greater blessing than the children did.
Pachacutec is a shantytown of 300,000 people. It is located in the sand dunes an hour and a half north of Lima. It is a place of not just poverty, but extreme poverty, and is mainly made up of people who come from the provinces to Lima hoping to find work, but then do not, and wind up stuck far away from home and with little or no money. The average person in Pachacutec tries to survive on about a dollar a day. Most homes are really shacks, and few have electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing. Many of the homes feature a single mom trying to take care of several young children.
40 of us from FRC Lima boarded a big bus on Saturday and rambled up to Pachacutec. We were loaded with paneton, chocolate, candy, caramels, cookies, juice, and a ton of Christmas toys and gifts. Our folks also prepared a show for the children, featuring clowns, dancers, Santa Claus (or "Papa Noel" as he's known here in Peru), Winnie the Pooh, prizes, confetti, and silly string! The kids in Pachacutec ate it up! They had a ball - and so did we!
In total, more than 400 kids in Pachacutec received Christmas gifts, thanks to the generosity of our folks at FRC Lima. For probably 99% of the kids who were there, those were the only Christmas gifts that they'll receive this year.
I want to say a special thanks to Pati and Adele, who did a fantastic job planning and preparing the Pachacutec party. I also want to say a special thanks to Kuntur, who was the star of the show that was performed for the children.
It was an honor for all of us at FRC Lima to be able to bless our young friends in Pachacutec this Christmas - but in reality I think that we received an even greater blessing than the children did.
posted by Stephen Guschov at 5:44 PM
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