How do you live in a micro-climate?

Lima (actually the entire coast of Peru) is a desert, and for 9 months out of the year is cloudy and grey, but very little precipitation. We do get "llovizna" as it is called which is just an occasional heavy mist that spits in your face all day, but coming from Seattle I would say it doesn't really count as rain. So it should be no surprise that the all the foot hills leading up to the Andes are brown and dusty (like the communities where FH serves on the outskirts of the city - see picture below).


So imagine my surprise to find lush green hills just 40 min south of the city. In a small town, Quebrada Verde, near Pachacamac, due to some strange weather/ geographic anomaly, the hills find themselves in their own little microclimate that actually receives rain and turns what is normally brown, dry and harsh into a lush green oasis.



Thanks to a national holiday (Battle of Angamos Day) last Wednesday I too got to experience an oasis in the midst of what has often seemed to be a dry and harsh year. With a bunch of friends from Lima we trekked around for several hours exploring beautiful green hills, looking for walking sticks and snails along the way, and talking and laughing a ton. A great day, spent with awesome people - very rejuvenating.


But now I find myself back again in Lima, sitting at my desk and wondering....how do I keep from living in the desert? How can I live in a micro-climate that is beautiful and green and alive regardless of what my life surroundings are like? For the next couple of months I am cutting back my work hours to regain some balance and hopefully figure out the beginning of an answer to those questions. While I my brain knows that the answer lies in living out of the Spirit of the Lord (the well that never runs dry), I think I have gotten out of practice in living in and through that oasis. While I don't really have an answer to those questions yet (I think it is going to take a while), I just wanted to share a little about where I am at, and ask for you prayers - that in the next few months I would be able to reconnect and remember how to live in the micro-climate of the Spirit.

Time to Catch Up

Wow! Can it really be that it has been more than 4 months since my last post?.....well....yes I guess it can. Time flies when you’re having fun....and when you are working a lot ;)

Before I say anything more though I want to thank each of you that have been so faithful in your emotional, spiritual, and financial support of me and my work here (even when I have not held up my end of the bargain in keeping you posted). I know that these days time and money are resources in short supply, and I am so blessed to have your support.
GRACIAS!

As of August though, the relief projects I have been o attached too in Chincha came to a close. (There is more about the projects and its transitions and transformations in the last blog I posted).

September turned into a month of writing reports and sorting out financial statements for the projects. Although there was one week of rest in the middle of the month with an unplanned/ unexpected trip to Colombia with my friend Norah (pictures below).


And now here I am in October - slowing down a bit, and hopefully getting caught up on some long over due conversations with friends and family.

I hope you all are doing well. I would love to hear from you.

Dios les bendiga,
Lauren

Transitions and Transformation in Chincha

As some of you know, the last few months have been very busy with work in Chincha. For the last 7 months I have been working as the coordinator of two key projects FH-Peru has been carrying out in three communities hard hit by the earthquake of Aug. 15th last year. While the last few months have required a ton of work, time, and energy, the Lord truly blessed the work and the people and communities served by it. Here are some pictures from each of the projects:

1. psychosocial project - an intervention aimed at helping children and families recuperate emotionally and spiritually from the effects of the earthquake

2. reinforced adobe training project - aimed at providing a rebuilding alternative that is safe and economical

With lots of hard work (from the entire team working in Chincha), and lots of grace the projects have had a very positive impact on three communities severely affected by the earthquake and in the end the projects' goals were met - providing activities for 500 + children, providing training to over 40 community volunteers/ mother leaders, training to individuals in reinforced adobe construction, and the reconstruction of some 20+ homes for some of the most vulnerable families. However more than these successes, lives have also been trasformed as......

• mother leaders see their true worth as creations and children of God through trainings that gave them an opportunity to learn, and then use their gifts in serving children in their communities
• men and women gained not only skills in construction of their homes, but also were able to take pride in their hard work as they saw either their own home built, or were able to build the home of a neighbor in need
• children overcame their fears through participation in various activities where they were able to relax, play, learn, make new friends - having people who love and care about them take the time to invest in their development
• families began to work through problems that existed before the earthquake, but were heightened by the stress of living in a disaster zone (family violence, alcoholism, conflict, neglect, etc.)
• communities have drawn together to beginto reach out to one another

As Brenda, a mother volunteer with the psychosocial project explained....

Through participating in the psychosocial project, I began to regain my self-esteem, and learn that I have something to offer my community. After loosing my home to the earthquake, I was so overwhelmed and could not imagine how I and my family would ever overcome this tragedy. But now I have a hope for the future. Before the earthquake my community was not very united and everyone kept to themselves, but through the projects with FH we have learned to be organized and work together. FH has helped me to see that together, as a unified community trusting God, serving one another we will be able to move forward and rebuild not only the physical aspects of their community, but also the unity and relationships in our community that had been lost long before the earthquake.

Still there is much to be done in these communties, and in the surrounding areas. While there still remains much to be done in these communities, it has been amazing to see and be involved in the ways that the Lord has begun to redeem the tragedy of the earthquake in these communities, and to rebuild them back better, stronger, and healthier than before. Currently the work of FH-Peru in Chinha is in transition as the relief/ and rehabilitation projects wind down, and FH begins to plan (along with community leaders) to begin a long-term development program in Chincha starting in these three communities.

This also means transition for me and my work with FH. Until the end of the year I will be working with a team of FH staff to develope the long-term plan for work in Chincha (Sometime in Feb a new regional manager will take over my responsibilities in Chincha, so that I can return to developing disaster mitgation curriculum for communities, and churches). In the last few months of the year I am also going to be taking some time to refect on the last year and the transforming work the Lord has been carrying out not only in the communities where I have been serving, but in my own life as well.