Sunflowers

Photo: Girasoles, a community in motion

I would like to tell you about a recent trip I made to the city of Ica. Unbeknownst to me, the bus ride to Ica (on a public transport bus) is 6-hours. Needless to say, this made for a long day. Long bus rides aside, my trip to Ica was predicated on a request from a long time partner of HBI’s - Mr. Billy Clark, Union Biblica's Director of Operations.

In the spring of 2010 Mr. Clark went to City of Ica to accompany a work team to the Girasoles Project. For a number of years Union Biblica has run a home for abandon boys just outside of the city center of Ica. While visiting the Girasoles home he was asked by the "house Father" (a delightful young man by the name of Augusto) to join him for a quick trip to an area just west of the Girasoles Center. What Billy saw in this area was extremely compelling to him. As he wrote in an email to me "the area is one of the poorest I have ever seen in Peru - and I have been everywhere in Peru. We must do something Wayne."

Well, as you all know, I could not turn down such an invitation. On Thursday my own eyes confirmed Billy's words. This was indeed one of the poorest areas I have ever been to in Peru (and I have been to a lot of places in Peru and a lot of places in developing countries). The community, ironically named Girasoles (Sunflower in English), is located at the end of a long dirt road. It was a resettlement area following the massive earthquakes in Ica in 2007. Not only did the government move this very poor community to the new area of Girasoles, they used the area to dump debris and waste from the various reconstruction sites around the area. It is an amazing place. Words are hard to generate that fully describe the desolation and seeming hopelessness. I have a small video (see below), but even this 90-second montage does not describe the need.

One woman (please see the photo above) truly helps to amplify my story. We met this young woman as we went around the area delivering water from a truck Union Biblica rented for the afternoon (a whopping S/200 Soles provides a truck, driver, and water for most of the community; S/200 is about $60). I should mention that Girasoles is a community of some 180 families and about 1,200 people. Anyway, as we walked around helping people get water back to their "homes," my eye caught a young woman with a baby on her back. She was methodically bringing out buckets (actually old plastic bins and buckets) for water and seemed to be very self-sufficient. All the while, a small baby dangled from her back in a cloth shall.

Of course I had to approach her to ask the age of her baby. As it turns out, he is 9-months old (the same age as our little Alex but giant in comparison). She is 23 years old, single and living alone in a shack made of black plastic sheets and woven rattan mats. She has no electricity, no water, no sewage disposal, and no work. She keeps a few ducks and chickens in her home for food and burns scavenged wood for her cooking and heat.

She did not ask me for anything. She was very thankful for my meager help in carrying a few buckets of water back to her home - but she was more than capable of taking care of herself. When we asked her about her life - she spoke without emotion or elaboration. She merely stated, "I am working for a better life, and I am looking toward the future."

HBI is committed to helping build opportunities for change. We do this by bridging resources to need. We will be taking a team to work in the community of Girasoles in the City of Ica in the summer of 2011. Please consider joining us. Let’s all work toward a better life for everyone. Thank you.