Street Kids - that's not a problem here

Photo: Street kids in a cooking class at the Ninos del Rio program

Today we met with a street youth program in the community of Ica. Ica is a very impoverished community just on the outskirts of downtown Lima. It is a dense, urban area of alley ways and crowded streets. There is garbage on every corner and there is rank odor of decay everywhere.

The program, Ninos del Rio, is a collaboration between French and Peruvian organizations. They have been working for the last 10-years in a very impoverished area of Rimac with street children. Their work is around a drop-in center, computer lab, and workshops on education, trades and general skills advancement.

Our conversation today was about partnering together to build a coalition of programs and agencies working with street kids to collaborate their resources toward ending youth homelessness. We were concerned that they would be very suspicious of our motives. In fact they were. Our conversation did not start well. They wondered why we were in their office. They wondered what we had to offer. They were very suspicious of our motives. After an hour of conversation, I think, they began to realize that we only wanted to help. In the end - they trusted us.

We have decided to work together to plan a conference for September. In fact at one point their Director of Education said to us, "I prayed for something like this. . . and here you are. It is a gift from the heavens."

At the end of our meeting we met with a few of the street kids in their program. One of them, a young woman who was no more than 15-years old, had a child herself. The child is 18-months old. She is a beautiful young girl with a vibrant smile and a lively spirit. My instant thought was - "please protect her from a life of struggle and pain." I am not sure this prayer will come true. For I fear she will be thrust into a life of poverty and uncertainty. This is something I hope we can end.

At the end of our meeting I asked the leaders of the Ninos del Rio program to join us and work to unite all of the programs and NGOs in Lima who work with street children. I asked them to join us in ending the struggle and pain that permeates the lives of the kids we met tonight.

I am very hopeful for the next steps of our collaboration. I am very hopeful that we will work together to bring an end to youth homelessness in Peru. I am uncertain, however, of the future. One thing I know for certain - we will not stop trying.

Hit the Ground Running

We had a full first day in Lima. After meeting with a tailor to talk about a "hair brain" plan of mine to raise money for HBI and our street youth efforts - that is a whole separate story unto itself that I will tell later - we spoke with a group of volunteers at the OPERECE Organization in Surco.

OPRECE is a eye care non-governmental organization that provides low-cost and free (under Clinton Foundation funding) cataract surgeries for poor and under served patients. They are doing marvelous work all over Peru and we wanted to give them an opportunity to know how strongly HBI agrees with their work, mission and projects.

Tonight we had a meeting with the Executive Director of OPRECE, our HBI staff (Ben, Carmen and myself) and the lead surgeon (Dr. Francisco Cisnero) to talk about future collaborations and projects. We will be meeting with them again tomorrow to continue this conversation.

In addition, tomorrow we are meeting with a couple of street youth programs in the Rimac area of central Lima. The Rimac neighborhood is one of the poorest in the entire metropolitan area and has a tremendous problem with street youth. We are hoping to connect with NGOs in the area to talk with them about ways we may be able to support their work or advance their efforts.

We will post more updates manana. Until then - thank you for all of your support.

What a Month!

What a month the past few weeks have been. We have had a series of fundraiser events that have brought in over $30,000 for our work; and we have been laying the ground work to build toward a very busy summer of programs and projects.

As I type this message, Ben (HBI's Director of Operations) and I are headed to Peru for our Street Youth Symposium (please see the above flier). Our goals for the Street Youth Symposium are to facilitate collaboration and partnership between non-governmental organizations working with street and abandon youth in Lima and Arequipa. We know this is not going to be an easy endeavor. We are planning to follow-up our first symposium meeting with a secondary set of trainings and symposium in the fall.

Stay tuned to the Blog over the next week. We will be posting updates on the Street Youth Symposium meetings and providing more information about our full summer of activities.

The work of HBI would not be possible without supporters and friends like you. Thank you so much for making May a very successful fundraising period for HBI and thank you for your on-going dedication to the work of building bridges of collaboration and support.

Join us . . . be a bridge

3 Non Joggers

A special thank you to 3-Non Joggers for the opportunity to be on their podcast to talk about the 2012 Bridging the Divide events in Lima and Arequipa.

The 3nonjoggers podcast will be available on the Apple iTunes website on Friday, April 20. Please download (or listen) the podcast at: iTunes Apple 3nonjoggers

And, consider joining the HBI Team in Peru for the Bridging the Divide events in December 2012. For more information on the events, please go to our website and download an application: IAMTHEBRIDGE

Spread the Word

I just spoke at Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Salem, Oregon. There were about 35 people in attendance to hear my "song and dance" about HBI and our model of collaboration. It was really great to have a spirited group of interested people listen to me drone on for 60-minutes about HBI without falling asleep.

Seriously though, it got me thinking . . . we need to get the word of HBI, the message of our work, into the minds of more people. Aside from creating a "viral" message through social media - one of the ways to scale a message is through community based talks.

To this end, we are asking any of our stakeholders who may know of places where we can speak and spread the message of HBI to send your suggestions our way. We are interested in talking with community groups, institutions (I speak with academic groups all the time), faith-based communities and anyone who wants to hear about our model of international outreach.

If you know of a group or community who may be interested in hearing the message of HBI - please send your suggestions to HBI's Director of Operations, Mr. Benjamin Grass at benjamin@HBInt.org

Thanks for all of your help.

Bridging the Divide II

Are you interested in the adventure of a lifetime? have you always wanted to push yourself to your endurance and physical limits? have you ever wanted to run through the sandhills of the lower Andes Mountains?

HBI is looking for runners to participate in the Second Annual Bridging the Divide events in Lima and Arequipa. We have a new website up and running (pun intended) and an application available for any interested participants.

Consider joining us for a truly "adventure of a lifetime" experiences. For more informaiton on the events and to download a copy of the Bridging the Divide application - please see: http://iamthebridge.org/iamthebridge/Home.html