Background
 In
March 2008, I will be going to Pisco, a city south of Lima, Peru, on
a short term mission trip with the Christian charity Latin Link. I
will be going for just under four months, from March 24th – July
14th and will be travelling with eleven other young people,
including two leaders- Katy Lovatt and Tom Price. Katy and Tom will
be in charge of the team on a day-to-day basis and have a number of
additional responsibilities.
Ruth Kirkpatrick is Latin Link’s
Short-Term Coordinator in Peru and she will be our Supervisor. On
arrival in Peru, Ruth will meet us at the airport and spend some
time with us as we acclimatise to our new surroundings and get the
feel for Peru. She will provide a few days of local orientation,
which will cover everything from how to catch the bus, to tips on
buying groceries. She will accompany us to our first project in
Pisco. She will be our supervisor for the whole of our time in Peru
and she will make regular visits to our projects to support us
whilst we are there.
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About Pisco
Pisco is a coastal city (9 metres
above sea level) that is situated south of Lima in the Ica Region of
Peru. It is the capital of the Pisco Province and has a population
of around 117,000 people. Pisco means “bird” in Quechua, one of the
indigenous languages of Peru.
Pisco was very near the epicentre
of the earthquake (8.0 on the Rictascale) which struck south central
Peru August 2007. It has been reported that 80% of the city was
destroyed. The Sam Clemente Cathedral of Pisco was also destroyed
and there were approximately 100 deaths reported within the
cathedral as Mass was occurring at the time of the earthquake.
The Ica region is important for
agriculture and is where cotton, grapes, asparagus, olives and other
produce are cultivated. The Peruvians call Ica the land of sun,
because despite having the 4 seasons, the climate is warm and dry,
making it feel like summer year-round.
View Larger Map
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Working local
organisations
As a team, we will be working with
the Iglesia Evangelica Peruana- Cabeza de Toro in Pisco to help
construct a multi-use building for the church to use. The project
will be supervised by Peace and Hope.
Peace and Hope (Paz
y Esperanza) is an organisation that are connected with the
church and will be involved with the project we will be working on.
They are currently helping the local community to have water that is
fit for human consumption.
 It
was formed to help evangelicals who were fleeing the violence
generated by the ‘Shining Path’ guerrilla movement and by state
forces in the 1980’s. They also secured the release of over 100
believers who had been wrongly imprisoned during the violence. Now
the work has extended to include other vulnerable groups in Peruvian
society, such as native peoples, children and victims of sexual
abuse and domestic violence. The purpose is to express God’s love
and justice by protecting and improving their lives. Their website
www.pazyesperanza.org
(Spanish and English) is available for an insight into their work.
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The Project
 The
multi-use building will be used for church activities and will also
be used for Outreach Activities for the local community. It is hoped
that we will not only help with the construction of the building but
with working with the congregation to reach out to the surrounding
community to enable them to grow in the Word of God through
discipleship and evangelism.
The rural community of Cabeza de
Toro will benefit from the project. Obviously the Church family will
benefit from having their own building to meet in and organise
activites. They also have a real heart for the community and hope to
be helping to meet some of the needs that exist. They also hope to
use the church building as a means of providing for the community in
practical ways. There are 50 families living in the community.
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Living in Pisco
We will not be living in Cabeza de
Toro as there is no electricity or reliable water supply. Instead we
will be staying in Tupac Amaru which is about 50 minutes drives away
from the project. Our accommodation will be in a house provided by a
lady from the church in Tupac, which is the church where the Peru 1
team will be working. The Iglesia de Tupac (Tupac Church) will
provide our main evening meals, we will have access to the community
dining room in the church and there will be a bathroom and kitchen
for us to use.
Internet will be readily
accessible, however, I may not be able to use it more than once a
week. If anyone wishes to send anything, our postal address is still
to be confirmed and you should allow at least 14 days for post to
arrive and please remember there is a 5-hour time difference when
phoning Peru! (e.g. 9am in the UK is 4am in Peru)
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The Team
Before heading out, we will each
be assigned one responsibility from the following:
- Recreation Co-ordinator
(Organising Sports and other recreations with Latin Americans,
helping to organise travel plans when in Peru)
- Devotions Co-ordinator
(Thinking about + organising material to use and drawing up a rota
once we are there)
- Drama Co-ordinator (Organising
and enthusing team in use of drama when in Peru – street
evangelism, church services, kids work etc…)
- Domestic Co-ordinator ( Aware
of health and safety issues, responsible for drawing up rota for
cooking, cleaning once in South America, Bring cookery books)
- Translator (Absolutely key! –
Need good level of Spanish)
- Report Writer (Responsible for
correspondence with Latin Link, + report of weekly happenings,
team diary etc….)
- First Aid Co-ordinator
(responsible for first aid kit, good if have some first aid
knowledge)
- Equipment Co-ordinator
(Responsible for arrival and safe distribution of any equipment
for Latin link staff)
- Music Co-ordinator (Responsible
for bringing music, song words for use in devotion + liaising with
whoever is taking the devotion)
- Children’s Co-ordinator ( to
help organise events with kids, sunday school etc...)
- Treasurer (In charge of team
money- for food and accommodation – proper accounts must be held.)
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Prayer Diary
-
Monday: Ruth Kirkpatrick is
Latin Link’s Short- term Coordinator in Peru. Pray for her as she
works with us & acts as our supervisor. Pray also for ‘Peace &
Hope’- an organisation whom we will be working with during our
project.
-
Tuesday: Pray for our project-
the Ica Region and the church- ‘Iglesia Evangelica Peruana, Cabeza
de Toro’ who are still recovering from the effects of the 2007
earthquake.
-
Wednesday: Pray for our two
leaders- Katy Lovatt & Tom Price.
-
Thursday: Pray for our
physical safety on the building site and whilst we travel.
-
Friday: Pray for our health.
-
Saturday: Pray for our
individual roles within the team- e.g. Delphine is the translator.
-
Sunday: Pray for any conflicts
or tension that have arisen and also for the spiritual welfare of the team.
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Links
Delphine Hodges
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