Sponsor Letter 4

Dear Family and Friends,

I am going to start this letter being quite blunt (because my sister always told me that she can count on me to be blunt…I’ll leave you to decide whether that’s a good thing or not). Writing these letters totally gives me the shakes, that’s to say, gives me anxiety because I don’t know where to begin to tell you all about what I am experiencing here in Peru. But that’s just it… I am not participating in a scientific experiment or even a humanitarian project that I can reduce to a few quantitative bullet points. Rather, I am here living life, full of uncontrollable laughter and tears alongside all of our friends.

What I would like to do is take each one of you by the hand and introduce you to all the sights, sounds, and smells that fill my life everyday: the brightly painted houses that give a little color to the grey filled skies; the constant shouts of children that come from the elementary school next to our house, the unintelligible shouts of the men with their bicycle-carts, supposedly shouting the items for sale with their price; “las señoras de las salsas”/ “the sauce ladies”, who have all solutions for your Peruvian cooking needs (LK, you would go nuts); the rancid smell of the chicken and fish street vendors; the salsa music and dog barks that serve as our lullabies. When my mom came to visit me in June, she brought it to my attention that all of these things that seemed so shocking to her have become for me a source of normalcy and comfort.

My brother and my mom came to visit me…that is definitely something to talk about! In typical Ingalls fashion, my mom, Anna Lee, arrived with a sprained ankle and my brother, Victor, with the flu…but such is the life, and we went with the flow. In fact, I think it made the experience all the more authentic as Victor had to go to the neighborhood clinic with Benjamin and be a little more dependent on others to do things for him. All the same, he managed to gather enough strength to accompany my mom and me to mass, play with the kids, and visit a few friends. It was truly surreal to watch the interaction between my “two worlds”, especially as the kids climbed on my brother as if he were a jungle gym and understood everything my mom said to them even though she was talking in English. I suppose there is a universal mom language understood by all children! Mom and I at Machu Picchu. Why I can’t physically take you by the hand as I did Mom and Victor, I’ll once again try my best to introduce to a few more aspects of our life here.

Myself, Benjamin, Ceci & my brother Victor

Hogar de La Paz

We have two outside apostolates, meaning two places we go outside of our neighborhood to help out once a week, one of which is the Hogar de La Paz/ Home of Peace, where we go every Friday morning. The home is run by the Sisters of Charity, the order founded by Mother Teresa, and it is truly everything you would imagine it would be. To start with, the neighborhood in which it is located (a mere 20 minute walk from our house) has been referred to as the Calcutta of Peru. It is disgusting in every sense of the word. The smells are disgusting, the mounds of trash in the street are disgusting, the crime is disgusting, the living conditions are disgusting. After nearly a year, every time we go, I am always taken aback and dumbfounded to understand the striking discrepancy of wealth and lifestyle here in Lima, as the surrounding neighborhoods literally appear to be a different world.

All that to say, the House of Peace truly lives up to its name. When you walk through the little brown door, you are greeted by a well kept garden and an abundance of smiling faces. The home more or less has two parts: downstairs is occupied by homeless elderly men and upstairs is home to about 40 severely handicapped children abandoned at birth (I say children, but many of these babies are now 16 years old). We always help out upstairs doing anything from washing clothes and trimming nails to strolling the halls with the few who can walk and feeding some of the older boys. When the newest member of our community, Nathan from France, returned from the home the past Friday, he summed up his experience with the word “provocative”. Besides the outside neighborhood which I already described, the life inside the home definitely makes the brain churn. One is confronted with what it really means to be human as he looks into the eyes of the boys in the wheelchairs with their mangled arms and lack of words. Many people, obviously including their own parents, struggle to see them as humans, worthy of all the same things as you and I. That being said, I am always struck by the care the sisters give to all the children. Every moment of their day that is not occupied by prayer, is filled with the little tasks essential for maintaining the home and making sure all the residents feel comfortable and loved. They give every ounce of their being to people who will never be able to physically give them something in return, but all boys that we spend time with every week are full of little reminders that they in fact are grateful for the love they receive. Jose Martin, without making eye contact, will gently take your hand, smile and make a gurgling sound in his throat. At the sound of your voice, Carlitos awakes from his stupor to give you the world’s biggest smile and shout. Santos, totally incapable of speaking, pierces your heart with the longing in his eyes to be loved as he reaches out for you with his hand. Yoshi is always ready to entertain us as he zooms through the hall in his wheelchair laughing.

In a small town is Bosnia-Hersogovania, the Blessed Virgin Mary is believed to appear to a group of children with this message: Dear Children! Pray, pray, pray! Today I invite you to dedicate yourself to God, because distance from God is the fruit of the lack of peace in your hearts. God is only peace. Therefore, approach him through your personal prayer and then live peace in your hearts and in this way peace will flow from your hearts like a river into the whole world. Do not talk about peace, but make peace.

The Sisters of Charity will tell you that the most important part of their day to day life, are the moments of silence they dedicate to prayer. Alone, they would never be able to do the work that they do. The peace in Christ that they encounter in the depths of their hearts overflows into their Home of Peace.

Charo

Fabricio

How many times have I heard that being a mom is the hardest job in the world? Whelp, I don’t doubt it for one second. I am convinced that it is a manifestation of Christ on the Cross. A true mother is simultaneously overwhelmed with love and suffering, all for the sake of her children. Charo is no exception to the rule as she cares for Vilma (16), Martín (11) who suffers from Down Syndrome and Autism, and Fabricio (in the photo) (8). We try to make the ever present challenge of being in two places at once a little easier for her from time to time by hanging out at her house with kids while she goes to the doctor, to attend various school functions, to sell cakes on the corner to have enough money to pay for Martín´s diapers, or whatever other mom duty calls. This past week, we all took turns spending the night at her house so she could be by her father´s side when he passed away. However some of my most treasured times in Charo’s home are when she is actually ther e, to offer me a warm hug and hold my hand as we talk on the couch, normally with a mix of laughter and tears as tells me about all of her problems yet full of joy because she is not alone. I can’t count how many times she has told me that she has had a life full of trials but is so lucky because she is not alone; God has always looked after her and sent her guardian angels (which she claims we are). In the midst of all of her personal physical and emotional suffering, her greatest concern is that her children are happy and aware that they are eternally loved, “Yo sé que no puedo dar mis niños todas las cosas materiales, pero puedo amarlos con todo mi ser. I know that I can´t give my children on the material items in the world, but I can love them with all of my being.¨ All the while, Charo is human just like the rest of us, and I see her more and more tired every day. Please pray that she has the strength to carry on with her heart full of Love.

I hope this letter finds you all well as you bask in the summer sun!

Ceci & I with the aprons someone gave us

Mum and I in Machu Pichu

Peace, Love, Prayers,

Charlotte