Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Learning to Listen with My Eyes

Well, as happens sometimes, things have gotten busy down here, and I have gotten behind in my blogging. I have a few posts that I want to sit down and write, so this is the first of a few to catch you all up on the month of March here in Peru.

For the month of March I have had the opportunity to work in Scripture Union´s program for the deaf here in Lima. Of all of the ministries the Scripture Union has down here I have had the least amount of contact with our deaf program--mainly because I don´t know how to sign. I really wanted to have the chance to meet the people who were involved in this ministry, though. I have learned a lot about another entire aspect of Scripture Union´s work here.

Our program for the deaf was actually born at the same time as our program for street children. In the 1980´s, a Peruvian man on our staff named Ernesto was very interested in helping Peru´s deaf population. He heard that there were many deaf children living on the streets, so he went out looking for them. He did, indeed, find a number of deaf children, but he also found a number of hearing children living on the streets. Hence the beginning of these two ministries.

Our ministry for the deaf has grown immensly since then, and we have gained recognition at a national level. We employ deaf teachers to transmit the language of signs to the children so that they learn the language as a child naturally would. We also have after school classes for the children in our program. After the leave public school, they come straight to our center where we reinforce what is being taught in their classroom and help them to understand their homework. In the last few years, the Peruvian government has passed legislation to mainstream all handicapped children into the regular public school system. This in its own right is not a bad thing, but the problem is that the children are placed in a classroom where no one can interpret for them. They end up sitting isolated in a corner all day long not knowing what is going on. The government does not recognize signs as an official language which means that it doesn´t recognize the profession of an interpreter and will provide no salary to anyone who wants to interpret in the public school classrooms. We do our best to provide interpreters to our students, but we are spread quite thin, and the need is on the rise.

That brings me to the next facet of the deaf ministry. Scripture Union has been very active working with the government to propose new legislation to protect the rights of the deaf community. To give you an idea of the situation in Peru, until 1989 it was actually illegal for a deaf person to get married. Today there are many deaf people sitting in prison who have no idea why they are there. They were never able to testify nor understand what was going on during their trial. The unemployment rate for the deaf sector of Peruvian society is virtually 100%. Our work with the government is sometimes an uphill battle. There are a few key congressmen who are very committed to proving that their legislation of mainstreaming is working. Because of pride and an unwillingness to admit a mistake, they prefer to cover the problem up rather than deal with it.

Lastly, we offer signing classes to parents so that they can communicate with their children. I am no parent, but I have decided to give learning Peruvian signs a go. It can be difficult at times. My teacher is deaf, so I am forced to speak with my actions and listen with my eyes. Paul Clark, the director of Scripture Union Peru, said to me once, "One of the key ways of showing a person that he or she has value is to value and respect his language." I couldn´t agree with him more, and I am excited to learn a little bit of signs to better communicate God´s love to the deaf here.

God´s love is at the center of this ministry. Apart from teaching about His love and His Gospel in the classrooms, we have the opportunity to live it out by showing these children that they are not worthless or incapable. I believe that God created each of them with a specific plan and a specific purpose. What a privalege I have to work with a ministry that believes that too! Not only does our work here help to keep more children out of the street, but we are also able to encourage them and show them that they are capable of doing far more and learning far more than they probably ever imagined!

Please continue to pray for this ministry. Below are some prayer requests:

-- We have more demand than capacity. We have a very long waiting list, but there is just no space for kids at our current location. We are praying for a new piece of land close to the center of Lima where we can build the construction of a building that better suits our needs. We already have donors who are interested in helping with the construction, but we are still praying for a suitable piece of land.

-- For our work with the government. That God would allow politicians to lay their pride aside and do what is right for the children here in Peru.

-- For more volunteers and staff. As the program grows, we have and increased demand for interpreters, teachers, and other volunteers. Pray that God would raise up more people to become a part of this ministry.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Goodbye Catherine

A couple of days ago Catherine Alexander, a friend from Scotland who has been sent from the Vine Trust to volunteer here with Scripture Union, came to her last day here in Peru. For the last eight months she has been working in our schools program and at our boys' home at Kusi. She is a teacher by profession, so she spent all of last year teaching English classes in the schools as well as working with and tutoring our Girasoles. Everyone who I talked with at Kusi had only great things to say about her. She gave up a year of work and job interviews to sacrifice her time down here in Peru. She loves God, and she loved her work with the kids. She will be missed down here, but I know that God will continue to use her back in Scotland. Please join me in praying for her and in praying that God will provide a solid job for her as she begins the search.

 Saying goodbye to Catherine at the airport

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Jesús and Ronald Move On!

Last week I had the pleasure of returning one more time to the Peruvian Amazon with a small group from Boston. The group came to see the different construction projects as they try to seek God's will for a possible short term trip from their church. On the day that we planned to go and visit Puerto Alegria (Scripture Union's Girasoles boys' home near Iquitos) we got to see a whole lot more than construction!

It just happened to be the day that two of the boys, Jesús and Ronald, were graduating from the program and moving back to Iquitos. We had the pleasure of attending the goodbye party for the two guys. They both graduated from high school last December, and now they are moving back to Iquitos--about a 20 minute boat ride down the river--so that they can continue onto technical school. The party was a blast. Gene, the house father, went and bought cakes and a bunch of other special treats for everyone to share. We played games, sang songs, and just had fun. We also had a time of prayer for the two boys, asking God to guide them and protect them as they move back to the big city. It was really great to see and reflect on how far God has brought them from the streets of Iquitos. Only He is responsible for the changes in their lives!

The goodbye party for Jesús and Ronald

Jesús will be studying computer systems while Ronald will be studying industrial welding. Ronald also has a paid internship that goes hand in hand with his industrial welding courses! Their move back to Iquitos marks another important point in Scripture Union's ministry in the jungle. The two boys will not just be back on their own. Instead, they will be moving into our Casa de los Tigres, meaning "House of Tigers." In their culture, calling a man a tiger is a high compliment. It means they are strong and able people. Scripture Union owns a house that eventually will have a capacity to house up to 20 young men as they graduate from our boys' program and move on to higher studies. They will be given significantly more freedom at the Casa de los Tigres, but the house will still have a Scripture Union staff worker to supervise them and to maintain a Christ-centered atmosphere. This is an exciting time for us because Jesús and Ronald are the first two people who have graduated from Puerto Alegria to Casa de los Tigres!

Please keep the two of them in your prayers as they begin their classes this week. They have both already given their lives to Christ. Pray that God would protect them as they take this big step back into the city. Pray for good friends and good community to surround them. They are both excited to begin their new life in the city, but at the same time it was difficult for them to say goodbye to the life that they have gotten used to in our Girasoles home in Puerto Alegria. Jesús has lived there for nine years and Ronald has lived there for 4 years. Pray for their adjustment, and pray that they would apply themselves as they study. These are exciting times for these two boys, and I can't wait to see how God continues to work in their lives!

Jesús and Ronald taking the boat ride to move into Iquitos for good!