Peru Service Trip 2011

27 members of the STMC Community spent 16 days in Lima, Peru

"I need a vacation." I'm sure many of us have thought of these four words many times throughout our tiring daily routines. Whether we are physically exhausted from the excruciating amount of work poured into us as students, or mentally exhausted from trying to teach a handful of students; when summer comes around, the mere thought of a vacation gnaw the back of our minds. Hence, when the Peru missions trip 2011 rolled around, many of us were eager to leave our textbooks behind and take on the new face of a vacationer. Little did we know that the trip would not only temporarily change us, but also permanently affect the rest of our lives.

As students, we were acquainted with textbooks on a daily basis but nothing prepared us with what greeted us ahead. Upon a quick beautiful scenic tour of the city, we were told that the second day was going to be our first day of building at Canto Grande, one of the largest slums situated in San Juan de Lurigancho in Lima. Arriving in our coach tour bus at Fe y Alegria high school in the slums, we eerily took on celebrity statuses. But little did we know that their rush of hospitality and joyful eyes were not those of celebrity admiration, but the acceptance of us as members of their huge family. Walking up the muddy and sloppy slopes of the Canto Grande hills, garbage littered the mud around us the smell of sewer lingered in the air. The houses were merely pieces of broken plastic and scrap metal; things that students in Canada would use for school projects. Yet the eye opener had yet to begin. Arriving at the house of an impoverished lady and her two twin girls, we found out that she was a beaner for a living. This meant that she spent countless hours peeling off the shells of 30 kg of beans for just seven US dollars a day. Her beautiful twin daughters ran up to us with open arms; their eyes searching for our friendship and their arms offering us what little they had. Offering us places for us to sit and accompany her in the beaning process, I found my fingers pruned and the skin peeling off within a mere thirty minutes into her daily work routine.   A fellow STM student quotes: "My experience at Canto Grande was so powerful it is hard to put it into a couple sentences. Seeing the joy and smiles on those little girls' faces as their mother was working for no more than 7 dollars a day was a moment in which I realized how fortunate I truly am." -Paige Llewellyn (grade 12)

For the next three consecutive days, we separately helped build three homes in three separate work groups. Fully equipped with energy and fortunately nourished, we geared ourselves up to haul countless pieces of wooden walls up the steep cliffs on Canto Grande. "Building the new house for the family was physically exhausting, but you hardly felt anything knowing you made a difference and seeing their big smiles." - Simone Deslauriers (grade 12) However, as sweat poured down our face and mud covered our pants, it was an eye opener in itself to see twenty young privileged Canadian teenagers intently hauling wooden walls up the hill. As the gracious locals ran forward to aid us in our duties and bring materials up the hill, all cultural differences amongst us were dissolved and we were working as one. Finally, after three days of continuous effort, we had built and painted three new homes for three gracious and kind families. No words could describe how happy we were but most importantly, no words could describe the pure joy leaping from the families' eyes. Now they had a roof to raise their kids, a roof that no longer leaked water in, a roof that they can finally call home. Yet, this "roof" was just the size of a small shed in North America. "Building houses in Canto Grande was an eye-opening experience. I saw that people who had nothing were equally as happy, just through their love for their families, and the dignity of their work. It taught me that happiness doesn't always have to come from possessions. It made me appreciate what I have so much more, and that happiness does come in many different ways." - Hali MacDonald (grade 11)

However, we weren't done yet in Canto Grande. The night before we left, we met a small group of friends. Teenagers, just like us, who had aspirations and dreams of becoming teachers, chemical engineers, and doctors; dreams that were identical to young teenagers across North America.   We bonded with them over smores and hot chocolate in a campfire and got to understand their happiness even though they lived in the simplest of lifestyles. "Visiting Fe y Allegria was an amazing experience in itself and meeting the teenagers there was definitely something else! They were people we could relate to and were unbelievably gracious for our groups visit. These young adults honored us with such hospitality, understanding, and thankfulness and it was an absolute pleasure to have met every single one of them!" - Tanisha Garing (grade 10)

Canto Grande was the milestone of the trip, leading to many milestones to come. The next milestone was Doctor Lazzarra's clinic for terminally sick children. Seeing children with serious burns, disabilities, and illnesses yet still living everyday with a smile was the most courageous act of all. It made me think back to the many times I was easily affected and a frown would cross my face for the littlest things. It made me realize that for many teenagers across Canada, frowns were caused daily by simple materialistic needs. Yet for these children, a simple meal and a lift from their cribs was a blessing and joy. I remembered picking up a little baby girl named Talia who suffered from a disability. Having a smile stretched across her tiny face, she would grab on tightly to my shirt and cry whenever I put her down. Talia was a small symbol of hope; hope for a better future where materialistic needs will not be the fuel for joy. It is fair to say that parting the children's clinic was definitely the hardest thing to do for our entire group.  When a little boy from the clinic ran onto our bus when we were about to leave, he taught symbolized for us "the many people who awaits our helping hand."  

Nevertheless, our trip was also embellished with the meeting of our amazing pen pals. Not only did we receive a chance to meet and aid the impoverished of Peru, we also got the cultural benefit of interacting with young adults our age. Our pen pals, from the school of Santa Rosa, were both welcoming and exceptionally generous. "On our first full day in Peru we had the pleasure of meeting our pen pals who we had been corresponding with for the last six months from Saint Thomas More's sister school, Santa Rosa. The entire class of students excellent English  and were very hospitable. We enjoyed each others company so much that we decided to meet on several occasions including a trip to Parque de la Reserva (The magic circuit of water) which was a beautiful park with a record amount of water fountains. Our Saint Thomas More group had an opportunity to teach a class at the Santa Rosa school. Whether helping out with a P.E class or instructing a Science lesson we had a great time interacting with the students and making new friends. Through our pen pals we have established friendships that may broaden our perspective and enable a life long learning." - Kelly Furrey (grade 12) 

Throughout the trip, we can no longer deem it the word "vacation." It is in actuality, the beginning of a journey. This journey is where hope is not a desire or need but something that is shared and given amongst any culture; whether it was the Peruvians giving us hope in changing our materialistic lives or us giving the Peruvians hope on abandoning impoverishment. "Give me hope, Por Favor."

We will be having a presentation for our community sometime in November.