Journal Entry #11 - A Summer Day at Hope House

Life: an adventure, a journey with Jesus!
A Summer Day at Hope House, Jiacamarca, Peru

This journal is about our visit to one unique family, the family at Hope House. Sharing it is our way of giving you insight into a normal day of life at this orphanage we have grown to love over the years. Directors Bridget and Gregg Bonner are from Australia and have grown adult children and aging parents they have left in their home country to serve our Father in this desert area by parenting these children, showing them both their love and the love of our Heavenly Father. Our friendship with the Bonners has been enriched as we have spent time with them when they visited the USA, time at Hope House and through the internet. This two-day visit was very special.

Upon our arrival, the children were ecstatic because Bridget was also returning at the same time from a weekend away visiting Greg who is at language school in Lima for a month. During their absence, the family has some Christian workers who work for them regularly who are capable of filling in for Bridget and Greg. Wilma comes for 3 days a week and lives there during that time. She leaves and another helper comes for 3 additional days each week. The girls were polite, greeted us warmly with hugs and kisses on the cheek. They were full of giggles, just like girls all over the world! Company’s arrived! There was quite a bit of scurrying about to let everyone know we were there.

It was nearing lunch time, and the older girls have kitchen chores on a rotating basis. Everyone was summoned to the dining hall by the ringing of a bell. They have assigned seating and promptly sat and waited for someone to give thanks. Today’s lunch is just a bowl of rice, topped with two thick slices of boiled potato and a creamy sauce, of spices and shredded chicken. It was indeed very tasty. There is never any seconds available. The budget set is $1 per child per day (resident) for meals. A lightly lemon flavored, room temperature beverage was provided. Today some of the children were not at lunch as they were with the Pioneer program. (This is an international Christian organization that provides a school/camp like program for selected children during the summer.) They attend 3 days a week. Two of the older girls attend accelerated classes, even though it’s summer break, so they were also not at lunch today. The afternoon was filled with volleyball games by some and the youngest children played a princess version of Monopoly! Dinner time (Tea Time to them because the Directors are from Australia!) is another quiet time to gather in the dining room. By quiet, I mean quiet. The children are very respectful and the noise level is low enough that as Bridget asked a question of a child in a normal tone of voice, everyone heard the question and answer. A regular conversation was held at meals. Six oval tables are placed around the perimeter of the dining room with a large rectangular open space in the middle of the room. The children sat only on the outside of the tables so everyone could see one another and enjoy the family conversation. This meal consisted of a bowl of coarsely mashed potatoes stirred into a boullion liquid to give it a soupy consistency, along with home-made whole wheat rolls. The evening activity was watching the movie “Flicka” (in Spanish of course, so this was a challenge for us!) and snacking on warmed milk and freshly baked (from scratch!) cake. Evening is the time for showers and shampoos, each girl taking care of her own needs voluntarily. An early bedtime of 9:15 p.m. was enjoyed by all after a day full of physical activity.

Our room was one which had just recently been vacated by a family of four who have gone to live with their uncle. The room was about 10’ x 12’, and accommodated four children, with two bunk bed units, 4 shelves 24” x 30” to hold ones clothing and personal items. One table, and two straight back chairs you might find in grandma’s house back in the early 1950’s in the USA. The concrete floor, brick walls and concrete ceiling, with one light bulb hanging from the center (which, by the way, did not work because the light switch was inoperable) left one with the feeling of being in a rustic camp lodge. We had one window, which remains open all the time, to give fresh air, and of course, a candle to give us the required light to change into our pj’s. How romantic! (smile) The main house has three floors and includes the girls’ rooms, bathroom, office, and the family room. This gathering spot has a large fireplace, indoor garden, television, sofas, chairs and a coffee table on which they play board games.

Morning begins at 8:00 a.m. when a bell is rung and the children know they have 15 minutes to get up and dressed and to the family room for devotions. Devotions begin with the passing out of tambourines and a triangle for selected children to play as girls lead in a favorite hymn or chorus. Everyone joins in. The devotion leader of the day (this time it was Bridget) opens in prayer and asks if anyone has a word from scripture they would like to share or discuss. It was interesting to hear one of the girls read a portion of scripture and share her thoughts on the verses. Then other girls added their thoughts and asked questions. Bridget moderated the conversation. It was enlightening to observe the girls and know that for 20 minutes or so they discussed a passage and what it meant to them. A 10 minute period of prayer followed. At the conclusion of devotions, the girls immediately begin morning chores of washing floors, sweeping sidewalks, picking up trash, cleaning bathrooms, washing dining room chairs or making breakfast. The morning meal gives them the nourishment and energy necessary from a bowl of porridge and whole wheat bread. They are looking forward anxiously to their morning volleyball game and the challenge it brings them. They are very competitive and only play to win! However, chores continue after breakfast, and include doing the dishes, and by 10:00 a.m. everyone is ready to play!

Since this is a licensed orphanage, the Peruvian law requires there be a psychological counselor, and an attorney on staff. Although they may be part-time help, they still come weekly to Hope House and work with Bridget & Greg on documentation, counseling the girls, and of course spend time playing with them during observation periods. It’s like two more family members when they arrive. I was sitting outside just scanning the horizon, the neighborhood, and taking it all in while Don was burning the week’s trash that had accumulated in an open fireplace. (This was a common household chore in America in the early 1950’s!) The compost pile is in Don’s ‘work area’ and further down the property is the garden, watering system (to be described a little later) and the playground. It is very quiet outside. At present, no one is on the playground, but it consists of a hand-made slide, six swings, and a sandbox. I see the girls on the volley ball court and hear their grunts and groans along with their squeals of delight throughout their game. The quietness of the moment is penetrating and I think how seldom it is this quiet ‘back home’. Looking down a valley, from the sidewalk outside the dining room, with mountain ridges on either side, one can see about 5-6 miles in distance to a largely populated area. The ridges are all different shades of grey as is the sky. I can see life happening before my eyes -- people walking along a paved road, up a hill, til it turns into gravel and eventually just a dirt path. They have bags in their hands or loads on their backs. I see one pink flowering bush which stands out brightly in this panoramic view of grey dirt and rocks, one patch of green trees, buildings under construction, shacks on each hillside, and the water truck is making its way around the area. Music is playing from somewhere nearby as it is faintly heard in the background along with dogs barking, here and there. The property at Hope House includes 10 tilled strips of land about 15’ long with 2-4 rows of corn poking through the dry soil about 4” high. The girls chose to garden their own plots and water it from recycled water, using a pump in a bucket, a plastic two litre bottle with holes poked in the bottom to provide a light watering of their tender plants. Ground cover along the concrete walls and steps is beginning to bloom and has tiny red flowers on it which brighten the area, along with a row of flowering hibiscus dotting the edge of the driveway. Bumblebees and one lone butterfly entertain me while a white flowering bush blows softly in the wind. It’s a moment of quietness, watching life, and nature play outright before my eyes. Thank you Father for all that I can see, hear and feel in of your creation. There is more to be thankful for that is not as tangible, but is very evident. That includes the safety of this unique family, their happiness, and the oasis in the dessert in which they live physically but more importantly, spiritually. They (the family) too are flourishing and blooming in their own ways. They are dancing with delight at what they have received since coming to Hope House.

The family dynamics are for ever changing. One family of four children recently left to go and live with their uncle. A brother and sister recently went back home with their mother, but have returned less than a month later to the safety and security of Hope House. The children range in ages from 6 years old to 19 years old. No arguing is apparent, although there is no doubt in my mind it exists! I’m just sharing that it was not on-going during our visit. The younger children play with preschool legos in the library area. At the ages of 6, 7, and 8, they enjoy what is available to play with even if it’s not necessarily age-appropriate. They make up their own games and Olivia, 18 years old, tends to these little charges as if they were her own. It is a little sad to see a library area with two beautiful bookcases having a total of 20 shelves, and if the books present were all gathered together, only two shelves would be completely filled. The books contain some early readers, volumes of Jules Verne and the Narnia series. A few games and puzzles complete the library area choices. The alphabet chart on the wall provides hilarious, hushed outbursts of laughter as I try to say the alphabet in Spanish. They kindly, quietly, correct my errors. After several attempts, I struggle to get through it and do so with the exception of the last three letters. I receive high-fives as we move onto reading. The children sit on a couch, shoulder-to-shoulder reading quietly before lunch. Forty minutes was spent with one 12 year old tutoring me as I read “One Duck Stuck” a counting book. Each page provided a new number with drawings of animals correlating to the number being taught. I learned the number, the name of the animal, it’s color, and of course the picture contained background figures she made me practice, like water, trees, flowers, sky, grass etc. After “reading” each page all the way through to 10, I was exhausted. She was too, although she was very patient and attentive to me! Shortly after she came to me with a piece of paper and on it she had written the numbers 1-100 for me to practice! Another young lady took some early reader books to Don for him to read. He sounded out phonetically what he could, but had no way of knowing what he was reading, other than to refer to the pictures and paraphrase the story in his own words in English!

Each afternoon from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. there is a group activity the girls are required to participate in. It’s led by one of the workers, and the main purpose is to provide healthy conversation in a controlled atmosphere. It works! The girls enjoy the time together and sharing feelings, thoughts, information, and doing projects, games etc. as a group provides a unique bond that a large family quite often misses out on.