After nearly three months of study and service in Peru, Goshen College students had a final opportunity for focused reflection on their experiences and on the joys and potential challenges of returning to the United States. Our concluding gathering was held at a Christian retreat center called Kawai, located on the beach about a 90-minute drive south of Lima. The retreat center consists of a large collection of spacious buildings amid well-landscaped grounds, just a few hundred yards from the Pacific Ocean. It has wide lawns, a nice swimming pool and a broad beach, perfect for long walks and contemplation.
The Peru SST unit for Spring 2014: (front row): April, Maria, Aimee, Gina, Natalie, Malaina, Gretchen and (back row) Jake, Thomas, Dean, Derek, Neal, Jonathan, Caleb and Jackson.
The three-day retreat is an important step toward helping the students return successfully to their lives in the United States. Students had a chance to reflect on their experiences abroad and put it all in context before the emotional roller coaster of jumping from sad goodbyes in Peru to joyous family reunions back home and a return to normal routines.
Thomas and Dean discuss their service experiences.
On Friday afternoon, students shared stories from their service experiences. All said they enjoyed their service locations – Chancay on the coast, Ayacucho and Tarma in the mountains and San Ramon, La Merced and San Miguel in the central jungle. In some cases, students said they had dream assignments, were kept busy and taxed physically or emotionally. In other cases, students coped with cultural confusion or periods of inactivity and had to learn patience as they tried to find their way in new organizations. A few said they didn’t connect with their host families and were sometimes lonely. Still, they all appreciated the relationships they formed, and are especially thankful for the students with them on service and for their families back home.
Gretchen discusses how Peruvian meals are prepared.
Saturday morning, the students presented their final projects, which covered a wonderful variety of topics and included a creative element to demonstrate the depth of their understanding. They presented on such subjects as evangelization, Peru’s civil war of the 1980s and 1990s, the education system, folk remedies, the legal profession, jungle food, Andean cosmology, Peruvian food preparation, and farming and music in an indigenous village. Students learned a traditional dance and about a popular TV show and re-enacted a popular carnival activity – tossing water balloons at one another.
Recreating a popular Peruvian TV show, Derek and Aimee compete to see who can stack cups the fastest.
In the afternoon, students learned about “re-entry shock” – how and why people who travel to other countries often feel sad to leave and struggle to readjust to life back home. Students discussed what they will miss most about Peru, what they won’t miss, how they have changed the past three months and what they are looking forward to the most about returning to the United States. They also had fun participating in role-plays in which they portrayed students coping with unexpected challenges in talking with friends, family and acquaintances about their time in Peru.
Maria, portraying a returning Peru SST student, talks with Jackson, who played a relative in a role-play exercise.
Students planned and led our Sunday worship service, which consisted of prayers, inspirational readings, hymns, stories about Peruvians who positively influenced them and how their faith sustained them during SST. One student chose the hymn, “Alleluia, the Great Storm is Over,” which prompted appreciative laughter from the others. She assured them that she wasn’t necessarily referring to SST, but added, “God is with us in good and bad.”
Derek, Malaina, Jake and Aimee join the prayer circle.
After worship, students had the opportunity to reflect one last time on their overall experience in Peru – their expectations vs. the reality they experienced, what surprised them most about Peruvians, their highlights and biggest challenges and what they will remember most about SST. Common themes included appreciation for the beauty of Peru and the hospitality of Peruvians. Many said they would remember most the relationships they made with Peruvians and within the SST unit.
Students sing a hymn during the Sunday worship service.
Throughout our time students dealt with their bittersweet feelings of sadness for being together as a group for the last time and excitement about returning home. As had been previously noted in this blog, this was an especially close SST group. Men and women spent their class breaks together, usually gathered in a circle deep in conversation. They enjoyed being together after class and on weekends. And when they returned from service, they had a joyous reunion.
Students await their final meal at the retreat.
Still, students were ready to conclude their time in Peru and ready to rejoin family, friends and familiar patterns of study, work and play. They even expressed excitement about returning to the decidedly cooler weather of the Midwest. SST Peru Co-Directors Richard Aguirre and Judy Weaver felt very fortunate for the opportunity to guide Aimee, April, Caleb, Dean, Derek, Gina, Gretchen, Jackson, Jake, Jonathan, Malaina, Maria, Natalie, Neal and Thomas during their successful Study-Service Terms in Peru. We will miss them.
Our retreat was held at a Christian retreat center on the beach south of Lima. We stayed in this building, which is called Villa Margarita.Students discuss the highlights and challenges of service.Caleb, Malaina and Natalie discuss their expectations vs. the reality of service.April, Jonathan and Gretchen discuss their expectations vs. the reality of service.Thomas and Dean discuss their service experiences.Maria discussed her service experiences with Dean and Thomas.Aimee, Neal and Gina discuss their expectations vs. the reality of service.Lima Study Coordinator Celia Vasquez writes a summary of what students said they knew as they arrived in Peru and what they wanted to learn. Students accomplished their study goals. Aimee talks about her service highlights.Jake talks about his service highlights.Jonathan and Thomas read over a list of service expectations.Jackson and Derek listen as other students discuss service.Jonathan discusses Andean cosmology.Jonathan discusses Andean cosmology.Malaina talks about the legal profession in Peru.Gina describes the importance of traditional dances in Peru. Gina teaches students a dance from Puno.Dean, wearing an indigenous garment known as a cushma, discusses Ashaninka farming practices.Dean discusses Ashaninka farming practices.Caleb talks about folk remedies.Gretchen, Gina, Thomas and Aimee rub a raw egg over their body – a Peruvian folk practice for diagnosing illnesses.With Caleb’s help students try out a Peruvian folk practice for diagnosing illnesses. The appearance of the egg, after being rubbed on a body, is supposed to indicate a person’s physical state.Gina talks about education at a Fe y Alegria (Faith and Joy) school.Natalie, with Gina’s help, teaches students a song students sang in the school where Natalie and Gina volunteered.April discusses evangelization efforts by a church in Chancay.With Natalie’s help, April repeats a parable told by leaders of a church in Chancay.Thomas relates painful stories he heard about Peru’s “Shining Path” civil war in the 1980s and 1990s.Gretchen discusses how Peruvian meals are prepared.Gretchen discusses how Peruvian meals are prepared.Jake discusses issues facing Peru’s education system.Gina and Jackson learn about problems facing Peru’s education system.Derek discusses life in an Ashaninka village. He wears a cushma, a garment worn in Ashaninka communities. Derek shows the basic steps of an Ashaninka dance.Derek demonstrates how to perform an Ashaninka dance.Jackson discusses food typically prepared in Peru’s central jungle,Jackson, with Neal’s help, teaches students a song of blessing and thanksgiving children sang before every meal in the home for abandoned boys where he and Neal provided voluntary service.Neal discusses Ashaninka music.Neal, with Gretchen’s help, teaches students the words of an Ashaninka song.Maria discusses Eso es Guerra, “That is War,” Peru’s most popular TV reality show. Two teams of men and women compete in the show.Jackson and Gina recreate the type of game played on “Eso es Guerra,” That is War, Peru’s most popular TV reality show.Recreating a popular Peruvian TV show, Gretchen and Caleb compete to see who can stack cups the fastest.Recreating a popular Peruvian TV show, Derek and Aimee compete to see who can stack cups the fastest.With a doll of a costumed Peruvian dancer in her hand, Aimee discusses the pre-Lenten tradition of carnival. Costumed dancers are a big part of carnival.Students recreate a carnival tradition in Peru – a water balloon fight.Water balloons prepared for the carnival battle.Derek, Malaina, Neal and other students get ready to unleash a barrage of water balloons. Thomas has already been hit.Students watch in glee as Dean reacts to being drenched by a water balloon.Neal has just been hit by a water balloon.The water balloon fight intensifies.While Neal and Malaina try to stay dry, Natalie tries to avoid a water balloon launched by Dean.Judy discusses “re-entry shock,” the adjustment problems some international visitors face after returning to their home countries.Students read about “re-entry shock,” the adjustment problems some international visitors face after returning to their home countries.Dean, portraying a returning Peru SST student, talks with Jonathan and April during a role-play exercise.Derek, portraying a Peru SST student who has just arrived home, participates in a role-play exercise with Gretchen.Maria, portraying a returning Peru SST student, talks with Jackson, who played a relative in a role-play exercise.This role-play exercise featured Neal, Gina, Malaina and Thomas.Derek, Malaina, Jake and Aimee join the prayer circle.Students participate in the Sunday worship service.Students sing a hymn during the Sunday worship service.The dining hall where we ate meals during the retreat.Students await their final meal at the retreat.Students board the bus to return to Lima.The Peru SST unit for Spring 2014: (front row): April, Maria, Aimee, Gina, Natalie, Malaina, Gretchen and (back row) Jake, Thomas, Dean, Derek, Neal, Jonathan, Caleb and Jackson.
