To mark the end of the study portion of their SST the students hosted a goodbye (despedida) and thank-you party for their host families. Instead of a regular afternoon lecture on Thursday, the students prepared a large room for the evening gala.
When the families arrived, the students waited on the tables for their host families, dined together, performed entertainment that they had learned in their language classes, and closed the evening with a dance.
Several students remarked how anxious they had been when they first arrived in unfamiliar Peru and nervously anticipated meeting their new families. Now, five weeks later, as they anticipate moving to new locations and new families for service, it is genuinely hard to leave behind the Lima families they have come to love.
Maddie gets dinner for her family.Emily serves a family friend from the deaf community.Alex serves her mother, Marisel, and grandson Adriano.Achieng dining with her sisters.Alex enjoys dinner with his parents, Percy and Sonia.Josh with his family.Tim serves his parents, Ricardo and Eliana.Rachel enjoys the show with her father and mother, Carlos and Norma.Alex laughs with her sister, Claudia.Josh and Maddie sing an Andean folk song.John, Rachel, Riley and Alex perform a musical number.Achieng and Brad show off their Andean dance moves while Lane, Alex and Tim provide vocals and Katie plays the cajon.Emily and student assistant Junior did a skit using Peruvian sign language.The professors Ana, Moises and Irene did a dramatic skit.The parents of John, Eduardo and Celia, performed a Peruvian dance.After the show the students brought out bowls of treats for their families.Service with a smile.Rachel dances with her mom, Norma, and little brother.Riley and her sister.John dances with a family friend.More group dancing.
