Parker, Emma and Elise are serving in Ayacucho, a region in the south central Andes. The city of Ayacucho, also known as Huamanga, is the capital of the region and is famous for its 33 churches, as well as its elaborate Holy Week celebrations which attract thousands of visitors from across Perú. It is also one of the poorest regions of Perú and was one of the hardest hit by the Shining Path insurgency in the 1980s. Elise and Emma live within the city limits of Ayacucho, and Parker is living about an hour away, in the smaller town of Huanta.
Elise works three days a week at a medical clinic, Centro Médico San Cristóbal, and two days a week at a Christian private school, Colegio Apostol Pablo, where she helps with English classes and assists in a second-grade classroom. Emma is working in a classroom for 3 and 4 year-olds at Centro de Educación Básica Especial ‘San Juan de Dios,’ a public school serving children with multiple disabilities. Parker is helping with computer classes and doing computer repair work at Colegio Johannes Gutenberg, a privately-funded school that works to provide educational opportunities for children in the region who are living in poverty.
Emma takes a walk with her students at CEBE San Juan de Dios.San Juan de Dios serves students with disabilities. The classroom where Emma works serves 3 and 4 year-olds with cognitive disabilities. Emma, her mother Nieves, and brother Javier pose on the roof top of their home.Emma’s mom feeds their rooftop animals–chickens, guinea pigs and rabbits.Parker spends his days at Colegio Gutenberg.Parker works with computer classes and has already repaired 4 computers in his first week. We enjoyed lunch with Parker, his father Saturnino, and his mother Marcelina.Willy and Saturnino catch up on the latest happenings in Huanta.Parker is enjoying his backyard full of animals, especially the kittens.We took a drive to the Christ statue on the mountain above Parker’s hometown of Huanta.Parker’s brother-in-law, Jhon, helps him to pick out his house from the lookout above the city.San Cristobal de Huamanga is a clinic for members of a credit union in Ayacucho. Elise spends part of her morning testing samples in the lab. Two days a week, Elise works at Colegio Apostol Pablo.Elise poses by the door of the 2nd grade classroom where she works. In this particular classrom, Elise has been given the task of sitting next to one student who thrives under her special attention. Elise has to climb over 200 steps to get to her house. If she survives the steps, she is treated to a great view of the city. Elise and her mom, Elizabeth, make refresco de cebada, a barley drink. Aaron and Scott enjoy Pachamanca prepared by Elizabeth. Pachamanca is one of the oldest dishes in Peruvian cooking. Traditionally it is cooked by burying it underground with hot stones, but ours was cooked in pots. Elise poses with members of her host family: her host parents, Dionisio and Elizabeth, her three brothers, Luis, Herbert and David, and her two sisters, Wanda and Wendy.Willy prepares to descend the steps.Elise, Emma and Parker enjoy much-deserved dinner out for all their hard work on service thus far.
