Archives for Summer 2012 Category

Departure

Several hours after returning from the retreat in Kauai, the students boarded a bus for the airport — their first leg of a long journey home.  We will miss you!…

Retreat

The students gathered for several days after returning from their service locations to present their research projects, reflect on their time in the provinces, spend time in worship and prepare for their return to the United States.  Our retreat center, Kauai, lies along the coast a short distance south…

Service in Tarma

Tarma, the “Pearl of Andes,” is a city 60,000 people located in a valley between Lima and the central rain forest.  Only an hour and a half from San Ramon, the city is a principal access point to the eastern flanks of the Andes Mountains.  At 3,053 meters (10,016…

Service in Chanchamayo

Chanchamayo is a beautiful province nestled on the wet, green side of the Amazon Mountains.  San Ramon is located here; so too is its sister city, La Merced.  The area was home to Ashaninka natives before the arrival of Europeans, called colonos (colonials) by the natives.  The majority of…

Service in San Ramon

San Ramon, a city of 30,000 inhabitants, is the gateway to Peru’s Selva Central (Central Rain Forest).  Nestled in the foothills of the Andes Mountains at 770 meters (2,526 feet) above sea level, the days are warm, the nights are cool and surrounding hills are lush with vegetation.  San…

Service in Oxapampa

Oxapampa is a charming city of 10,000 inhabitants situated in a broad river valley in the upper rain forest.  The town was founded by Austrian immigrants in the middle of the 19th century.  Life in central Europe was difficult at that time due to famine and war.  In 1853…

Service in Boca Ipoki

The Perene River, a tributary of the Amazon, floods during the months of December through April.  The rushing waters leave generous deposits of sand along the shorelines, making nice beaches for bathing during the dry season.  The village of Boca Ipoki lies on the shore of the Perene River…

Service in Villa Rica

The city of Villa Rica – population 14,000 – was founded by European settlers in the 19th century.  The area is known as La Tierra del Café (the Land of Coffee).  Italian migrants, who appreciated a good cup of java, began planting seedlings on the surrounding hillsides soon after…

Service in San Francisco

San Francisco and Azulis are sister villages with a combined population of 447 inhabitants.  There are close cultural, familial and social ties between these two native Yanesha communities.  On the first day of our visit to Azulis, in fact, we met families from San Francisco who had traveled there…

Service in Azulis

The community of Azulis is named for the clear, blue water of the river nearby.  The village was established by four native curanderos (healers) and their families a century ago.  In the 1950s missionaries from the Summer Institute of Linguistics (Wycliffe Bible Translators) ventured into this protected valley and…