After spending a full day visiting with friends, dropping by the homes of their Lima host families and shopping, Goshen College students spent the night at Miraflores House, a hostel. The students – who had taken overnight buses from their service assignments – said they had a wonderful night of…
Our 15 Goshen College students returned safety to Lima Thursday morning from Chancay, Ayacucho, Tarma, San Ramon, La Merced and San Miguel. They were a sight for sore eyes and we (Peru SST Co-Directors Richard R. Aguirre and Judy Weaver) were thrilled to see them! And as pleased as they…
Goshen College students enrolled in the Peru SST program struggle to adjust to new (host) families, the Spanish language, a new country and a very different culture. Service can be an even bigger adjustment because students leave the comfort of modern Lima and head out to the country, often with just…
Neal and Jackson are living just outside the town of La Merced in the Junín province of Peru. La Merced, which has about 50,000 residents, is the provincial capital of the Chanchamayo region and is blessed with warm weather, abundant rainfall, lush vegetation, waterfalls and excellent agricultural production. On the…
Maria and Caleb are working in San Ramón in the province of Chanchamayo – the entry point to the selva central, Peru’s central rain forest. In spite of busy work schedules, the students have found time to enjoy their host families as well as the flora, fauna and warm temperatures…
Gina and Natalie are volunteering in Tarma, a delightful city of about 60,000 residents located in a fertile valley about 3,053 meters, or 10,016 feet, above sea level in the Andes mountain range. Tarma was founded in 1538 in the departamento (state) of Junín, between the central coast and the…
This semester, five students in the Peru SST program are providing service in Ayacucho, a city of about 151,000 in the south-central Andes of the country. Ayacucho is famous for its 33 Catholic churches, which are said to represent one for each year of Jesus’ life. Because of its substantial…
The five students in Ayacucho are doing well and have some great experiences to report. We (Peru SST Co-Directors Richard R. Aguirre and Judy Weaver) visited them on a couple of sunny days, interspersed with refreshing nighttime rain – typical weather for this time of year in the Andes.
Malaina and April are spending the service portion of their Study-Service Term in the coastal town of Chancay, a couple of hours north of Lima. Chancay is a port and verdant agricultural area along the Peruvian coastal desert. The town of 54,000 people boasts a castle, a bustling central plaza,…
Less than two weeks after Goshen College students departed for their service assignments, we received the heartbreaking news that Father Jeffrey L. Klaiber, a gifted historian and a great friend of the Peru Study-Service Term program, abruptly died (March 4) due to complications from heart surgery. He was 71, but…
