Visiting In Peru

One of the items on our agenda was to visit Grace House and Hogar de Niños. We've been to both places before, but again, seeing it through the eyes of people who haven't been to either before is so neat! Our first stop was Grace House.

Grace House has 50 young ladies who are there of their own accord to find healing. They're healing from things such as addiction, abuse, eating disorders, and the like. It's a safe place for them to recover and graduate from. They have a ceremony when the time comes for the ladies to head home and they write a note that makes it's way to the wall.

We walked through what I would call a "compound" to see how they live. There is a main house, a kitchen/dining hall, and a counseling office. The main house is stunningly beautiful. On the main floor is a wide open entry that is shared with a living room. There are three "guest" bathrooms, a library, a sitting room, and a classroom on the main floor as well. When you go upstairs, they have all of their bedrooms and a lounging room.

Their schedules are very regimented so they learn how to live a healthy life. They get up at a certain time, eat a specific times, have recreation during the day, and go to bed at a designated time. They also go to church at Surco on nights when it's part of the schedule. Until coming to Grace House many of these young ladies haven't known what it's like to live with rules and healthy boundaries. What a blessing Grace House is.

Next we headed to Hogar de niños. We've been here several times before and it's always so fun! One of the things I have to remember, and I've put into my list for next time, is that there are teen boys (and girls) who aren't interested in childish things such as Play-doh and coloring books. I asked and next year I'm hoping to bring Nerf and water guns. I'm not sure what I'd bring for the teen girls, but somehow the teen guys are always jilted.

This summer my sister-in-law and her family gave me some of their leftover Disney activity packs. I opened them up to show the girls about playing with them, and guess what?! They were in English, Spanish, and French! It was incredibly cool!

I realized as I sat there with the girls that a couple of the kids (including the older boys) looked familiar. Ariana is a little girl who hung out with me for quite some time last year. This year we spent a little bit of time together...you know teen girls. hahaha As always, the guys end up in the yard with the teen guys at the house playing pick up soccer. Our team always ends up exhausted where the guys who live there haven't even broken a sweat. It's pretty funny!

We found out that Milagro was having her 16th birthday. A couple of the ladies who run the house ran to the store to get a cake and candy so we could celebrate with her. Now, when I say they "ran" to get it, it probably took them an hour or more. Nothing is done quickly in Peru. We sang happy birthday to her in English and Spanish.

Our day wasn't full of work, but it was a full day. Both Hogar de niño and Grace House are quite a distance from La Victoria, where we were staying. After we were done at the children's home we headed back to Alcance and chilled out for the rest of the evening.