Day 7

I'm still typing these updates on My iPhone as i haven't had the time to find coMputer access but when I think about it the technology is amazing.  I mean, I'm updating my blog on the Internet from my cell phone in Peru!

It's hard to believe how fast the time has gone-arts camp for the kids is already gone. We had our finale tonight.  A mass concert with probably 100 kids singing, dancing, and beating buckets and trash cans with drumsticks.  Even though I was shooting pictures I was moved by the force of joy with which they worshipped.

Ask me if it is worth coming down to this place to instruct kids in the arts, and the use of the arts in worship, and I will tell you yes, without a doubt.  It's not just about having enough supplies to be able to express themselves through art - it's about forever impacting these lives through the power of relationship.  Ultimately materials don't impact people.  People impact people.  This is one small way of doing just that.  All of the supplies used were brought down by our team, and for this week we've spent our days pouring our knowledge, passion, and love into these young lives.  At the concert there were several hundred people-family and friends of the students who were able to see the power of artistic expression in their childrens' lives.  In Peru many people look down on art as a legitimate job or career.  Espcially on the expression of art in spiritual contexts.  The president of the national endowment for the arts has said that the greatest challenge of this century is to reconnect the arts with the expression of faith.  This task is evident in Peru as well, and is what we have been striving to help accomplish.

The film experience

I have been struck by the number of times we were thanked by the people we have filmed for coming to visit them.  As I've seen before, so many of these people feel so honored by our presence.  They feel as though someone in the world knows they exist and cares enough to come.  It is a humbling experience and always hard to leave each person or family we  have visited.

This week we've run ragged filming.  Monday was scout day.  We drove to each of the locations to scope them out for lighting and angles and ambience. We wanted each place to tell the best story possible.  Along the way I shot over 600 images.  The next day we filmed the daily process of the feeding program three of the churches have in their communities. Altogether they serve over 250 children breakfast or lunch every day.  They are up to Start breakfast at 4:30 a.m. every day.  Then the kids come, answering the call from the man with the portable bullhorn running through the hills announcing breakfast.  They come out of their homes with dirt floors, particle board walls and plastic or tin roofs.  And for a moment in their day, they find warm hugs and happy faces.

At one house, I introduce myself to a neighbor watching our interview.  I stand on one side of a tall particle board wall and she on the other with her little 9 month old girl.  Her baby is more bold than she is, leaning over the fence while her mother hides behind her.  I find out her name is Juana and her baby is Estefanie Valeria.  I comment on how much I like the green color of her fence and she says the fence would be ugly without it.  As it is, it's one of the few green things in the area, a splash of much needed color in a dreary brown world.

Julia, the lady we are interviewing, is very pregnant, and when we ask her the due date she says today...uh maybe she shouldn't be sitting on that small stool...she asks everyone their names and seems to decide that Benji's is the one she wants to use for her own child.  Influence is strong here.

At another house, the last one for the day, we interview a mom who has been involved with the feeding program for some time.  She cooks meals for the children, her own eating there as well.  In their meager home there live four families, all related.  The grandma, who is 83, thanks us for coming.  I thank her for allowing us into her home.  I am acutely aware of their vulnerability as they open their lives to us.  They allow us to come in with our cameras and film pictures of everything.  I wonder how I would respond if a film crew came into my house and asked to film in my bedroom and everywhere else.  But they are all glad we've come to be with them.

Grandma has a daughter who has four beautiful daughters.  One of them, Lindsey, is about to turn 15.  On October 16, she will have her quinceria.  It is the celebration for all girls becoming young women.  While we are conversing and filming she watches intently everything we do.  As I shoot I let she and her younger sisters see the photos in my camera screen.  As we stand there she tells me she is turning 15 and asks if I will be her Padrino - I think I know what she is asking but I ask Ramiro to be sure and yes, I am right.  She wants me to be her godfather.  This is a great honor, and usually is reserved for a man in the family or a close family friend, but she has asked me.  I've only known her for two hours.

The fact is that we have no idea how much hope and life we bring to these people.  For us to boil down such trips to a matter of money is to have missed the heart of the matter.  We can send money and things to people all day long, but there is no substitute for being with people in the flesh.  This is what brings encouragement and hope.

As web are about to leave, Lindsey says, "so you can't be my godfather because you're not going to be here on my birthday?" I tell her that that is correct and tell her I am sorry but that I am honored she has asked me.  I am embarrassed to have been asked to fill such a role - I don't really deserve to be asked that.  It makes me realize again the impact we have on people here in these circumstances.

As we drive away I am sad again and sit quietly for awhile lost in thought.  I realize how permanent these circumstances are for so many people and feel the weight of that.  I have to remind myself that I can't change everything but I can just relate to people and be with them.  That is what I can do.