Chalice: Notes from the field...

Solidarity: “union or fellowship arising from common responsibilities and interests, as between members of a group or between classes, peoples, etc.” (Dictionary.com) On February 17th, 15 Canadians will travel to Bolivia, South America for two weeks. Our mission: to build solidarity ~ solidaridad en español. Our team will visit three of Chalice’s sponsor sites: Yapacani (125 km NE of Santa Cruz, Bolivia), Guadalupe (La Paz, Bolivia) and a quick stop at PINIFE (Lima, Peru) enroute to Bolivia. We will see, hear, touch, smell and taste life as it is experienced at these sponsor sites. We will witness the impact sponsorship has on the lives of children, their families and their communities. Some of the benefits of sponsorship will be made tangible; others will only be felt by the heart. Will YOU be in solidarity with us? Pray for our Team: Adrienne, Annette, Cassie, Diana, Geoff, Jerry, Joanne, Karin, Kristin, Linda, MaryAnne, Nicola, Trevor, Willie, Yvonne. Visit our web...

GRATITUDE The Sisters of the Good Shepherd (our PINIFE site) live and work in El Pino - in a slum area that reaches up along and over the hillside in Lima, in the District of San Luis. Our first day visiting our PINIFE site, we were 3 hours late arriving (due to low fog at the Cusco airport). We got off our bus a the base of the hill and crossed a few busy streets. Pedestrians do not have the right of way here, but our fearless young leaders from the site stopped traffic for us when needed. Once across, we looked up near the top to see white and red splashes of colour here and there. As we mounted the hill, we were greeted by streets lined with red and white balloons, dozens of posters welcoming us, and beautiful faces smiling :) and welcoming us. Even though were were THREE hours late, they were still waiting to greet us! And what a welcome it was - it was organized entirely by the community, and the sisters were just as surprised, saying they have never before seen such a ...

We have arrived in Cuzco - the capital city of the Incas - who we learned are more properly called the Quechua. This is the Cathedral of Cuzco - we had a tour of it later, but first went to Mass at the Jesuit Church of the Compania de Jesus. Sundays in Cuzco, our tour guide Denis told us, are a family day. There are parades, lots of visiting, and the shops are closed (!). There are, however, lots of vendors about. They introduce themselves to you and if you say, "no, gracias" they ask you, "maybe later? My name is Kevin, find me later." Here's Cuzco from the top view - taken on our tour of Sacsayhuaman, which means "speckled falcon" (according to Sehne's tourist book), but our tour guide let us in on the joke calling it "sexy woman" (which I later saw on t-shirts). Machu Picchu, from the top. "Old Mountain". Stunning! Next to Cuzco, the most important place for the Quechua - paths from here lead to the Amazon, Cu...

It's so much fun to share our technology with these little ones. Fernando also learned how to make his own video with our Flip. TOO MUCH FUN! I told him it would be put up on the internet - here it is :) This is filmed in their backyard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHusK5Rp-cg

Today I also got to visit my family's sponsor child, Fernando, and his 'madre' Jenny. We greeted each other with Ola's and kisses - and a little uncertainty, as none of us knew exactly how to 'be' in this moment. But we soon settled in (easier to do in a culture where you begin meeting with a kiss!). A cab picked us up from the orphanage and drove us to their home - it was a full ride: 11 of us in the car! This included Fr. Duncan (who was visiting his parish's sponsor child), two interpreters (one for each of us), Jenny and Fernando, 3 other girls I who were along for the ride (and on the way back asked if I would speak French for them, parce que je viends de Canada!), a lady involved in the site (forgive me, I forget her name - so many names!) and the driver besides. It was a short ride (maybe 10 minutes? I was having too much fun to pay attention to the time), and then we were dropped off at Jenny and Fernando's house. There was a small shop...

We visited our Canete site today - only one day here, but it was a full and beautiful one. We visited one of our subsites in Canete, the Orphanage of Ste Ann (for girls). It is run by the same sisters that are hosting us in Lima at the retreat centre. I don't know what I was expecting exactly, but I was surprised to see it, a beautiful haven from the poverty - which you can see right outside the window. Below is the courtyard of the orphanage. The classrooms are what you see behind the children, who are welcoming us with their homemade Canadian flags. Some of them are really cute - the maple leaves look almost like palm trees :) Behind me as I took the photo were the rooms where they sleep - there are about 8 girls to a room. We had more celebrations and time to play with the children, and dance of course! I even got to play a little game of charades with a small group who were waiting to start the art class with Holly - we really had fun! I've even learned a few...

It is really fun having a camera here - almost everyone loves to have their photo taken - and then to see it on the screen :) I only recently trasitioned from my old film camera to a digital one, and it has brought so much joy to my new friends, I am so happy I did! These girls saw me taking photos of the other children and asked me to take their photo too - check out their posing! It made me laugh to see them, presenting themselves to whoever they imagined my camera's photos would reach :) Shortly after (as I'd already been taking portraits of quite a few little ones), this sweet lady on the left asked me shyly if I would take her photo too! Her friends where on the side, watching her - to see what I would say. Again, I was laughing with them, and asked them to come over - this lady on the right was brave enough to join her.