perusing peru…

this has been a trial and error youth group, as we have been trying to have youth group meetings for more than three weeks, but each time is to no avail. it is great preparation for the field i am sure. i detailed the other week about the struggles i was having in working with a local school and then in trying to start the group in my neighborhood, which really made this even all the more poetic and comical.

my group and one other group opted to combo our groups, as we both have encountered the same challenges. we decided to have the group at my house and we were to each bring at least one sibling, which would guarantee at least 6 kids. however, there has been something going around lately, and the only sibling that could make it is my 8-year-old brother victor.

victor. the best brother and the best sport on the planet.

we couldn’t help but laugh at our situation. i mean, it really could not have been any other way. it was too fitting. here was six girls ready to teach at a minimum six kids, and we only had one. i started the group, as the other girls left to scour the streets of huascaran to see if they could entice others to join, but apparently parents in peru teach their kids about not entering the houses of strangers too. however, two of the neighbor kids were later recruited after much diligent effort, but 2/3 of this youth group meeting was solely with victor.

i read “where the wild things are” in spanish. i recently acquired the movie in spanish, so victor and i are going to watch it on friday together.

kg and victor and the two other recruits working feverishly on their life maps.

victor loves to draw, and he is incredibly talented.

he is always the happiest when he is working on art projects.

victor and aaron.

pocual working on his life map.

the boys with their life maps.

after the life maps, we explained to them about our tree of life and how the roots are of important words, idea, people and places that have helped them become who they are now. i think at this point it is important to note that we were originally supposed to be having these clubs in a secondary school and be working with at least 30 kids, which this whole presentation is aimed for, but we tried our best to explain and adapt it for these kids’/victor’s understanding.

our huge tree trunk with our five tree roots.

the boys’ roots.

after kg and i finished our meeting, the other girls took the time to do their group, which was aimed at the same age group as ours, so they also had to make some minor changes to refocus. at this point it was only victor again.

victor getting all the attention.

however, he is 8-years-old and only has so much of an attention span.

victor giving very apparent social cues.

but really. though there was only my brother in attendance, we had the group still, which is the point of it all. and also, it has left me with plenty of laughs.