Peru: a reflection

As I think of my trip to Peru just one month ago- I find myself wondering how the abandoned boys are doing. Most importantly, I wonder if any more have been dropped off at Kusi since I left.

To give you a bit of background, last month, 20 SMU students went to Yungay, Peru for a week to serve with Reformed University Fellowship (a campus organization) and Scripture Union (a ministry that has served the country of Peru for more than 20 years).

Before the trip, our team knew that we would be serving at a home for abandoned boys- but what we did not know was the reason for their abandonment.

The second day we were there, we sat in a crowded room on the Kusi site and listened to the stories of Billy, the President of Scripture Union. During this time we learned that the Peruvian boys at Kusi had been abandoned by their parents because they either couldn't afford them, were abusive, or kicked them out of their homes. You see, in Peru, the boys are thought to be able to survive best on their own, so they are the first to be released from the family....even as young as age 6.

After the boys leave home, they go straight to the streets. Here, the boys join gangs, are involved in theft, and many of them are left with no choice but to sell their bodies for sexual favors to earn money to buy food. What's even worse? The perception that the Peruvian culture holds of these boys. According to one individual that Billy mentioned, "All it takes to get rid of the street boys is to put one bullet in the skull." Billy also told us that the police were known to be cruel to the boys and often sexually and physically abuse them... "there are stories about Peruvian police using captured street boys as a soccer ball."

To say the least- I was shocked, horrified, and immediately felt sick to my stomach after hearing these stories. How could a culture hate children and youth who did nothing to deserve the type life that they were forced to live? How could these people not sympathize with their terrible predicament?

You see, these boys are victims of ethnoviolence. They are a group of individuals shunned by society for no reason other than their social status...which they did not choose.

While this realization is horribly saddening, I cannot express the deep encouragement that I felt in seeing the work of the staff at Kusi.

Kusi is a home in Yungay that houses these boys, gives them clean clothes, food, education, and most importantly, love and acceptance they may have never felt in their lives.

This organization currently serves 40 boys and fosters a love for Jesus Christ and the Gospel.

I will give a more vivid description of my time in Peru through pictures and video shown in my YouTube assignment... for now, know that the Lord is at Work.