July 28: Fiestas Patrias!!!!










Today, on Fiestas Patrias, Peru´s Independence Day, we just spent the morning in Belen for a festival of games and sports. It was great! Belen is among the poorest places in Lima, and the chapel there is kind of the place that Holy Cross College has adopted each year. So, a great morning´we´ll be back there tomorrow for Mass. Now we are heading into downtown Lima to see one of the most famous churches here and to see how they celebrate their Fiestas Patrias.

And now.... here is the newest Peruvian citizen, student Mike Hodge, who has claimed Peru for a second homeland....

Where to begin? It has been a week since we first got into Lima and it has been an incredible journey. The past couple of days we have been visiting the local school ran by Holy Cross Fe y Alegria, doing house visits with the hardest working people I have ever met, and painting one of the local churches.

Doing all of this keeps us busy, but we are meeting wonderful people along the way who I will never forget, including one Brother who was at Holy Cross the day it opened. The kids at the school are great. We have been sitting in on english, and religion classes where we play rosary bingo. One of my favorite parts so far has been going on house visits with the workers at Yancan a Huasy. They work long days and visit people with special needs. I was able to go to one of the most poverty stricken areas in Lima to vist a child with cerebral palsy. The walls of some of the homes are made of cardboard, but despite the poor living conditions each family welcomed us into their home as if we were their family. These past two days we have been painting all day, and even though are hands are stained blue it was well worth it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Mike,
I love to read all of the posts. I have sent a link to all of the family members including Ariane in Germany. Hopefully, Sebastian and Florian are reading the blog. Don't forget to send them a postcard or letter.

Love, Mom