10 Ways You can Change the World

Here are ten children who I'd like you to meet. Most of them have only a mother supporting them. Fiorella for example lives with her mother, who is pregnant, but her father abandoned the family leaving them to struggle. Then there is the child whos parents only have a house because of the church's help. As you can tell it isn't easy. These children normally would not even have a shot at private education, but through past support they got the opportunity to attend Asociacion Educativa Adventista "Jerusalem". This new school year they are looking for some new sponsors. If this sounds like something your sabbath school, your church, or even just yourself would like to get involved in then shoot me an e-mail at andycorson@yahoo.com .

Now I'd like to introduce you :)

Ten lovely Peruvian children in Iquitos, Peru.

Fiorella is 8 years old. She is in the 3rd grade this year. I asked all of these kids a few questions. Here are the questions and their responses.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?

A: I want to be a Doctor

Q: What is your favorite class at school?

A: I like Science

Q: Do you have a favorite food?

A: I love "cebiche"

Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.

A: My Mother

Samuel is 8 years old. He is in the 2nd grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: A Fireman
Q: What is your favorite class at school?
A: Math
Q: Do you have a favorite food?
A: I like noodles
Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.
A: My Teacher Rosita

Milagros is 7 years old. She is in the 1st grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?

A: A Teacher

Q: What is your favorite class at school?

A: Math

Q: Do you have a favorite food?

A: Yes, Roast Chicken

Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.

A: Joseph the slave

Piero is 9 years old. He is in the 4th grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: An Engineer
Q: What is your favorite class at school?
A: Math
Q: Do you have a favorite food?
A: Rice and Chicken
Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.
A: King David

Raul is 9 years old. He is in the 4th grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: I want to be a Pilot
Q: What is your favorite class at school?
A: Math
Q: Do you have a favorite food?
A: Yes, Roast Chicken
Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.
A: My Mother

Rodrigo is 9 years old. He is in the 4th grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: A Pilot
Q: What is your favorite class at school?
A: Religion
Q: Do you have a favorite food?
A: Chinese Rice
Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.
A: Dios (God)

Kenned is 7 years old. He is in the 2nd grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: Bank Manager
Q: What is your favorite class at school?
A: Math
Q: Do you have a favorite food?
A: Cooked Dry Fish
Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.
A: Jesus

Juan Carlos is 8 years old. He is in the 4th grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: I'd like to be a Policeman
Q: What is your favorite class at school?
A: Math
Q: Do you have a favorite food?
A: Chicken and Rice
Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.
A: My Mom

Lex is 5 years old. He is in the 1st grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: A Teacher
Q: What is your favorite class at school?
A: Math
Q: Do you have a favorite food?
A: Noodles
Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.
A: My Father

Mariseli is 11 years old. She is in the 6th grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: I want to be an Accountant
Q: What is your favorite class at school?
A: Math
Q: Do you have a favorite food?
A: Chicken and Rice
Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.
A: King David

10 Wonderful kids!

Cluck Cluck here and a Cluck Cluck there...

Here come 100 new baby chicks fresh from Lima. You can see our inspector checking the new investment out. He was excited by the prospects and gave us the okay to move them into the coupe.

This time we have 700 chickens. They were excited from there long trip and our engineer quickly brewed them a nice drink to calm their nerves. The chicks enjoyed the warmth found under the heat lamps and could be found clamoring for position.

Aaron really took to his Christmas dinner. They were kinda cute.

Your local grocer!

I would like to introduce you to Emir. Remember we gave her a loan a couple weeks ago? Did you wonder what she did with that money? I did, so I stopped by with my good friend Julio to check things out and chat with her. In the picture below you'll see Emir behind a whole table that is an addition to her business along with all of the items on it.


Before Emir had only the smaller table and a few items, mostly fresh produce, to sell. Now she is able to sell toilet paper, Clorox, oil, sugar, milk, and charcoal.

I also visited Laura. She is a very chirpy women who is always smiling. Would her business have the same kind of expansion as Emir's? Indeed the answer is yes. Her stock grew from what would only fit on a small table to shelves full of home necessities.

At first when I looked at her bodega I saw some children's backpacks for sale - and I was suspicious of her choice of inventory, however after I asked her a few questions I learned that she had sold several backpacks already and she believed the others would be sold in a week.

The wooden table in front use to have all of Laura's inventory. Now, as you can see, she has her shelves full of many different items - making her bodega a one stop shop for neighbors who need to clean clothes or make supper.

Emir and Laura have been enthusiastic about the basic tools I've given them. They both are keeping track of all their expenses and income. Because they have many different items to sell now they requested that I help them keep track of their inventory - so I created a very simple form for them to use, but boy were they glad to have it. Laura told me how she would now be able to always know what she had and how much. This would make it easier for both of them to know when to buy more supplies and track any inconsistencies between what they sold and what they had in stock.

Photo Shoot

Sparks of light scatter across the clouds as our ball of plasma smolders into the horizon. Smokey clouds rise up and fill the atmosphere. The rain forest fades into a charcoal black. The houses go cold.

Lye. Lie. Li. The fierce guard dog. By day he is a sweet and cuddly mutt, but by night he is...well I don't really know, but he is probably asleep.

This video is three weeks old, but here it is. This is at the zoo. No joke, you could feed the lions your fingers if you wanted to.

Twins!

This morning CJ, Juan, Eden, Brena, and myself got together to have worship. We listened to the the audible Bible featuring Max Mclean (ibs.org). We sat here in our simple living room. Matthew chapter 5 was our reading for the day. It says a lot in Matthew 5, but I don't really remember what exactly I heard. All I remember is that after a short discussion I had prayer. I don't know why I prayed the words I did. I said, "Dear Jesus, thank you for our simple comfort and happiness. Lord if we can somehow today share some comfort with others today and Lord if we can somehow share our happiness with others today, then please let us - let us share your love with others. Amen."

This afternoon I joined Camela, POPP's nurse, to deliver some clothing to two very young ladies. I don't recall their names now, but these young ladies are very adorable twins who were born three months ago to their 16 year old mother. They live in a simple house down a dirt road near the heart of Iquitos. They are cared for by their dedicated mother and grandmother. I hope that our delivery of donated clothing and our smiles and caring attitude made this family a little more comfortable and happy.

Thank you for using my hands and feet for good - Amen.

Downtown Driving

The first few times that I rode down to Plaza de Armus, the "center" of Iquitos, I thought that these people were crazy drivers. I felt it was a justified feeling because every bus looked like it had been through a wreck. I also felt confident in my assesment because anyone who let their fingers hang beyond the side of their vehicle was just asking for a nasty amputation.

Now I even drive a motorcycle around once in a while. I drive in the middle of the road. I pass on the left or the right, whichever works at the time. I drive within inches of scarred busses. It grows on you. After a while it just feels right to drive like a mad man.

The first time I drove the motorcycle I was out at Santo Tomas. There isn't a lot of traffic out there, since it's an end, and the roads are simple - they're dirt. I practiced a bit along with Juan, my roomate and fellow SM, down some roads towards the airport. After two days of playing around I decided I would drive home from Santo Tomas. Juan also wanted to go home, so he jumped on back and we headed down the dirt road.

You know it wasn't that hard. Our 100 cc Suziki does pretty good with 300 lbs on board. It felt good to feel the air blow through my hair. My glasses gave me the freedom to keep my eyes open despite the various kinds of debris coming at us. At one point I saw a huge bug flying through the air - it was headed straight for my head. I ducked down a bit and the bug whisked by. My bike, my passenger, and I cruzed, as much as possible on a dirt road with lots of pot holes and bumps, along. To our right was a fence with barbed wire on the edge of a hill sloping downwards. Off in the distance you could see houses with their four stilt legs strattling another little hill. To our left was a rice hulling plant. Men took the rice the came from farms and seperated the rice hull from the chaf. To our left stood this large enterprise. And it stood there. To our left was the sky...wait a second - what happened? "To our left was the sky."

I got up off the ground and helped pick the bike up off Juan. A lady on her own motorcycle stopped and looked at us. You see riding a motorcycle isn't so hard, I just didn't know what to do when I hit that sand. First I slowed down, then I sped up, then I slowed down, then we fell down. That was what I remembered from that trip. When we got to a paved road I didn't stall at any lights. I didn't cut anyone off. Only when traveling 5 mph on a dirt road did I find myself looking into the sky, looking at a women who needed by, looking at myself.

Paul and the Plane

Yesterday Paul Opp left for the United States. I wondered how I'd feel when the backbone of this organization left. Before going he told us that we would probably be hearing from him everyday. Yesterday while Paul was sitting in the Lima airport he gave me a Skype call. There he was - voice and image. He talked to several of us. He looked at us. I got a good feeling that I would not be alone in the jungle.

Soles at Work

Sunday I had my second meeting with five women who we are supporting with small loans.

It was a 1 1/2 hour meeting. I started off by having everyone discuss the Godly principles that we want to run our businesses by. This first group is unique in that all of them are Seventh-day Adventists, something that probably won't be true in the future. We talked about honesty, kindness, patience, curtousy, etc. Sounds like a good discussion for anyone, ya!

Next I had them write part of their business plan down. They would not have given them an "A" for their work at any University, but at least they were thinking about questions that are vital for any business.

Finally I showed them how I wanted them to track their income and expenses. This is something that they will bring every week when they pay for their loan. I also showed them their loan repayment schedule to help them keep track of their loan.

It was a simple meeting. We had some simple discussions. They have some simple businesses. We are making a simple impact.

Chicken Farm - Stage 2

In the picture above you are getting a snapshot of “Stage 1" of POPP's chicken farm. This chicken farm has 450 chickens that are being grown to be sold at the market.

Stage 2 - With our help, POPP can complete Stage 2 of the chicken farm. What is Stage 2? In this next stage the chicken farm will double in size. Another 500 chickens will be added to an existing coupe, which is currently empty. Chicken feeders, flooring material, and medicines will all be supplied to care for the chicks.

I am also very excited about this project because it will also be supplying a Peruvian family with a full-time income. Alisaoe has been working for POPP to manage the chicken farm and other projects as they come along too. With this sustainable project he will be able to have good profitable work for the years to come.

The cost to make this all possible is surprisingly small, for only $1,500 this exciting project can be completed.

If you would like to share in making these plans a reality then you can donate by following the link below:
http://www.onesouladay.org/donate/
To ensure your donation is used for the Chicken Farm, send a quick e-mail to Paul stating the amount you donated to the "Chicken Farm" project.U4Peru@aol.com

I went to Santo Tomas today to look at the chicken farm along with Julio, POPP’s vice president, and Richard, the tech guru. Alisaoe greeted us as we got off our motorcycles. Alisaoe is a man in his mid forties with rich dark hair, characteristic of many Peruvians, and bronze skin that reflects the many hours he has worked outside. He wore clean jeans and a fresh collard shirt, which surprised me since he spent so much time working with animals. Right away Julio and Alisaoe got down to discussing the state of the chickens and how their progress was going. Julio, with his bilingual gift, would turn to me after an exchange of words in Spanish and explain what they were talking about. And here is some of what I learned:

Every 35 days, for male chickens, and 40 days, for female chickens, the chickens are ready to be taken to market. Each chicken costs about 9 soles to buy and raise and then can be sold at market for 11 soles, for a 2 soles profit (1 soles is about $0.33) – and boy is there a market for some yummy chicken!

At this time, when they go to market, they should weigh about 2 kilograms. Alisaoe showed us a schedule of how much the chickens are fed from the beginning until they are ready to be taken to market. At first the chickens eat just a few kilograms of food each day, but by the end of their stay at the chicken farm they are eating up to 35 kilograms of food each day. Alisaoe also explained how they need a scale so they can be more accurate in how much they feed the chickens, which in return helps them manage the growth of the chickens. He also told me that they need some thermometers so that they can better regulate the temperature.

Before leaving, Julio and Richard picked out a couple chickens to buy for supper. They were put in boxes and carried to the motorcycles. We mounted our two wheeled transportation and headed back for Iquitos.

I’m glad that we can take a part in a project like this and support both POPP and Alisaoe and his family. I’d love to hit this project with a bang! I already have one $150 donation directed to this project, it would be awesome if we could get 9 more donations of $150 each to get “Stage 2” on its way – If you would pray for this project and People of Peru Project in general, it would be greatly appreciated as well.
-In Peace, Andrew

Donate online by visiting:
http://www.onesouladay.org/donate/
Then send a quick e-mail stating how much you donated to the "Chicken Farm" project:U4Peru@aol.com

Pictures

Well I thought I'd do something different today. I won't run around with my strings of words, instead I'll just post some pictures for you to gaze at. Enjoy :)

(Click the pictures to see them enlarged)