The bus dropped us off about a quarter mile from the village we were visiting. One of the girls with me had to go to the bathroom and when I inquired about the nearest one our translator pointed to a small wooden shack that was barely wide enough for one person. The girl opted to hold it.
As we made our way down the dusty road my brain was working overtime trying to process the sights around me. Children slowly began peaking through the doorways of their tin shacks. A young boy ran up to us and eagerly pointed at my husband’s baseball cap and in broken English started yelling, “Yankees! Yankees!” The boys in Peru could only dream of an opportunity to ever enter an American baseball stadium.
Once that boy broke the ice we were quickly swarmed by children from all over the village. Boys and girls of all ages grabbed onto our group and excitedly tugged on our arms and our backpacks. The smaller children touched our while skin in curiosity. When they smiled I could see browning and rotted teeth. I could see lice in the hair of some of them.
Our team set up camp in the center of the village and began doing laundry, washing hair, passing out food and teaching adults about basic hygiene like brushing their teeth. The day passed quickly as the children enjoyed small luxuries like the soccer ball we brought them. Their parents sat mesmerized as our team performed a drama and talked about Jesus.
At one point during the day, as I was walking through the village trying to take it all in, a little girl came up to me and latched onto my hand. Startled, I looked down and she smiled up at me as if she had known me all her life. She started chattering away in Spanish and although I couldn’t understand the majority of what she was saying I smiled and nodded and she walked me around and pointed out various places of interest in her village.
The poverty I was exposed to that day overwhelmed me. All day I found myself searching for a private place to sit down and cry but I was so dirty my tears would have quickly turned to mud.
When I was heading back to the bus that afternoon a woman and her teenage daughter came running after me. When I stopped and turned to them they began speaking to me in rapid Spanish. I quickly flagged down one of our translators to interpret for me.
“This woman is asking if you can give her daughter something to remember you by,” she said. “This is the biggest day of her daughter’s life. Nobody may ever come back here and she wants her daughter to remember you.”
A lump grew in my throat as I fought back tears and frantically thought about anything I could possibly give this girl. My backpack had already been emptied hours ago. Suddenly I remembered the sunglasses on my face. I squinted as I slipped them off and handed them to her. Her face lit up like a Christmas tree.
As soon as I got on the bus and made my way to my seat the tears I’d been holding back finally slipped out. Someone behind me said, “I can’t believe you gave her your sunglasses.” All I could think was, I wish I’d given her more.
My trip to Lima, Peru with BRIO Magazine in 2006 was a life changing experience for both the Peruvian people we encountered and the 500+ teenagers we took with us. The trip lasted only two weeks, but its impact is still lingering today.
This summer, Susie Shellenberger and her team (now SUSIE Mag) will be partnering with one of my absolute favorite organizations ever—Compassion International—and taking a team of teenage girls into some of the poorest parts of Guatemala to do ministry there.
If you have a heartfelt desire to change the world you can find out more about how you can join Susie this summer by visiting the trip website. You can also learn more about other ministries that are making a radical difference by checking out this link on my website.
You may not be able to change the entire world. But you can change the world for one person. Start asking God how He would have you change someone else’s life today.
