On any given week, it’s likely that there will be a baby shower listed in the Sunday announcement sheet for your churches in the US. A quick search of my gmail and all I saw was a whole bunch of emails from Central and Cedar Lane. Peruvians also have baby showers, but here baby showers are both men and women, with ample food and drink (usually alcoholic beverages), and a clown who is hired as the emcee of the party, to direct the drinking games, and to make sure everyone has a good time. It’s a far cry from a Sunday afternoon gathering for tea and crumpets and chocolate fountains and sweet gift opening in the US.
For almost five years now, we’ve gotten together once a week as a group of friends and friends of friends to play a pickup game of soccer. While there are still a couple of players from our original group five years ago, the majority is now made up of friends from our neighborhood as well as a group of Venezuelan friends, refugees from the crisis in Venezuela who have been in Arequipa now for a year or two. Many of these guys came without their families, fleeing an unstable and dangerous political situation in their home country, hoping to find jobs in Peru and to make enough money to send for their families.
One of the Venezuelan guys from our soccer group was going to become a first-time father. Refugees don’t have the disposable income required to host a big gathering, and generally don’t have the connections to invite people who can brings gifts and diapers and wipes. But when my friends Pedro and Renso heard that they weren’t planning on doing anything, they took matters into their own hands. There would be a baby shower.
It was such a fun night. Another Venezuelan friend of Pedro hosted the baby shower, and all of the soccer guys pitched in for gifts, helping with food, and—maybe most importantly—fun games. Pedro and I, and then others, organized and led games.
Part of Peru is actively discriminating against Venezuelans because of the immigration. This was a special example of community that goes beyond soccer to include life and connection. It defies the narrative that Peruvian media is trying to disseminate. And it honors God. My neighbors took the lead in showing hospitality and serving this young family, and it was so fun to be a part of it.
