This month we welcomed CUDA Board member David Fann back to Arequipa. For the past three years David has led a group of students from Lipscomb University on a medical campaign to Lima, and after the campaign he comes down to have a look at CUDA. This year David was able to observe the newly begun health project in the neighborhood of Hunter. After a morning of touring the clinic and speaking with our volunteers, David met with the staff and share a lunch with the Peruvian directors. It’s a great blessing to be able to show someone so deeply connected to the work here what we are doing. Visits such as David’s are a blessing not just for him, but for the field workers as well.
CUDA has also benefited from the new families arriving to the field that make up TA 2.0. Along with the Grays, each family has found ways to volunteer their time and expertise in a CUDA project. The Morgans have begun to help with the health initiative, with Just going to the clinic to do screenings and meet with patients. Briana Froud has been volunteering for our library program for weeks now and her husband, Chase, was recently added to our board of directors. Chase will become familiar with all of our programs and help to ensure we are maintaing a holistic approach in the work we do.
It has been a joy to watch our directors (Alfredo, Paty and Lucia) manage CUDA this year. Lucia, in her second year with CUDA, has taken ownership of the library program and is doing a great job training our second full-time library employee, Nancy. Paty is leading the micro-finance program with grace and wisdom, constantly interacting with people who have been dealt a bad hand, showing them Jesus as she tries to help their businesses. She also handles our in-country financial responsibilities and just yesterday received word that our application to be able to receive (Peruvian) tax-deductible donations was approved. This opens the door for CUDA to fundraise in Peru, a huge step forward for the NGO. Alfredo, as Executive Director, has put together a solid team that is working together quite well. From individually planning, and getting government support for, the health program to buying school supplies for the library program, Alfredo does it all.
Will you join us in praying for CUDA, for it’s board members, directors and volunteers? For the work they do every day in the lives of Peruvians in Hunter, Alto Selva Alegre, Miraflores and the rest of Arequipa? Pray for lives to be improved, for people to be empowered, for knowledge to be spread and for the Kingdom to be expanded through the work of all of us here in Arequipa.