CUDA News: July

During June and July we have had seven interns from the US living and working alongside us.  They came well prepared to be learners and servants; we have been so impressed with them.  While here they have worked at the cafe, served in our house churches, built solar panels, covered library books, visited borrowers and more.  Always ready to help, each one of them did their part and helped us out during a very busy time in our development ministry.

Each of the interns were encouraged, and required, to choose a specific facet of our work to dedicate themselves to during the summer.  For Emily and Sean that project was the libraries.  Almost every week they accompanied Megan to the different libraries to work with the classes on their reading projects.  Sean was even asked to sponsor one of the classes during a recent celebration at one of the schools.  In the boys class the students were divided up into groups and tasked with choosing a book, reading that book, and presenting the story to the whole class.  Sean and Emily were in charge of planning the party that the kids earned from doing a great job on their projects.  It was your classic kid party - snacks, ice cream, and soda - and they all had a great time.

Two other interns focused more on our micro-loan program.  Taylor and Rebecca are both business majors studying at Harding University and decided to come to Peru to see what our loan program is all about.  While here they were able to participate in forming a loan group from the very first interview to handing over the loan and signing the contract.  As their major project they will lead two meetings of this group.  In the meetings they will facilitate relationship and trust building, teaching on business principles, and receipt of the weekly payment.  During our meetings this summer they have helped me refine some of our processes, solve problems with various borrower groups, and start forming a more comprehensive entrance and exit interview.
Extensively trained or not each year’s interns bring something unique to our team.  Fresh perspectives, extra hands, willingness to serve, business acumen; whatever we are lacking God provides.  Thank you Sean, Katie, Rebecca, Ann, Emily, Taylor and Jordan.  The work in Arequipa, the Peruvians you came to know, and our families have all been blessed by your presence.

CUDA News: June

It is always a blessing to have your supporting church highly involved in your mission work.  We love our relationship with Cedar Lane and were excited when they contacted us over a year ago with a desire to put their talents to use here in Arequipa.  Since the Cedar Lane church is blessed with an abundance of engineers (even some rocket scientists!) we began to think of ways for them to put their technical skills to use.  What came of our planning/praying was the idea to build and install solar panels in a poor community.  The team that Cedar Lane put together rose to the challenge and arrived this month ready to get to work.

The process of choosing a community to receive the panels was long, frustrating, and God-led.  Due to some early mistakes and assumptions we found ourselves a month-out from the arrival of the solar team with no community committed to working with us.  We eventually decided to stick with Naranjal, Manuela’s community where we installed water tanks and built latrines, after a few weeks of praying and looking for an open door.  After the community-chosen directors of Naranjal asked for our assistance in resolving some in-community issues we felt like we were being told to stay in Naranjal, to put the solar panels there.  After a few weeks’ discussion we have decided to install panels in the seven homes that are currently occupied and one or two panels for the community building.

God certainly blessed our week with the group as we were able to get more work done than we had originally planned on.  Thanks to our interns we were able to get all ten of the panels constructed!  Even better we were able to install five panels when originally we had hoped to get one installed.  As of now five of the seven families that live in Naranjal can turn on their lights at night and the other two should have their panels installed soon.  It was a sweet moment when Manuela conveyed their gratitude to the group from Cedar Lane with lots of hugs and even a few tears.

While here the three engineers from Cedar Lane (Joel, Brian, and Mark) 1) held a press conference, 2) gave various radio/tv interviews, and 3) presented at two universities.  Abraham really outdid himself in creating these opportunities to let Arequipa know about CUDA and our programs/businesses.  During these interviews they were able to not only talk about solar energy as a viable power source but they also had many opportunities to share their faith as what motivated them to come to Arequipa.

Our hope is that we can continue this program using the simple design created by the engineering team without the need for repeat trips by American engineers.  We will be looking for Peruvian partners to help make this a reality.  Already we have had a community send their president to talk with us about acquiring panels for their homes.  Join us in praying for God to lead us in this, and every other, project.

CUDA News: May

One day after we returned to Arequipa from furlough I went to the airport to pick up David Fann.  David works for Vanderbilt, is an adjunct teacher at Lipscomb, and is one of CUDA’s board members.  We were really excited to have David visit and see what CUDA is up to, meet Alfredo and Paty personally, visit our worksites and basically just get a feel for Arequipa, its people and its needs.  He visited 3/4 of our church groups, met a few of the borrowers in our loan program and was able to visit a few of our libraries.  

The timing of David’s visit was perfect as he was also able to help us with some of the prep-work for the solar panel project that will take place in June.  Over the years David has been a part of numerous mission trips with an engineering focus.  He has helped design, build and install solar panel setups in Central America, so has the experience to help us get prepared for the team coming next month.  We were able to show him the community where we will be installing the panels so that he could give input on the design and installation ideas being thrown around.  We also took him to a few stores so he could see what kind of tools and materials were available.  His input on all levels has been extremely helpful.

The CUDA board has been a big blessing already but having one make the trip down sure made everything feel more official.  These men and women have years of experience and knowledge gained but don’t know Arequipa nor the people we interact with on a daily basis.  Personal knowledge of the city, workers, projects and people being reached will help them as they make decisions for the organization.  A number of other members have begun to think and pray about a time they can visit.  We look forward to having them here!

Let me give you a short list of things/people that we would ask you to be actively praying about as we head into the summer:

• CUDA Board (David, Ileene, Monty, Mark, Sheila, Budd, Greg, Alfredo, Kyle)
• Summer Interns (Rebecca, Ann, Sean, Emily, Taylor, Jordan, Katie)
• Library Program - the kids and teachers that Megan works with on a weekly basis
• Solar Project - team from TN coming in June to build and install 10 solar power units
• Loan Program - growth in borrowers’ businesses
• Cafe - that we utilize the space for more than just selling coffee, and that we would sell more coffee!
• Alfredo - wisdom as he leads CUDA in Peru
• Paty - funding for us to be able to bring her on board full time

A Glimpse into the Library Project

It has been a week since we kicked off the program with the teachers here, and it has been quite an adjustment for me.  First of all, I feel like I am officially working part-time.  We are hiring Manuela to work an additional day in the house to care for Cohen so that I can have the freedom to work with the schools on Thursdays.  This has been different for me.  Even though I have always played an active part in the ministry here, I have either been pregnant, nursing, or tending to a toddler.  Now that Ana and Maggie are in school and Cohen is weaned, it seems that I have entered into a new phase for my ministry role here in the library program... and I love it.

I am in contact with a professor I studied under at Harding who teaches staff development conferences all over Arkansas.  I am basing my entire curriculum of reading strategies on some books that I bought in his class.  I skyped with him last month to talk about our program and get some feedback and advice on how I was doing it.  He told me that if I want to see results in this first year I need to have as much face-to-face time as I can with the teachers.  It is a modeling system.  I model for the teachers, they model for the students, the students model for each other, and hopefully, by that point, the majority of students can use the reading strategies independently.  I have taken his advice to heart, and I have coordinated a class visit with each of the teachers once a week and a monthly meeting for all the teachers to come together and discuss and share what has worked for them throughout the month.

It is all very exciting.  I am enjoying the curriculum planning, I am learning more and more about the Peruvian methods of instruction (ways I can learn from them and suggestions for improving upon what they do), and I am developing a whole new set of relationships with Peruvian women that are share a common passion with me—teaching children.  I had a one-on-one meeting with a teacher this week that asked if I might have extra time to meet with just her outside of class.  She expressed to me that the teachers are not given much support and don't have the opportunities for staff development.  She really appreciates the opportunity she is receiving through CUDA and considers it a huge blessing to her work.  That made my day, and it opened my eyes even more to see that the children aren't the only ones lacking in educational support.  We will serve such a purpose in providing staff development opportunities for the teachers.  Something I know I took for granted in my home country.

As I learn, I hope to journal my thoughts and share with you all back home what is going on.  It is an exciting road that we have started, and I look forward to the ways in which God uses this work to bless the futures of many Peruvian children.  Please pray for the teachers and directors that I will be serving beside: Rosa, María Rosa, Betty, Graciela, Erasmina, Nadia, and Mariela.  Thank you for your support and the prayers you have lifted on our behalf before this time.

Living Libraries 2012

We are off to a great start in the Living Library program.  After three years of opening community libraries and struggling to make them work, we have a new strategy, and I am very excited to share this with our supporters.  In our community libraries, the people in the neighborhoods were very supportive and encouraging toward our goal of seeing the library succeed.  However, we learned that getting members of the community to volunteer their time free of charge was next to impossible.  After seeing several open and close, we chose to invest all of our man-power into the Porvenir location.  I believe that the children that attended those Saturday library events appreciated every moment they spent there.  But at the end of last year, we received a final word from the Miraflores mayor asking us to leave the building because he wanted to use it for other purposes.  I was really bummed over this situation.  How could a mayor not see the benefit of this community library.  But politics are politics, and they definitely played into that situation.  I was very sad for the children we served, but we had no choice.  And looking back, I think it was God's hand closing that door and pushing us toward another opening.

So we have a new plan.  And I am so excited to share this with you.  First, I need to fill you in on Naranjal.  We have a long-standing relationship with the people of Naranjal.  We decided to open our final community library there.  I worked during the summer months with the children at that location.  It was a very short time, during a very wet rainy season.  Only 4-6 kids came to the events, but I pray that over time that program will grow more and more.

Now for the brand new part!  We are collaborating with three different public schools this first year to try a new method in promoting reading comprehension in the lives of these students.  We are targeting just the third grade classes.  I know from my experience as a teacher and my time here, that the key to making this a success is equipping the teachers.  We had such a problem with finding a volunteer base in those community settings.  Why not go to the places where people are passionate about the kids and already trying to teach them?  So that is exactly what we have done.  The staff at these schools are thrilled to have the extra help and staff development opportunity.  Here is how it is all going down:

1. Alfredo and I met with the staff at all three of the locations.  They have listened to the plan, know what is expected from them, and have signed a formal agreement stating that they are on board.
2. Alfredo and I made a visit to the classes the last Monday in March in order to have the kids evaluated at the beginning of the program.  I am hoping that this assessment coupled with an end-of-the-year assessment will show positive results.
3. I am planning the first meeting for the teachers where I will begin to share my knowledge on the subject of reading comprehension strategies.  It is my hope that we will meet once a month to discuss how it goes in the classes.  I am excited to build these relationships with the teachers involved.
4. I will make visits to the classes once a month to do an example lesson using the different strategies.  We will also provide the classes with a start-up school library (if you have donated books in the past, they will either be found in Naranjal or these schools.  And don't hesitate to send more!)
5. Our plan is to incentivize the students that perform well in the program half way through the year and then end of the year.

A couple of stories I would like to share with you that happened this past Monday:

I walked into the all-boys school class, and a little boy shouted, "Profesora!" (which means "teacher" in Spanish).  It was a little boy, Joel, that came to our library location in Porvenir.  I also ran into one of our girls in the all-girls school.  It is such a blessing, and affirmation from God, that we will still be serving the same children that could have come to that community library location.

In one of my assessments with a third-grade boy, I could tell he was one of the sharper ones.  His reading fluency was excellent, he answered every reading comprehension question with ease.  I got to a question, "What is your favorite book?"  He told me that he didn't have one, shrugging his shoulders.  I asked, "But do you like to read?"  He looked up at me, "Yes.  But I don't have any books to read.  That is why I can't tell you my favorite."

That, supporters, is a huge reason you are making a difference here.  It is my hope that we can make an improvement in reading comprehension, but something simpler than that is to make it easier for these children to have free access to books.  It is my prayer that they will discover a world of knowledge through this program and the stories that they will have access to read.

Café Connection

Café Connection is (finally) open for business!  After delays by the carpenter, electrician, plumber, painter and the rain we were able to open our doors on Feb 17.  A few days later we invited friends and contacts to the cafe so they could see the place and try the different drinks and baked goods.  We are very excited about the opportunities this new business presents us with.  Not only do all profits go towards expanding our development work but we now have a solid base of operations for reaching out to the college students just down the road.  We are confident that God will use this location and ask that you pray that He do just that.  Here are some pictures so you can get to know the place, that is until you are able to come in person.

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CUDA News: January

For the past few years now one of my primary jobs has been overhauling and then managing CUDA’s micro-finance operations. This sounds really complex, and it probably should be, but for now I’ve kept things simple. Thanks to Greg (research, creativity), Paty (Peruvian connections, business training), and a lot of trial and error we’ve managed to make 31 loans to 29 different Peruvian entrepreneurs. What started out as a useful division of labor has turned in to one of my favorite jobs here in Peru. It has been challenging and frustrating, rewarding and surprising. As I begin the process of searching for a new group (or two) part of me cringes at the time and number of cell phone calls I’ll need to invest to get the groups formed and approved, but a larger part of me is excited and eagerly awaiting the new relationships that will be formed - and that is the most surprising part of our micro-loan program, the relationships.

Going into this project we knew that it would afford us opportunities to meet a lot of new people and make new friends. The potential was there for bible study and converts, but first and foremost we knew that opportunities to bless borrower’s lives (with more than just a loan) would present themselves. I have been blown away by what has happened. Put simply, God has worked. Oh we haven’t had an in-depth bible study with every person or baptized 20% of our borrowers,but we have encountered people struggling to make ends meet, searching for a way to pick themselves and their family up just a little bit, looking for help. On the surface these people, our friends, look like any ordinary person with a business—busy with but a few minutes to spare, if you can find them. Once the loan has been made and regular contact established (via weekly borrower meetings) we discover an incredible amount of openness.

The openness is expressed in numerous ways. Mothers start sharing about their families, both the good and the bad. Group time becomes prayer time as daughters-in-law process the deaths of their mothers-in-law. What starts out as a simple “share about your week” session turns into an hour long discussion on death, heaven, and whether or not we really will have our own mansions in the great by-and-by. A difficult week for a group member turns into a brainstorming session on ways they can improve their business in the coming days. The rainy season and vacationers are blamed for a drop in sales. An upcoming surgery is prayed over. A borderline abusive relationship is counseled against. To summarize, life is shared.

And it is this, life being shared, which sums up our reason for having a micro-loan program. We know it is unconventional. We also know it might not result in overflowing church meetings. What we do know is that it results in relationships being formed and life being shared and in those moments God works. Through this program we’ve been led to a group of Christians needing connection to the family at large and been able to study with a few individuals. We’ve been able to be present and let God work through us to bless the lives of Peruvians. And that is why we are here in the first place.

Chapter by Chapter

What an exciting January!  We have so much going on, and to be honest, I don't see it slowing down anytime soon.  First, this September marks the beginning of our final year in the contract.  Please be in prayer with us over the future of the work here and our families.  Also, both families will be traveling to the states for furlough.  The Smiths leave in early March and my family will leave in mid-August.  We are excited to see our supporters and hug on some people we haven't seen in quite a while.

CUDA seems to have started rolling, and it isn't slowing down.  I am elated that Alfredo Oporto, our brother in Christ and the first person we met in Arequipa, has taken the reigns of executive director.  Kyle, Larissa, Greg, and I are all volunteers now.  I attended my first library meeting early this month to discuss the future of the program.  I was an expert volunteer called in to help with curriculum development for the reading literacy program.  I cannot express how wonderful it is to see the Peruvians take charge of something that we began 3 years ago.  Sustainability has always been our dream for this work, and putting Peruvians in charge is the first major step to making it a reality.

We are planning a team day retreat.  We have a long strategy document listing the goals and dreams we had for this work year-by-year.  The elderships all signed on to it, and as a team, we are revisiting the document to pray and dream further about where we are and what the future holds.  We can plan all we want, but his ways being higher than our ways becomes quite clear when you can look back over four years of the ministry.

This month has also been a month of good-byes.  Anna and Sakari, the Finnish couple that worked with CUDA for 4 months, left on the 21st.  One of our friends that was associated with the mine here left on the 24th (we had a ladies Bible study group in English that she was part of).  And, Rachel Steele is preparing to leave on February 15.  Her two year commitment has come to an end.  So, though sad to say these good-byes, it is a reminder to me that God's story is full of new chapters, and we learn to go with it.