Day 4...Wacoto and Casacunua

Our real journey to see the villages began on the Monday. It was definitely a day of contrasts. The first village we went to was clearly worse off than any village we had previously visited. We had to travel on very winding, steep roads to the top of this mountain outside of Cusco. When we got there it was cold and rainy. The children were dressed in their best outfits, if they had more than one, which was usually nothing more than some holey sweats and a ratty sweater and a pair of sandals made out of tires. All the children had runny noses and were clearly sick. Jerry, the director of Hope Projects told us that since he last visited the village 4 months ago, many children have died. Hope Projects hasn't been working with Wacoto village for very long, so this was a truer picture of the poverty that exists in the high Andes. Mom showing the kids in Wacoto the pictures she took of them. Everywhere we went the children loved to see pictures of themselves...a novalty

A little boy from Wacoto...this picture breaks my heart to see the sadness in his eyes.

Mom with all the kids as we were leaving

In contrast to Wacoto, we then drove a couple hours to visit the village of Casacunua which Hope Projects has been working with for the past 3 years. It was a shocking difference to go from a village where all the children are sick to one where we were greeted by smiling, laughing, and showered with flowers. It was wonderful to see the great affect a little Hope can have on a community!

A typical adobe home in the High Andes.

A smiling school girl greeting us as we arrived.

These girls giggled the whole time as they showered us with flower petals

All the school children lined up, handing us bouquets of flowers as we walked through their line.

Here Jacob is with his bouquet of flowers. I had so many that I could barely hold them all.

At every village we visited, the children would line up and first sing us their national anthem (all 6 verses!) and then we'd have a program of poems, singing and dancing.

Having so many flowers was a real treat for the children, so we started giving them back to them and putting them in the girls' hair, which they were delighted about.

Bradley giving some of the children flowers.

We wanted to bring something to give to the children, but it had to be something that would last through all the villages...which was a lot...so we brought bubbles and the children loved it!
They would run around chasing the bubbles and were delighted when they could blow them.

It wasn't uncommon for me to look around and to see that Jacob was nowhere near the group, but off talking to a group of locals, or our translator/Peruvian director, Cesar. He just loves the Spanish language, and the people!

The youngest in our group was 9 year old Katie and the Peruvian children just loved her. They were fascinated with her light skin and hair and infectious smile. In Casacunua they didn't want her to leave.

This little boy was dressed up ready for his performance

Most of the people didn't mind getting their picture taken and actually enjoyed it. This little girl was a little more shy and hid by her father's side.These two little 4 year olds put on a wonderful performance!

The whole village came out to watch their children perform. It was awesome to see such support! This is one of the reasons why the Hope Projects is so successful...all the people are willing to work for the betterment of their community and are very supportive of one another. In order for a village to even be considered for Hope Projects help, they must all sign a contract stating that they are willing to do the work, and they must make 3000 adobe bricks to show their commitment. In the 9/10 years that Hope Projects has been in Peru, they haven't had a single village go back on their word...that's just the way these people are!Jacob isn't all that tall according to American standards (5'10''), but as you can see in this picture, he's about a foot taller than most of the people in the Andes.Kelli and Brad watching the performances...notice the little boy leaning on Brad's arm.

Clean drinking water is one of the things that gives these villages Hope and allows them to rise above the disease and death that so many other villages are faced with. It is also allows them to practice good hygiene after using the bathroom. this mother was proud to show off her baby. They carry their children on their backs, just like they did in Ghana.

As we were leaving the village, I saw this little girl and thought she was beautiful.