Playground Teams

Over the last couple months we have been preparing ourselves for the arrival of our new playground equipment. We have been finishing sidewalks, laying grass and buying tools and materials needed for its installation. Other things that teams have been doing included finishing the sunrooms at the back of each house and repainting all of the interiors of the houses. Finally a few weeks ago the team arrived to install the playground in Pachacamac. Unfortunately for us, the container with the equipment inside had not yet been released from customs. The team was here 6 days before the container was finally released.

The late release of the container meant that we had to unload it in a hurry and build the playground inside of 2 days. That meant working very long days and even working into the night. The equipment was finally done and the children are loving having fun each day on it. Included in the equipment are 5 slides, 2 monkey bars, 8 swings, a firemans pole and a tire swing.

After the Pachacamac installation was complete I was off to Andahuaylas with another team to install the playground equipment there. One thing about going to Andahuaylas that is different from Lima is the elevation. It is nearly 11000 feet above sea level. Therefor it is necessary to spend a couple days acclimatizing before starting work. We spent one such day visiting a large lake in the area and the ruins pictured above. These ruins are called Sondor and were a dwelling of the Chanka civilization. The ruins were very impressive, but maybe more impressive was the view from the top of the pyramid.

After getting used to being that high above sea level it was time to get to work. This playground was unique in that it's structure is made of wood. We could not import the original wood structure from the U.S. so we bought new wood here in Peru. It came from the jungle and was an extremely hard wood. Once we started working on it, it was obvious that the drill we had would not handle drilling the 80 or so inch and a half holes that we had to do. We searched all over Andahuaylas before finally finding a new drill that would do the job. The build was completed in 4 days and we were able to see the kids enjoying it before we left. This is by far the nicest play structure in all of Andahuaylas and word started getting around about its arrival. The last day we were there we had about 15 or so neighborhood kids show up to play.

I don't have any pictures of the playground that was built in Pucallpa, but the same week that I was in Andahuaylas, there was a team there putting up a playground. It was by far the biggest of all the structures built at our Peru facilities.

East Dayton Christian School

This is the group from East Dayton Christian School. No that is not their new school uniform, that is the typical dress of the people who live in the native community of Pampa Michi. The team and myself and Eduardo went to Chanchamayo for a 2 day trip at the end of their work week. Chanchamayo is situated on the other side of the Andes mountains from Lima and is what is considered to be low jungle. Among the things we did and saw were swimming at the base of a huge waterfalls while brilliantly colored butterflies fluttered around us. We also visited this native community where we danced their native dances and had the opportunity to buy some of their handicrafts and even saw a beaver, wearing sunglasses and eating a lollipop. On the ride back to Lima we saw lots of wildlife inlcuding vicunas and llamas.

The teams time here was not all travelling through the mountains and jungle. They started their week in Pachacamac at the Juniper Tree. The team got very familiar with picks and shovels and wheelbarrows as they levelled the ground in front of houses 1,2 and 3 where they spread topsoil and manure and then laid sod. They also framed and poured 3 more sections of sidewalk and sanded and painted a few doors that were in need of maintenance.

This was a young team with not a lot of experience in construction or landscaping, but really rose to the occasion and worked super hard during the week. We look forward to seeing them back here again soon.

St. Marys / Fresno State Team

We just had a team here from St. Marys University and Fresno State in California. The team had 3 leaders and 14 students who were a lot of fun. This was a little bit different team for us in that they wanted to do construction work in the mornings and then teach sports in the afternoons. The construction work consisted of tying rebar grids, mixing and pouring about 30 meters of cement sidewalks and moving and levelling topsoil and planting sod.

As mentioned above the team taught sports clinics. These took place in Pachacamac at the Juniper Tree on our sports courts and also in Manchay both at the Oasis and at a local soccer field. The kids really enjoyed learning soccer, volleyball and basketball skills. For many of these kids this would have been the first time getting actual instruction in sports. After hours the team took the chance to invite some locals for some friendly soccer games.

Calvary Baptist, Another Great Trip

Another two weeks have come and gone with our friends from Calvary Baptist in Oshawa, Ontario. The team came with many projects planned and they completed all of them and then some. Amongst there projects were these sunrooms seen above. They built the bases for them at the back of each house and then completed this one at the back of house 5 and got the frame done on house 6.

The team also put up big reflector lights on our sports court. They mounted two on the tops of houses as seen above, and two up on poles on the other side of the court. These lights are really bright and will allow us to have many activities at night. This was just one of many electrical jobs that the team did including putting lights and alarm in our worshop, lights in our clothes deposit and food deposit and installed a doorbell. They also installed hose points at the backs of the houses, poured cement pads for our laundry facilities and painted houses 5 and 6 completely inside.

This week coming we have a team of university students coming to do some construction and to teach sports clinics. This is in front of houses 1,2 and 3 where the team will be pouring sidewalk and ramps up to each house. I also plan on having them dig the trenches for our weeping tile bed for our septic system and spreading topsoil and planting grass.

Just Like Christmas in April

The team from Calvary has moved on to brick work for now. They are building these half walls on top of the cement pads that they poured earlier in the week. These rooms will be some sort of sunroom, that get used for the kids playing, doing their homework and eating supper.

As many of you may have heard, we had a theft of some of our power tools this past Christmas season. The thieves cut a hole in the roof of our shop and took the tools. Many people prayed that money for new tools would be provided and also have given ideas for improving security. Today we went tool shopping to buy some tools that we need to continue the work of this team. Many churches and individuals have donated this money so that we can build these homes. We have also installed a security system in the shop and will be building a lockbox to store the tools in. Please continue to pray that funds will be provided for better security at the Juniper Tree, things like raising the wall higher, more lighting and better door lock systems are needed.

Today we were also supposed to pick up our wood order for the tops of the sunrooms, but it was not ready when we called. Upon passing the wood yard on the way home I saw that they had our 4x4's cut and were working on the the rest of the order. I will pick this up tomorrow and we will begin the next stage of the project on Monday. Today we also bought 2 more lights for the sports court and next week we will install them so that the kids can play after dark.

Calvary Baptist Midweek Update

We have a team here right now from Calvary Baptist Church in Oshawa Ontario. This is a church that has been here 3 times before and this time has many repeat members as well. The team has been working on pouring patios behind each house which will be the bases for sunrooms that we will be building starting tomorrow. They also installed hose taps at the back of 3 houses that will be used to water the grass and gardens. The electricians on the team spent the first day sorting out some problems we had with our electric meter and the moved into installing a doorbell, and alarm system for our workshop and lights in the shop. Today they were also installing outlets at the back of each house to plug in the washers and dryers.

This picture shows the patios behind houses 5 and 6 with the bricks stacked up ready to build. My idea right now for the sunrooms is that they will have brick walls about a meter high and then a nice wood structure above that with mainly screen to allow lots of ventilation. The roof material is still not decided but I think a nice clay tile roof would really look sharp on each one. The team also moved our food storage shop to a new location freeing up more space for our playground that is coming in July. Still to come for this team is working on many sidewalks throughout our children's home property and making some modifications to our septic system as well as installing lights above our sports court.

Back to Work

Here I am back to work at the Juniper Tree. I had a couple months back in Canada, enjoying some winter activities, and visiting friends and family. My wife and I had lots of opportunity to share about our ministries in Peru. When I got back to the Juniper Tree there was lots of catch up to do as far as property maintenance. Luckily I had my friend Mike along with me who help a lot with his hard work and great ideas. What we accomplished in the week was cutting all the grass, which was like a hay field, cutting and burning many weeds and we worked on the gardens. Mike came up with the idea of making a portable pig pen that we could use to put the pigs in the garden. They could root around and work up the soil while at the same time leave their fertilizer behind. It is working great and the gardens are really beginning to take shape. Near the end of the week we started forming and pouring cement sidewalks. This was something I had wanted to do for a while as it really starts to define certain areas of the property and when we get some grass in those defined areas the home will really start to take on a finished look.

Here is a picture of the area of the garden that the pigs worked up and then we levelled and planted many carrots and cucumbers. My idea is that I will keep this section for growing vegetables that the pigs can eat. Any outstanding veggies can go into the houses for our kids to enjoy, but some of the veggies that are not so impressive can be enjoyed by our pigs. The rest of the garden I would like to divide into 4 sections and have each house look after 1 of them. They would each have their own garden plot where they could grow whatever they want and the children could learn about agriculture.

We have our first team of the year coming in the first week of April. They are a team that brings a lot of skill with them so we are now starting to prepare for their arrival so that we can keep them busy. I will have them continuing with the sidewalks and grass, building sunrooms at the back of each house, installing many electrical components such as lights and plugs and maybe an alarm. We would also like to finish off the entrance way at the Oasis center so that might be something they will work on. Later on this year we have many teams coming and one highlight will be the arrival of our playground equipment.