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The Streets
Following the success of the Football Tournament outreach in March, we decided that a Football School would be a good follow-up for the kids who work on the streets of Huaraz. I`ve never seen such an elaborate annual Action Plan as exists for the Arco Iris Street Team, and although this "School" was originally planned for February, it didn´t happen. So, the gringo (Mark) again put on his football boots and, like the Pied-Piper of Hamlin, tried to round up as many stray children as possible to take part in this initiative.
After weeks of consultation it was decided that Saturday afternoons would be the best time to run this, so 4 weeks of training began on a small, concrete 5-a-side pitch at a Health Centre with a massive image of a condom bearing over us. Despite our best efforts, only one street kid ever turned up… accompanied by a multitude of bored local kids who were just fascinated by the spectacle of a gringo running around the place. So, together with about 10-12 small children, we began our weekly training sessions and small matches, which gave us the opportunity to share a message each Saturday with those present. On the up-side, it`s given Arco Iris the chance to make contact with more children from the area, and some have now started coming to the weekly "Club de Mejor Amigo" every Saturday that Karen has been involved with. And it`s been good craic!
Once this had ended, "Campamento" took place at a small but beautiful retreat centre just outside Huaraz, at a place called Tarica. How many street kids came? One. Yes, one. The Street Ministry has really been suffering in numbers since Christmas. A lot of the guys have left their shoe-shining ways and found jobs in construction, transport or street selling. Some have moved to cities like Lima or Trujillo in search of better opportunities, while others have sadly ended up in the local prison. All this has created a significant drop in the number of kids we`ve had contact with, and this was really reflected at Camp. Despite lots of publicity and preparation, the arrival of Juan on his lonesome had the potential to knock the wind from our sails, but we decided to run the entire Camp programme as we`d planned! So, 6 leaders, a cook and Juan set off for Tarica! It actually turned into more a leaders` retreat for us, as we set off on treks, lit a bonfire, listened to 3 talks by a Pastor who`d come up from Lima especially, enjoyed some quality local cuisine and had some craic playing games. The whole weekend reminded me of how often the Bible talks about the value of one person and the need to minister to and invest time in any one life. It would`ve been great if 10 or even 20 kids could`ve come to Camp in Tarica, but hopefully Juan will have enjoyed and benefitted from his own personal "Campamento" and the influence of spending lots of time around Christians in Huaraz. It was a cool way to end my ministry time with the Arco Iris Street Team and a timely reminder of the importance of every child we`ve worked with during our time on Stride.
As we depart from Peru, I guess the big challenge for the Street Team is where to go next. With waning numbers on the streets and poor attendance at events, a lot of prayer is needed for the future progress of this ministry.
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