Allyus

The next place we were off to was Allyus. This is a mission aimed at helping indigenous (indian) people/children from the mountains. Poised on the side of a cliff, these families have put together a fabulous ministry. While falling under the same foundation as the other missions we support down here, Allyus is different in that while the people are VERY poor, the parents and present and involved in the lives of their children (ages infant to 5 yrs old). There is something like a PTA where the parents do all of the labor on the building. The value of parental involvement is truly a cross-cultural thing. These folks received $500 from St. Mark Preschool and have used it to transform their building.

The thought is that many of the children will return to the hills at some point, so much of the work here is to teach them how to survive. They learn of traditional cooking and housing methods. They learn to wash on something like an advanced wash board (I watched a 3 1/2 and a 4 year old pound every speck of dirt out of some clothes - trust me, it was clean) and their waiting for the guinea pigs to arrive (don't ask). They had special cakes and drinks they made for us and presented each of us with a hand-made wool poncho (Anne's fit perfectly, you can use your imagination about Rob and I) after a dance they did for us. We spent some time talking about rudimentary accounting and how to go about getting an estimate. They soaked up the information like a sponge. Extremely proud and extremely eager people. It was amazing to see what a little offering could accomplish!