Newsletter February 2024

Hello everyone! Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. We find your empathy and prayers for our frequently challenging, yet of-ten gratifying situations, to be a great motivation. We are happy to tell you a little about our current everyday lives. The names of those impacted have been changed.

If not EsEs, then who?

Señora Lia doesn’t know what to do. One of her three adult sons, Manuel, is so addicted to drugs that he is completely neglected, sleeps under bridges and regularly steals from her and his brother. Her other two sons have their own difficulties and no resources to help. Carlos grew up with these three men. Señora Lia wants her son to go to a rehab clinic. But there aren’t many of them and none are affordable for her. Carlos put her in touch with a Christian rehab clinic, a nonprofit clinic, which accepted Manuel as a new client. He needs to decide in the next few days whether he wants to take advantage of this unique opportunity.

Ana called me late at night three weeks ago. Her partner, Bryan, had been drinking alcohol again and was destroying various objects in the house. She was afraid that he might hurt her too. Three of our team were able to calm the situation down on the spot. The reason for Bryan’s behavior: After Bryan choked her a few months ago, she decided to end the relationship with him. However, Ana does not have the money to rent alternative accommodation for herself and her five year old son. Bryan had actually been very cooperative in a conversation with Carlos some time ago. However, the fear of losing his wife and family increased his alcohol consumption and led to new acts of violence. The police did not take Ana’s first complaint seriously. After Ana filed a second complaint showing a wound on her forehead, they responded last week. Since then, Bryan has not come home. What might be our next steps to support them? Protect Ana? Do perpetrator work with Bryan along the lines of our courses last year?

Johan and Yvonne come from difficult back-grounds and Johan even comes from a delin-quent background. They had their two child-ren very young. After a few breakups in their relationship, they asked EsEs for help. We started with counseling and parenting coa-ching. The couple has been very receptive to the coaching and are now working on putting what they have learned into practice. In re-cent months, they are also placing more value on living out an active Christian faith as de-monstrated in their baptism two weeks ago.

They have also decided to get married and their wedding is in a week’s time. We were blessed to be able to help with this celebration: Wedding photos, banquet, music system etc.. We are delighted that they want to continue on their life’s journey together.

Estacion Esperanza tasks are varied and often challenging. In Switzerland, such ‘cases’ are passed on to the relevant specialist agencies. Who can we turn to here in the slums? Most often, there is no one, and we try to find the best possible solutions with our limited resources and training. The fact that we are sometimes successful is a great blessing.

Circus week

From Christmas to midMarch, it is summer vacation in Peru. Many children spend their days either on the street or in front of the TV or on their cell phones, often without parental supervision. EsEs offers various activities during this time. One popular program is the children’s week. We held this at the beginning of February in both project houses (Pachacutec and Kouri Hanna) simultaneously. We were supported by some young leaders from Huancayo (Andean region). A tremendous help! They also took part in order to gain experience for their own situation.

They would like to hold the same children’s week in their parish back home. Every day, more than 100 children and some parents took part in our program. In addition to theater, Bible stories, small group times, singing, crafts and games, circus acts were rehearsed with enthusiasm. The highlight of the week was the circus performance. As the participating parents were not interested in acrobatics, clown acts or juggling, I prepared a little theater with them with the theme “circus”. They were nervous and excited. Most of the time, their lives are characterized by a monotonous routine. Saying or even performing something in front of other people was a big challenge and required a lot of courage. In the end, not only they, but also their children and grandchildren were proud that they had taken on the challenge.

They also found the small group times valuable. Very few of the participants have an environment in which they can talk openly about their feelings and learn new things in a trusting situation.

Strengthening the team

In December, we held a team weekend away from Lima. It was good for everyone to reflect on why we do what we do. We remembered together how Estacion Espreanza started nine years ago and everyone told us how they had joined the core team. That was both touching and motivating. An external pastor enriched the morning with a sermon. The moments around the campfire, playing volleyball or in the swimming pool strengthened the community. After some team members went on vacation at the end of December and beginning of January, we started with a team day at the end of January to plan the program. The annual goals for the areas of sport, youth, children, education, parents, etc. were developed and each team member formulated their personal annual or half year goals accordingly. We are very grateful for our creative, active and trustworthy team, who are passionate about their work.

Floorball – more than “just” a sport

Rodolfo and Samuel, two excellent team members, traveled to Chimbote (northern Peru) for the national floorball games with 22 children and young people as well as 15 parents who accompanied their children. There are still not many groups practicing this sport in Peru. Our ‘Juniors’ took second place. What a great boost to the team spirit and self confidence of these young people! We are also particularly pleased that many parents are now interested in floorball and even accompany their children. For many parents, it was the first time they had done something together with their offspring.

Short and important:

1. We would like to thank Evely and Yaimer for their commitment to EsEs. They decided to change careers at the end of the year and took on a new job south of Lima.

2. We will not be able to open the kindergar-ten on the property in Mi Peru until the beginning of 2025. Despite great progress in construction, we will not be finished before the beginning of school in March. The doors and windows are currently being installed. As soon as the rooms are ready for occupancy, we will offer tutoring, English, educational coaching and other courses for parents.

3. The SRF television episodes are over. The program can be viewed on our homepage.
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