Estacion Esperanza

Newsletter June 2024

It has become chilly. We’re in our thickest sweaters, dreaming of heaters and insulation. But this year we are more resistant to the gray Lima winter. We are happy to tell you why. We also have good news to report about a kind of ‘knowledge transfer’ between Switzerland and Peru, in connection with discussions with our kindergarten parents. 

“Cup of Color”

In our last newsletter, we reported on the four-week commitment of the four artists from this NGO. They were the ones who turned our gray days into color. Their expressive murals on our buildings and the front of the border wall with the phrase “creemos que puedes brillar” (= we believe that you can shine) delight all our visitors. The following can be seen on the walls: 

Characteristics of the three Peruvian landscape regions: Sierra (Andean region), Selva (rainforest), Costa (coast). Each re-gion has its own native animals, dishes, music, clothes, festivals and dances. Peruvians are proud of their cultural diversity and celebrate it several times a year or throughout the year (e.g. folk dances or dance groups are very popular with young people) 
Activities of Estación Esperanza: education, sport, care for the environment 

Children, mothers, grandparents and even fathers(!) helped with the painting. The gates of Estación Esperanza were usually open during the “Cup of Color” visit and new relationships were forged with neighbors. The “soccer boys” were among our most loyal visitors. Their parents work all day and therefore they spend many hours on the street. So they enjoyed being welcomed into our place. We are now trying to deepen contact with these boys by offering them a soccer game. 

Recently, an artist from the area got in touch with Carlos. Under the motto “muros que educan” (= walls that educate), he would like to paint an additional section of wall with some children from EsEs – for free. Additionally, the board of one of the neighboring slums would like to express its gratitude by inviting our Saturday children’s group (a good 50 children and mothers) to a special snack. These are completely new developments, which we are naturally delighted about. We are used to being asked for support and hardly ever receive support from local groups. 

Pilot kindergarten: parent meetings 

Pedro and his wife Maria (all names have been changed!) came to talk to us as parents. Pedro said: “Wow, such a valuable opportunity to talk about our daughter’s progress and challenges! We’ve never had before. I would have liked that. Today, in most places, parents are only invited to a meeting if there are problems with the child.“
 
This year, 14 children are attending our pilot kindergarten in the Pachacutec project house. We hope and plan to start the official kinder-garten in our new building in Mi Peru in March 2025. The small, provisional setting of the pilot kindergarten allows us to learn a lot in advance. What we are particularly looking forward to: We can carry out far more intensive work with parents as part of a constant kindergarten or school offer. As part of our leisure activities, we are also constantly trying to provide support for families in difficult circumstances. However, it is often difficult to motivate parents to keep the agreed appointments. We have experienced this differently with the parents of kindergarten children. Almost all of them regard the agreed appointments as binding. They show up – and most even show up on time. 

We have held fourteen parentteacher conferences in the last few weeks. Tahani (a social worker from Switzerland) and I spent our last vacation at home learning how to conduct SSG (school assessment interviews). One of us accompanied each of the EsEs kindergarten teachers during their parent interviews. My visit, in particular, and being present at the SSG at the BALM school in Rapperswil, was very helpful. The visualization using cards with pictures of the different areas of development simplifies the discussions and the as-sessment of the children. Simple goals help the children to make progress at home and in kindergarten. For example: We lend Keily and Sarah’s parents picture books so that they can look at them with the children and expand their vocabulary. From now on, Mario will take his soft toy to kindergarten with him. When he is angry and has trouble regulating his emotions, he can hug it tightly. 

Our alarm bells started ringing when we spoke to grandmother Rosa, who had to take responsibility for her granddaughter because her parents had abandoned the girl. During the conversation, we evaluated the girl’s conspicuous behavior. Rosa’s reactions (evasive answers, tears, silence) could be indicators of sexual assault on the part of one of Rosa’s teenage sons. Home visits and further discus-sions with family members are unavoidable in this case. 

preparation course

After an appropriate preparation course, three young people and a young mother were baptized in the “Nueva Vida en Cristo” church (in the EsEs Kouri Hanna project house). Their Christian faith has become important to them, and they now witness to all those present. 

visit of our Swiss architect 

The visit of our Swiss architect Stefan Staub and his family (four children) was enriching. On one hand, I enjoyed the fact that I was visited by a friend, his wife Tamara. But above all, Stefan’s observations and adjustments to the plans for the new building were very important. Last but not least, he pointed out the importance of a retaining wall. Fortunately! The sand hill next door could actually slide one day and endanger those present without such protection. 

our two daughters

We had to take our two daughters, Angie and Flor, out of secondary school (private school). Flor’s level of suffering was no longer tolerable. It was agreed that the teachers should have given her special support because of her learning difficulties. She even has an extra pass for this. But on the contrary, Flor was confronted by these people with her failures, and they showed her the list on which she was stamped as the worst student in the class.

Angie, on the other hand, focused more on the opposite sex, or on a particular 19-year-old student, than on the lessons. She needs to be more consciously protected. There are already enough teen moms in our area. We have now opted for homeschooling at a recognized online school, including support from the secondary school teacher Andreina. We have known her for a long time. She now works parttime as a teacher for our girls and in the remaining hours she supports EsEs with tutoring, family support and par-enting coaching. 

Important notes

Church service in Meilen

When

Sunday, 14. Juli 2024

Viva Kirche Meilen, Pfannenstielstrasse 1, 09.45 Uhr, mit Rolf und Miriam

Info-Zvieri 2024

When

Sunday, 15. September 2024

14:00 Uhr
GV Verein “Estacion Esperanza Schweiz” (also open to non-members)

14:30 Uhr
Information and meeting afternoon with blessing window and snack.

Wo
Forum Kirchbühl (neben reformierter Kirche)
Kirchbühlstrasse 40, 8712 Stäfa

 

Peru-Round trip especially for EsEs friends

When

11.04.-18.04.2025:
Pre-extension with focus on ‘Peru South’

18.04.-02.05.2025:
Trip with focus on ‘Peru North’
Of course, there will also be time in Lima and a visit to EsEs



Information at Rolf Kühni, 079 788 19 07
Viva Kirche Meilen, Pfannenstielstrasse 1, 09.45 Uhr, mit Rolf und Miriam

Thanks


Love from Lima,, Miriam und Carlos Bernales Kühni 

Prayer requests

Teile diese Seite mit Social Media

This page is also available in: German

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.