Day 6

We packed up and left Urubomba. We are staying in Cusco tonight. On our way we visted a village called Tucson that SXHU is working with building a school house and getting a teacher. The church just got them a system for having some running water. It was really primative. All the houses were 6x6 mud bricked homes with thatched roofs. Each home holds about 6 people. They live in the foothills of the mountains. It is hard to explain and describe what we saw there. I would have never believed people live like that. Yet they are so happy and kind and would give you anything they had. When they saw we were from Southern Cross they came running from all over to meet us. Many of you donated stuffed animals and we had so many extra beanie babies that we gave them away to these cute little kids who had NOTHING! They were so thrilled! Some others in our group had suckers they were giving away! Then We got to talk to one of the moms and she showed us her little house. On one end was a twin bed frame - the whole family of sleeps on this one bed. In the other corner was her little fire and pots for cooking. This cute little mom had a little one on her back she was carrying around and a few more little ones running around. Chickens in and out of the house. It was incredibly moving. I was so touched by this mom - she hugged me and kissed us for giving her kids such a kind gift! It was so overwhelming to see such poverty that Derek had to take Grace back to the bus - it was too much to process! It will be hard to ever complain again - without that experience coming to mind! What an incredible hardship those people have. The kids sang us a song and then we sang "I am a Child of God" to them and I could not even choke the words out! It was so moving! We then got on the bus and headed to a drop in center in Cusco. The kids were so excited to see us. All of these kids are homeless and this drop in center funded by Southern Cross feeds them, gives them a safe place to go in the afternoons and teaches them Hygiene, helps them with school and gives them a place to belong. They sang for us and a cute little girl danced for us. Steve asked her later where she learned to dance like that and she told him she watched in on TV. We were introduced to the Board of Director- he was an 11 yr old boy. Steve asked him later what he had to do to be a Board of Director and he said he had to make all the rules and inforce them - he introduced us to some of his buddies who were on the board. He wants to be a business man. They were all so cute! We gave away beanie babies and blankets and Lauren gave gum! We also painted the building they were using. Ended up back at our hotel pretty late and emtionally exhausted!

The Village of Tucson

All the houses looked just like this.

One of the kids from the Village with Steve.

They loved the Beanie Babies.

Two of the brothers at the village.

Kids at the Drop in Center.

They loved thier Blanket.

Derek painting the drop in center

Me painting - it got pretty dark - but we finished.