AMA Activity

AMA is Peru's equivalent to Mother's Union - Anglican Womens Association. Each church has it's own local group which meets regularly for bible study and other activities but there are also joint events and retreats where we all get together. Such an event was Saturday 6th May to celebrate mother's Day and fund raise for our groups and the central fund. Each group was encouraged to make some crafts and prepare food to sell. Jesus El Nazareno group made candles and Gaudencia made her usual delicious masamorra morada - a jelly made from purple corn - definitely tastes better than the description sounds!

The day started with putting up some of the health tents and locating and decorating the tables, we had a short service in Holy Trinity church (Santisima Trinidad) and then got the stalls set up ready for the public. The food was definitely the most popular thing on offer, some dishes selling out very quickly. We did well with the jelly, with people coming over for their pudding and we sold some candles.

The funds raised will go to help us pay for the retreat planned for Saturday 17th June. If the women do not have to try and find all the money themselves it makes it easier for them to participate and they are very creative and happy and willing to make things and work together as a group.

Shalom Outing

'Shalom' is the group of disabled children and their families who meet regularly in Jesus El Nazareno church. On Saturday 13th may the group went on an outing to the nearby "Friendship Park" to celebrate Mother's Day celebrated here on Sunday 14th May. It was quite a chore getting everyone on and off the bus with wheel chairs etc but a good time was had by all when all met up and wandered around the park. The children were captivated by the train which we all had a ride on, the water fountains, the boating lake with its ducks and huge fish. There was also a band playing music and some of us had a dance.

At the end of the afternoon we had a sit down and those able to had fun in the swing park and on the climbing aparatus. We organised a raffle for Mother's day, each person brought a food item and sold tickets. The winner was Felicita who was delighted with the prize, she has three boys who were recently baptised in Jesus El Nazareno, the family are regular attenders to the church.

Another aspect of the group is that there is a small fund and many of the mothers are able to use the money in the form of a loan to buy things to sell in order to make income.

Our next activity is planned for June 10th when we are doing some play therapy with the children and candle making with the mothers.