Tag: Piura

“I was very scared because the water grew very fast. I took nine children with me and their moms. We don’t know how to swim, so we climbed on the roofs, saving our children first. It was a desperate moment because the help didn’t arrive and our children were crying. But I never lost my hope because my Almighty God is faithful and I knew He would come to rescue us,” says Compassion tutor, Noemi.

My name is Soledad Agreda, and I am the Trips and Visits Team Leader of the Peru office. I have been doing this work for about a year and a half now, and my main responsibilities are to organize, facilitate and host individual sponsor visits and trips along with Elia Sipan, the Trips and Visits Specialist.

Our positions are thought to be some of the most exciting in Compassion. We get to go out a lot, travel on a regular basis, go to nice dinners and get to know many interesting people. It is true, my position involves these things, but it is actually much more.

With the purpose of giving a better understanding, I will describe one day in my life, but I would like to give some more information about me first.

I am single and still live with my parents and my brother. I have been working with Compassion for 12 years now.

Because I worked as a translator for children and sponsor letters before becoming an employee, when I became an employee, I started working with correspondence. However, my previous manager, who is now the country director, encouraged me to focus on sponsor visits as I had the skills of fluent English, intercultural experience and getting along well with people.

So I have been in sponsor visits since the very first year I joined Compassion. Besides the fact that I really like children and enjoy being with them, one reason I decided to work here is because I felt at home with Compassion.

As a result of my work, I have learned that I can do more things than I ever expected.

At first I did not know I could become a Trips and Visits Team Leader. In fact, the position did not even exist at that time. But as I worked through the years, I overcame some of my limitations (like not knowing Lima well; now I have a map in my head) and built my strengths (like my love for reading and history, a great help to answer questions and provide information).

Also, I have seen the faithfulness of God in the ministry and in my life and how He has taken Compassion and me beyond what we expected.

I believe we really have the opportunity to deliver children from poverty. And I still remember many years ago, while I was translating for a video, I asked the final question to the young mother we were interviewing: “What do you want for the future of your child?”

She held the 4-year-old girl, looked around the one poor room she called home, and seemed to think how trapped she was there, with a husband without a steady job, no education and the first of many children to come already in her lap.

Then she stared at me while she answered: “I want her to have a life different than mine, that she can study and progress … I do not want her to have my same life.”

So that is why we work. That is why I am here.

If I could tell you one thing it is that you should know how important you are for the children and how sad they feel when they do not get any correspondence.

Money means a lot, but emotional support and care is even more important for reaching our goal, which is what this mother mentioned: to give our children the chance for a different life.

Now let’s see what a day can be like for me. (more…)