Meanwhile, in the UK, we have been preparing for Easter, making Easter treats and flower decorations in our community craft sessions. (If you're interested in chocolate...the mini egg buckets below will be sold at St Mark's Church, Harrogate, on Palm Sunday!) Our community craft workshops continue to be a source of fun and creativity in the lives of the differently-able participants. Speaking to one of our regular participants the other week, he said how much he enjoys making things and seeing everybody each week.

​Our hospital craft sessions also continue to be an important opportunity for hospital inpatients to be creative, socialise and practice their motor skills. The participants had great fun marbling paper last week, producing some beautiful results!

It’s wonderful to be back in the Southern Hemisphere! To make me feel even more at home here in Arequipa, this time I’m staying with the wonderful family of Pastor Abel and his wife Betsaida. I’m here to see how our volunteer Ellie Thompson is getting on, and to escort her safely across the border to Bolivia and back so that she can renew her visa. When I left her here 3 months ago she barely had any Spanish, so it makes me *so* happy to see her chattering away with her host family like a native. She’s clearly perfectly at home and is being a huge blessing to the new craft project that Craft Aid is planting here.

​On my first full day here I was able to meet with all the young people from the larger Nuevas Fuerzas group that we’re working with. The world would describe this group as having ‘learning disabilities’, yet what they’ve learned in a short period is remarkable. They’re producing beautiful cards from Peruvian fabrics, and beads from recycled cereal boxes (hard to believe I know, but have a look at the finished result in the picture on the bottom left!) They were thrilled to bits to hear that all the cards they’ve sent to the UK so far have completely sold out, and they proudly told me that they’re selling well in Peru too. Christian, one of the group, stood up to make a welcome speech and said how pleased they were to be earning money from their work, which enabled them to buy the things they needed and help their families. It’s still very early days with this project, so it’s wonderful that those involved are already seeing the benefits. I told them that when they produce work that sells, two good things happen:
1) They get paid!
2) The world gets to see how talented and brilliant they are, and that’s just as important. It’s an opportunity for them to shine their light out all over the world, so people are able to see that God’s blessed them with talents and abilities just like everyone else.

Yesterday, we worked with (and partied with!) the larger group of people with learning disabilities from Nuevas Fuerzas and taught them how to make paper beads. They all seemed to enjoy learning a new skill and getting rather gluey! And they had produced some fantastic snazzy beads by the end of the morning. After lunch, they had a party (Peru is an amazing place to go if you like a good party. They have a wonderful way of celebrating all kinds of occasions!) and we got to join in with all the singing and dancing. There was no escape, even for us awkward British folk! But once we got over our initial reluctance, we had a lot of fun and we even attempted to follow some of their Peruvian dance steps. I was really struck by the beautiful energy of this group. Their name is Nuevas Feurzas, which means New Strength. It is a reference to a verse in the Bible that talks about God renewing our strength. It couldn't be more relevant! Like the verse in the Bible, these young people seem able to "run and not grow weary". They continued to dance, even after the party seemed to be coming to an end. Meeting this amazing group of people was a massive encouragement to me. Only a couple of days ago, one of the women at the church was telling me that people with disabilities are often hidden away at home in Peru, so it was fantastic to see that this can change. The participants came with their mothers, who enjoyed having some time to relax during the craft session and also having the chance to join in the party fun. There was a real atmosphere of joy and everyone clearly felt at home. It is hard to fully describe (even for an English graduate who likes words...), so here are a few photos, which hopefully reflect something of the joyousness of the group!

Ella writes: Over the last couple of days, we've been catching up with Nuevas Fuerzas, the group of differently-able people at the church, whom we are working with. On Thursday, we spoke to the wonderful women who oversee the group and discussed some of the things that had been going well, as well as some of the challenges. We also taught them how to make paper beads, the perfect product as Susie explained: easy to make, free resources, recycled materials, and beautiful to wear as necklaces or bracelets. The women will then be able to teach this new skill to the larger group of people with learning disabilities at the church. Then yesterday, Ellie taught some of the smaller group of people with physical disabilities how to make some of the stunning new bracelets, which she has been designing. They learnt really quickly and produced some very beautiful results!

However, I have been learning that establishing a craft-based social enterprise is so much more than just teaching people to make stuff! Perhaps that is obvious, but it constantly amazes me how much goes on behind the scenes that most people will never know about. There are so many things to consider, especially when working in two different cultures: what your market is, or indeed markets, as the English and Peruvian market may be quite different, what sort of facilities are needed for the project to grow and succeed, what kinds of skills they can learn, how much each differently-able artisan can earn, what sorts of materials to buy and whether they are cost-effective, and that is only a tiny proportion of some of the things we've been discussing with the women who run Nuevas Fuerzas.

There is also the added complication of having to work in a different language and culture. Having said that, I think there is something very beautiful when people from different cultures work together successfully. We can learn so much from each other. As a team from England, we are so aware of the dangerous possibility that we could impose our western ideas upon the people we are working with in Peru. However, since being here I have been struck by the fact that working with the church changes things a bit, because our core motivation is to love and to serve, not to regard ourselves better than each other but to hold everything in common and to share our skills and resources freely with those in need, of all faiths and none. I think this is important, because this changes the dynamic completely. As a body of people, we need each other's gifts and skills. Ellie can share her skills in Peru, in the same way that Flor, one of our Peruvian volunteers, can come over to England to share her gifts. The baptist church we are working with here, also runs a centre to help men suffering from drug addiction. This has been supported by churches in Brazil. It is so encouraging to see how churches from all over the world can come together to show God's love to vulnerable people in our communities.

Yesterday we arrived in Arequipa, La Ciudad Blanco (the White City), so-called because of its beautiful buildings made of Sillar, white volcanic rock. We were given a really warm welcome at the airport, as Neuvas Fuerzas came to greet us with hugs, smiles, and red roses for each of us. Neuvas Fuerzas are the group of people with disabilities from the church that we are working with. We were all so happy to have arrived here; as we walked round the little supermarket afterwards to get a few things for today's breakfast, we couldn't stop smiling to ourselves. We also got a little over-excited about the amazing choice of fresh fruit.

It was really great to finally meet the differently-abled artisans that I have heard all about. Today we are going to the church to see how the group are getting on. Will blog about that later, but for now, here's a picture of the amazing view from our accommodation here.