Director of Community Outreach, Bronte Babson, shares an experience from her time at language school in Cusco this past month:
There are so many stories I could share about this past month; however, there is one story in particular that has been on my heart. Caroline & I were sitting in a Peruvian McDonald’s one night eating dinner when we noticed a young boy walk into the restaurant trying to sell key chains to the customers. He walked up to a couple different people and then was grabbed by a security guard & shoved out of the McDonalds. A couple minutes later he walked back in & attempted selling the key chains again. Caroline & I waved him over to where we were sitting & asked him to sit down with us. We started asking him questions and quickly found out that he was only 12-years old, & him and his 16-year-old sister lived alone, about an hour bus ride outside of Cusco. They would spend their nights hand crafting little llama key chains & then each take on different parts of the city during the day, attempting to sell the key chains for 8-9 hours a day, every day. We asked where his parents were, and he told us his mom was “traveling,” and he had no idea where his father was. He said he didn’t know when he would see his mother again.
While trying to hold back tears, we continued talking to him to find out he hadn’t eaten that entire day, and there were many days him and his sister wouldn’t sell enough key chains to be able to afford food. Throughout our conversation we also noticed his shoes, which he said he had been wearing for years. The soles were barely attached anymore & there were numerous holes in the shoes. It was getting late in the evening at this point, so we asked him to meet us in the center of the plaza the following night.
We showed up the next night & waited around for a while. We both came to the realization that he may not show up, and at that moment he ran up behind us & sat down, asking us how our day had been. He told us he had been selling key chains for 5 hours that day & hadn’t sold a single one. We talked for a little bit & then asked him to take us to the closest shoe store. He led us to a store in the plaza & we told him to pick out whatever pair he wanted. He found a pair he liked and tried them on. Once he found the perfect fit, we were able to purchase them for him. He was SO excited. I will never forget the look on his face. We walked outside with him & spent some time talking to him & explaining that we would be praying for him & his sister.
We bought a couple of the llama key chains from him & he insisted on giving us more as a gift for how nice we had been to him. We explained to him that we did this because we love him, not because we wanted anything in return. He thanked us numerous times & was so genuinely appreciative. We gave him a hug & told him we would meet up with him again the next week.
I’m sharing this story because I honestly just want to thank each of you for the opportunity to be here & make a difference in the lives of kids like this one. For years I’ve heard and shared the statistics about street children & kids who are forced to raise themselves. It’s a harsh reality that I cannot even fathom having to endure. However, to witness this first-hand was absolutely heart breaking. Here is a kid, 12 years old, raising himself, working 9 hour days, sometimes making nothing in an entire day, not even enough to buy one meal. He has no idea if or when he will see his mother again. Yet he doesn’t give up. Every night he continues making those llama key chains & every day he walks around for hours with the hope of selling just one or two.
Without your support, I would never have had the opportunity to meet him, let him know I am praying for him, and share the love of Jesus with him. So thank you. Thank you for allowing me to live out my passion and purpose each and every day, and thank you for allowing me to spread the love of Jesus around this city. These people need hope & love so desperately, and I know I am exactly where God wants me to be, sharing that love & hope with these people.