ISBN 978-0-904379-69-3P393

Luís andRichard live in Peru

I’m Luís...

...and I’m Richard

Luís and Richard live in a desert town in Peru.This book explores what life is like for themby using stunning photographs and the boys’own story. They tell us about their family,school, traditions and Christian faith.

Christian Aid London: PO Box 100, SE1 7RT Belfast: PO Box 150, BT9 6AECardiff: PO Box 6055, CF15 5AA Edinburgh: PO Box 11, EH1 0BRDublin: 17 Clanwilliam Terrace, Dublin 2

Websites:www.christianaid.org.uk/learn www.christianaid.ie www.globalgang.org.uk

UK registered charity number 1105851 Company number 5171525 Republic of Ireland charity number CHY 6998

ContentsPage

Our family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Our town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Our house . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Our school. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Our mum and IEME . . . . . . . 14Our faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Our church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Father José . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Festivals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Pronunciation/glossary*. . . . 24Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Note to teachers

Luís and Richard Live in Peru giveschildren in the UK and Ireland a briefinsight into the life of two boys living in a desert town 300km south of Lima,the capital of Peru. This non-fiction BigBook was written with RE/RME andLiteracy lessons in mind. It also aims toencourage children here to think abouttheir place in the world and to makecomparisons with Luís and Richard’s life.Text is based on interviews with the boysand their family.

The accompanying CD-Rom includesactivity sheets for RE/RME, Literacy and Geography/Environmental Studies, as well as Spanish. However, it is hoped that Luís and Richard Live in Peru willprovide a stimulus for thought anddiscussion that cannot be planned for in any lesson notes or worksheets. The book and CD-Rom are ideal for use with children aged 7-11.

Feedback: If you have any commentsabout Luís and Richard Live in Peru,or suggestions of different ways it may be used which would be helpful to other teachers, please emailschools@christian-aid.org

About Christian Aid

Christian Aid is a leading UK and Irishdevelopment agency that aims to get rid of poverty and the things that keeppeople poor. Christians who wanted toput their faith and beliefs into action set it up in 1945. Christian Aid currentlyworks with around 600 local organisations,known as partners, across the world. The partners get on with the practicalwork of supporting and empowering local people in their communities. Somefollow a faith, some don’t. They’re calledpartners because they have an equalshare with Christian Aid in makingdecisions. After all, they know what it’sreally like to live in their countries, andwhat changes are needed to make adifference to their lives.

Christian Aid also writes books like this tohelp children learn about life in differentparts of the world.

© Christian Aid, 2006Daniel Sinclair asserts the moral right to beidentified as the author of this work.

ISBN: 978-0-904379-69-3

All rights reserved. This publication is copyrightbut any educational institution that has purchasedone copy may make duplicate copies for useexclusively within that institution. Permission doesnot extend to reproduction, storage in a retrievalsystem, or transmittal in any form or by anymeans, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise, of duplicate copies forloaning, renting or selling to any other institutionwithout Christian Aid’s prior consent.

All photographs: © Christian Aid/Kim NaylorIllustrations: © Laura CarlinDesign: Kathryn Samson

This book is printed using vegetable-based inks on Revive matt, which contains a minimum of 70 per cent de-inked waste paper

This is us with our sister, Paula

* Words explained in the glossary are shown in blue the first time they appear in the text

Luís and Richard live in Peru

Written by Daniel SinclairAll photographs by Kim NaylorAll illustrations by Laura Carlin

South America and the United Kingdomand Ireland drawn to the same scale

Our family Nuestra familia

2 3

How manypeople are inyour family?

Our dad is a traffic policemanand our mum volunteers as ahealth promoter. She teachespeople how to stay healthy andto eat food that’s good for them.

Most people in Peru speak Spanish.To find out how to say our names and other Spanish words, turn to page 24.

¡Hola! We’re Luís and Richard and we’re fromPeru, a country in South America. We live in a city called Ica with our dad, Julio, ourmum, Juliana, our sister, Paula, and our baby brother, Julio César. Our family name is Pisconte Avilés.

Our family on a day out at the local sand dunes.From left to right there’s our dad, Paula (7),Mum, Richard (9) and Luís (10). That’s Julio César(1) hiding his hands in the sand!

Paula

Mum and Julio César

Our dad, Julio

5

Our town Nuestra ciudad

4

What is it like whereyou live?

We live in a small city called Ica. It is built on the edge of a desert and is surrounded bysand and the Andes mountains. It never rainshere so it’s incredibly dusty. Lots of the houseslook half-finished, with struts sticking out at thetop. People haven’t put on roofs because theycan’t always afford to and there’s no need.

Ica is about 300km south of Lima, which isthe capital city of Peru. Lima is by the sea.

This is the part of Icawhere we live. You cansee how sandy it is

A street in Ica

Our city centre.The green vehicleis a taxi

7

Our house Nuestra casa

6

Our house has got two rooms – a kitchen and a living room. Dad has just built a new bathroom in the courtyard.

In the living room there are twobeds where we all sleep, chairs,some bags for our clothes, a stereo and our favourite things –the TV and Playstation. We have to share a bed with Paula whooften kicks us because we snore!

In front of our house is a pretty courtyardwith some benches, some fruit trees and a vegetable patch. It’s great because there is space to run around and play football.

What is your homelike? What would it belike if all your familyslept in one room?

Scoring a goal on the Playstation

Watering vegetables

9

Food Comida

8

Do you grow food at home? What food do you eat on special days?How do you make it?

For breakfast we have porridge.For lunch we have salad, raisinsand pecan nuts. Mum says she doesn’t want us eatingrubbish! For dinner we oftenhave picante, which is meatand beans in a spicy sauce.

During the festival of Señor deLuren Mum makes tejas, whichare delicious sweets made bydipping pecan nuts in meltedchocolate and toffee.

We grow a lot of our food in our garden.Mum was shown how to plant the seedsand look after them by a group called IEME.It seems to have worked well because nowwe’ve got beetroot, radishes, carrots andlots more growing in our garden.

Making tejas for the festival of Señor de Luren

This is us having dinner

11

Water Agua

10

Not having enough wateris a big problem for ushere in Ica. There is ariver, called River Ica, but it’s very dirty andusually full of rubbishinstead of water.

We are lucky becausewe’ve got a tap in ourgarden and in our newbathroom. Soon Dadsays he’s going to put a tap in our house – wecan’t wait! The water onlycomes on for three hoursin the afternoon so wehave to make the most of it while we can.

The River Ica isfull of rubbishinstead of water

Where does your watercome from? Whatwould your life be like if you only had waterfor three hours a day?

We wash up in our garden

13

Our school Nuestra escuela

12

Our school has 1,800 pupils. Half of us go in the morning and half in the afternoon.School is free, but we have to pay for ourbooks. Although it’s not very far to school we get the bus because there are too manybusy roads to cross if we walk.

A normal day at school would be:

8.00-8.20 Prayers in class. We say ‘I trust in God’ and then make the sign of the cross.

8.20-9.50 Literacy.

9.50-10.10 Looking after the school grounds.

10.10-10.40 Break. We have a tuck-shop full of sweets and cakes.

10.40-11.30 PE.

11.30-1.00 Maths.

1.00 Home.

On the walls of our classroom we have achalkboard, posters of Jesus and Señor de Luren, lists of who does which jobs and class rules. These rules include wearingproper uniform, telling the truth andrespecting God.

Luís (right) in class What rules doyou have atyour school?

Our school badge

15

Our mum and IEMENuestra madre y IEME

14

How do we knowwhat’s good for us?Where do you go when you’re not well?

IEME was given money and help by a charity called Christian Aid.

Our family has been helped by a group called IEME, whichset up a casa de salud in Ica.Mum went there when she wasill after Julio César was born.We go there too sometimes, as we get bad coughs becauseof all the dust here.

IEME also teaches people howto eat properly and how tostay healthy. Now our mumvolunteers for IEME, showingother mums which food isgood for their children to eat.Mum sometimes helps runIEME’s market stall that sellsfruit and vegetables cheaply sothat more people can buy them.

People buying fruitand vegetables fromIEME’s market stall

Mum uses this bannerto teach people how to eat healthily

All our family are Catholic, which is a type of Christianity. Peru is a Catholic country. We go to church every week and pray athome every day. We don’t have a Bible yet,but Mum wants to get us one.

17

Our faith Nuestro fé

16

Did your familyhave a specialcelebration whenyou were little?

We were baptised when wewere very little and now, everySaturday morning, we go to aclass to get us ready for whenwe take our first communion.Communion is when Christians eat bread and drink wine toremember that Jesus died onthe cross and came back tolife. It also reminds us ofJesus’ last supper, which youcan read about in the Bible.

A painting in ourchurch showing Jesusat the Last Supper

Richard praying at his communion class

Every time we come to church we stand in front of the statue ofthe Madonna holding Jesus, andmake the sign of the cross. To dothat we use our right hand to:

1. touch our forehead

2. touch our stomach below our heart

3. touch to the left of our heart

4. touch to the right of our heart.

We make the sign of the cross to show that we believe in Godand to remind ourselves ofJesus’ death.

We think our church is beautiful. Inside it’sbright and warm. There’s a huge painting onthe wall that shows the Bible story of howthe world was made, the history of Ica andpeople getting together to take communion.

19

Our church Nuestra iglesia

18

Richard making thesign of the cross

Us outside our church

Luís praying infront of the statueof the Madonna

What otherimportant actionsfor praying do you know?

21

Father José Padre José

20

Father José leading theservice at our church

Father José Manuel is the leader of ourchurch. He’s not really anyone’s father, it just means he’s in charge of the church. He’s really kind and likes to make church asfriendly as he can. When he’s explaining theBible he asks lots of questions, and he’ll evensay a prayer for our football team to win!

During a church service we will sing, readfrom the Bible and pray. Sometimes FatherJosé asks us to say specialprayers, especially onfestival days.

Have you everheard prayersbeing said?Where?

Us at choir practice

The festivals we celebrate are Christmas,Easter, saints’ days and the feast day ofSeñor de Luren. Señor de Luren is a statue of Jesus that came from Spain more than 400 years ago. The story of the statue is veryexciting. When it was being brought here it fell off the boat it was on, got washed up on to the beach and was brought to Luren, on the outskirts of Ica. The statue we see now isn’t the real one; it’s just a copy, because the real one got burnt in 1918.

Every Easter and October the statue is takenround the town and sick people touch it, asking Jesus to make them better.

23

Festivals Fiestas

22

Which festivalsdo you celebrate?How?

Festival processionthrough Ica

Us holding aposter of a saint

25

Pronunciation

24

Agua (Ag-wa)

Andes (And-ees)

Casa de salud (Cas-a de sal-ood)

Comida (Com-ee-da)

Fiestas (Fee-es-tas)

Hola (Oh-la)

Ica (Ee-ka)

IEME (EE-em-may)

Juliana (Hoo-lee-ana)

Julio (Hoo-lee-oh)

Julio César (Hoo-lee-oh Say-zar)

Lima (Lee-ma)

Luís (Loo-ees)

Nuestra casa (Nu-es-tra cas-a)

Nuestra ciudad (Nu-es-tra see-you-dad)

Nuestra escuela (Nu-es-tra es-cuel-a)

Nuestra familia (Nu-es-tra fam-il-ya)

Nuestra iglesia (Nu-es-tra ee-gles-ee-a)

Nuestra madre y IEME (Nu-es-tra ma-dray e EE-em-may)

Nuestro fé (Nu-es-tro fay)

Padre José Manuel (Pa-dray Ho-say Man-well)

Picante (Pi-cant-e)

Pisconte Avilés (Pi-scon-tay Av-eel-es)

Señor de Luren (Sen-yor de Loor-en)

Tejas (Te-has)

BaptisedA special event where peoplejoin the Church family andpromise to be Christians.

BibleChristians have this as their holy book.

Casa de saludA place like a health centre,where people can see adoctor and get advice on how to live a healthy life.

Christian AidA charity in the UK and Irelandthat works with charities inpoor countries, helping peopleof all faiths and none to maketheir lives better.

IEME Instituto Español de MisionesExtranjeras, which translatesas the Spanish Institute forForeign Missions. They runthree churches and the casade salud.

JesusChristians believe Jesus wasthe son of God.

Señor de LurenA statue of Jesus that came to Ica from Spain. The feastday of Señor de Luren iscelebrated once a year.

The MadonnaA statue of Mary, the motherof Jesus.

Andes 4

Baptised 17

Bible 16, 17, 18, 21

Casa de salud 14

Catholic 16

Christian Aid 15

Christianity 16

Church 16, 18, 19, 20, 21

Communion 17, 18

Dad (Julio) 2, 3, 6, 10

Family 2, 3, 7, 14, 16, 17

Festival 8, 9, 21, 22, 23

Food 3, 8, 9, 14

Football 7, 21

Garden 8, 10

Health promoter 3

House 4, 6, 7, 10

Ica 2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 14,18, 22

Glossary

The cross aboveour house

IndexSeñor de Luren8, 9, 13, 22

South America 2

Spanish 3

Tejas 8, 9

The Madonna 19

Water 6, 10, 11

IEME 8, 14,15

Jesus 13, 16, 17,19, 22

(Father) José 20, 21

Julio César(brother) 2, 3, 14

Luís 2, 12, 19

Mum (Juliana) 2, 3,8, 9, 14, 16

Paula (sister) 2, 6

Peru 2, 3, 5, 16

Picante 9

Playstation 6, 7

Pray(ers) 13, 16, 17, 19, 21

Richard 2, 17, 18

School 12, 13

Playing with our friendsoutside our house