Collique, Peru, is a shantytown on the edge of the capital city of Lima that is home to the poorest of the poor in that area. But in the slums of Collique is a house. Not a nice house, but a standing house that is more than just a home. Operacion San Andres (OSA) is a safe place for 30 children and their families in the middle of overwhelming poverty. For a week this past summer, I was fortunate enough to go on a youth group mission trip for OSA with South Main Baptist Church. The task in itself sounded like any other volunteer work: plan a Vacation Bible School for the kids for the week, come up with a construction project, help the families. But this trip was nothing like anything else I’d ever done.
My friend Adriana and I were put in charge of a dance class during VBS. We choreographed a dance to teach, but as the week went on, we realized that these children had never had the chance to learn a real dance before. We thought that they would be halfhearted, but we were wrong. Because I’m on Belles, the dance and drill team at Bellaire, and learn a new dance basically every week, learning a dance can seem like more of a punishment than a gift. But to these kids, it was a giant blessing. They poured their hearts into our class, and it was amazing to see the joy our class brought to these children who had almost nothing in life. One boy, Owen, who was five years old, was always distracted in class, talking all the time and never paying attention. However on the last day as the kids were coming into the class, Owen showcased the dance to Adriana and I, without any music. We were so touched that this little boy remembered the dance and cared enough to practice it and show it to us.
I always saw dance as an activity, a way to keep myself in shape, a class I’ve had every seventh period. In Peru, I discovered that dance can be so much more than that if you let it be. I spoke no Spanish going into the country, yet dance let me communicate with these children. I created bonds that are so much stronger than bonds created by words. I thought I had nothing in common with these kids that live in houses with tarp walls and tin roofs, but in the end, I became a sister to them.
