In the past few weeks, Marjolein has been able to visit quite a few people in the Netherlands. Marco was visiting Peru at the time on behalf of Foundations for Farming. Together with Josue, our local trainer, we visited several small villages in the jungle around Pucallpa, some 500 miles from Lima.

This is a huge area behind the high mountains of the Andes, crisscrossed by rivers under tropical conditions. The people can now live there. You can see from the houses (on stilts) that for several months each year the water rises so high that the entire population must move to the nearest city because the houses are sometimes full of water up to 40 inches above the floor.

People keep coming back because the river is full of fish and the people are attached to their village.

From Foundations for Farming, we offer help and training to set up agriculture in several higher areas on large fields that have been made available by the government after the authorities dismantled several drug plantations there in the past

Birthday 2025

May 24 was a special day for Marco. After leaving Pucallpa, the plan was to arrive in Lima the next morning, ready for my birthday… This turned out differently. I often had to remember an important piece of advice at the beginning of our ministry and life in Suriname: be flexible. That was ‘spot on’ yesterday. After we had first stopped for 2 hours by a landslide that had flooded the road with boulders, mud, and a lot of water, the bus came to a stop again at 04:00 am. That ‘break’ still didn’t seem to be resolved after about 5 hours.

The whole road was full of all kinds of vehicles waiting for what was to come. We received a message that ahead of us a truck loaded with wood had fallen on its side which blocked the entire road. Then we decided to take our luggage off the bus and walk along the location of disaster on foot and then look for transport for the remaining 400 miles to Lima. After half an hour of lagging, the long line of vehicles began to move slowly. We found a ride in a pickup truck.

After we finally left the whole situation behind us, he took us to the next city where we found a taxi to drive us to Lima. That evening at 11 pm I arrived at my Airbnb. After traveling for 32 hours. A birthday that I probably will remember. And, the coffee and cake were there in the form of bottles of water and dry crackers. That was what was available in the tiny shop where the bus stopped. Tomorrow, Tuesday, May 27 Marco will fly back to Marjolein in the Netherlands. Warm greetings from Lima, Peru

 

Ame and Susina are getting used to Coole Canada Conditions and learning a lot.

Pamela has shown Ame and Susina the way around in the past week. They went shopping for food. They took the bus to learn how to get to school in the coming weeks and then back home again. They now know how the elevator to Pamela’s apartment works. It is cold for them, they still have to get used to that.

Their children and other family members are doing well. Ame is a bit worried about his mother who has been ill for a long time and is not getting better. They ask prayer for this coming week when the school starts, that they can follow the lessons well and especially speaking will go well.

They received a text message that the passports of the youngest children were already ready in Cayenne. With the request to come and pick them up soon. They will not be back until the end of July, so they hope that this will not be a problem. They are very grateful that you are standing around them in prayer.

Revival Conference

We hope to be at the Revival conference this coming weekend. We will sleep in a small tent and see if we can keep our feet dry. We look forward to many meetings on the grounds. Immediately after that, we will leave for home in Suriname on June 4.