When Lani Imhof and her husband Michael Smith left their jobs, rented their house, sold their car and headed off on a 10-month journey in Latin America in 2001, little did they know it would lead to them having a second family on the other side of the world.
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Nor did they realise it would lead to the publication of a book.
But that is the incredible journey the local couple have made, with Lani launching her self-published Peruvian Dream in Nowra on November 6.
Six months into their journey, after travelling through Bolivia and Peru, they came across a bubbly Quechuan teenager Karina Carbajal Moreira (14) at a fiesta in a small village in the highlands of Peru.
It was meeting that would change their lives.
The couple toured the area with Karina and later her older sister and eventually met the rest of the family, parents Celestino and Carmen, who had six of their own children and also looked after another family member’s child.
“We were just taken by the family,” Lani said.
“During our travels we became aware of the huge differences between the comparative wealth of Australia and the Latin America countries.
“Celestino and Carmen were struggling to survive and put food on the table for their children, yet their generosity and affection touched us.
“They had six intelligent children but they had no hope of receiving an education beyond school.
“They had never received mail, didn’t have a letterbox and had never heard of email.”
The couple took photographs and promised to send them once they had returned to Australia, which they did, but heard nothing in return.
Eventually the couple managed to regain contact with the family and decided they wanted to help.
What started as a financial commitment, blossomed into a lifelong bond between the two families, providing both educational and employment opportunities.
“We supported the older children’s tertiary education, with one of the girls going on to become a lawyer,” Lani said.
Lani and Michael have since returned twice, staying with the family for around three weeks on each occasion, even becoming godparents to the second eldest daughter.
“The children now range in ages from 19 to 30 and we have been able to help them break out of the cycle of poverty.”
The book has been four and a half years in the making and will be officially launched by Dr Ian Davison at the Nowra Library from 5pm on Thursday, November 6.