Back to School

Recent weather: high 60s, overcast = winter in Lima.
Recent reads: Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Isaiah, "Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on An Imperfect Science" by Atul Gawande, "Check Yes or No," a novel by Darcie Czajkowski.

There's a saying that goes, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." Or my case, don't make any plans at all and He'll work it out anyways.

During the week in Lima with my mom, I was just enjoying our time together and had no plans about where to go or what to do next. A couple of days before my mom went back home, we went to the Lutheran school run by the mission church we visited and I decided to volunteer there for a couple of weeks. The arrangements were somewhat haphazard as they haven't had any previous volunteers so no protocol was set in place. (I don't know why, it was a great opportunity for both of us!) Since the church has dorms for their seminary students, I was able to bunk in there and score my own room and private bathroom which, for a volunteer in South America, is pretty much luxurious. No excuse not to make it to church now!

The 1 hour and 2 bus commute to the school isn't luxurious, however. Fortunately, there is a very kind seminary graduate, Rody, who lives at the church and also teaches at a school just down the street from where I volunteer so we commute together. The bus rides with Rody help pass the time and is a good chance to practice my Spanish even more.

Martin Lutero school

I usually arrive at the school in Reynoso around 7:30am and kids start arriving shortly thereafter. While I've spent some time teaching English class to all the grades, I spend most of my time helping in the classroom with 5 year olds. All the 5 year olds arrive by 9am and are picked up around 2pm which is only 5 hours but with 21 5 year olds in the class, 5+ hours can be beyond exhausting. I help the teacher in whatever way I can, serving as referee, bathroom attendant, recess monitor, etc. As keeper of the "excelente" smiley face stamp for homework well-done, I quickly became very popular with the kids!

These goofy 5 years olds...

With a few of the teachers

Overall, the past 2 weeks at the school have been an amazing opportunity to grow in more ways than one. I definitely got as much out of the experience as I contributed, if not much more.  Those 5 year olds taught me a lot! While there have been times when I had no idea what one crying little tyke is mumbling about in Spanish, usually a pat on the back soothes them and there's enough finger pointing to determine who is the culprit. Reading books to the kids, like Cinderella (A.K.A. Cenicienta), and speaking and listening to the kids and teachers in a school setting has been another great way to practice the language too. And just a few hours in their classroom is enough to know that patience is something I can continue to work on always. There have been a couple of times when I'm pretty sure a few 5 years old was making fun of me for something strange I said or did but I had no idea what they were laughing about. Nothing like being mocked by 5 year olds to keep me humble!

Big girl in a little chair...

On July 4th, while most people I know were watching fireworks and grilling out back in the good ole US of A, it was teacher appreciation day here in Peru. And a mere 2 weeks volunteering in the school makes me appreciate teachers in a whole new way! The 5 yr olds celebrated by drawing pictures of me. And then there are a few drawings of just random flowers and monsters from the kids who completely forgot what they were supposed to be doing. These are priceless.

Apparently, according to Peruvian children standards, I'm as tall as a tree.

Grisel, who has a future at Hallmark, creatively made a little tri-fold card out of her paper.

Then, there's Leonardo's masterpiece. Some may say it reflects his poor time management skills but I like to think the simplicity of his work reflects my effortless natural beauty, no frills, nothing fancy, just understated and classic:

To choose one that is my favorite would be like asking a parent which child is their favorite...but my favorite is definitely this one, hands down:

To create my hair, Evelyn actually alternated between black and brown markers to reflect my natural highlights and lowlights. 

But it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows (or crowns and butterflies which this group). One of the teachers from Martin Lutero is also currently a graduate student doing research at another primary school in a very poor neighborhood of Lima as part of his thesis on the social context of education. I had the opportunity to visit the school with him one afternoon. The scenery on our three buses and 1 hour trek to the neighborhood showed the gradient of social classes. From the bus I watched as we transitioned from safe, established, middle-class communities to a hodgepodge cluster of make-shift shacks built all the way up the dirt hillside. Up a steep hill at noticeably higher altitude and cooler temps, the school itself is easily missed. A combination of metal sheets and wood scraps form the walls of the school with a lone sign nailed crookedly to the outside. There was a man at the entrance gate for security. While security should make one feel secure, this type of security made me wonder what prior incidents warranted this security. Once he cleared with the second grade teacher that she was expecting us, we headed inside.

As soon as we walked through the gate, there was a distinctly different feeling than at Martin Lutero school. The floor of the entire school was dirt and there was no roofing. The toilet was a semi-permanent porcelain shoot with a underground collection bucket. There was no running water and on that day no water at all, even for hand washing. The teacher welcomed us with a wide smile and the kids' interest was instantly piqued when we walked in. The second grade class had 29 students, 9 of which had special needs such as hearing disabilities, autism, mental handicaps, etc. I asked the kids a few basic questions in English (and then translated then into Spanish with a few examples of English answers) such as how old they are, what is their favorite color, etc. The kids raised their hands excitedly, jumping out of their seats and shouting out answers enthusiastically.

I was struck by the challenges these kids face just to learn. Coming from a home where I always had heaps more than what I needed in almost every way possible, I never thought about the impact, the domino effect, that not being able to afford breakfast can have on a kid. In this tough neighborhood, where social problems like water pollution, drug addiction and sexual abuse are exponentially higher than other parts of the city, where both parents (if both parents are still in the picture) work long hours just to put food on the table, where children are left to fend for themselves most of the time, where basic necessities like clean water and shoes are lacking. Education could be their ticket out of here. Education could empower them to get down from the isolated hill that they live on and to rise above it all, to finish secondary school, or maybe, just maybe, get into college or trade school. To stop the cycle of just barely making it like they've been doing for generations. Just maybe. And yet, with all the struggles they see on a daily basis, that day I got 29 hugs from 29 smiling second graders, overwhelmingly grateful for the simple cookies and pencils I brought. We stayed just a short time as classes were wrapping up for the evening but nonetheless, it left a strong impression on me.

On a lighter note, the World Cup wrapped up on July 13th with Germany winning it all! Even though I didn't attend the World Cup in Brazil, I was able to watch almost all of the games which I wouldn't have been able to do back in the US if I were working. Just being down here during all the excitement was enough to cultivate a new appreciation for the sport and I'll definitely be following it more!

Now on to Cusco and Machu Picchu!