The birth of a school

Once in a while, you hear a story that inspires you, and makes you believe that you can truly make a difference in people's lives. This is one such story.

And it begins with a Arequipinean lady named Ruth, who just happened to be passing through Pueblo Maldonado, one of the Pueblos Jovenes. She noticed a bunch of kids hanging about, and asked them why they weren't in school. They told her their school wasn't safe, and she asked to see it.

What she saw was a rickety, broken box peering over the edge of a hill, threatening to fall at any moment. Armed with this visual, and having an under-utilized community building that would be a fine candidate for a new school site, she approached the local community and requested permission to use the community hall to teach their kids.

And so it was. So for a few years, Victor Maldonado was a single, simple room in which Ruth taught grades 1 through 6. There is only so much that one person can do, and during the early years much of the kids' education was copying content from a blackboard while Ruth wrote for the next class. But the seeds of an education had been planted.

(This is the view from the fields in front of Pueblo Maldonado. Our school is the aqua building towards the far right of the picture)

Since then, GVI has adopted Victor Maldonado as one of 2 local schools for their program. They have added another room to the school, and employed a 2nd teacher to work there. Plus, with the volunteers helping out too, the kids are able to get much more individual attention, and the level of literacy continues to grow.

(This is me trying to inspire Jonathan to do his homework)

But none of this would have been, had it not been for a single act of one person.

Chris

Birthdays and Kites

At the end of each month, we celebrate birthdays of all the kids who had their birthday in that month.


The past week was filled with birthdays. Peruvian tradition says that the person whose birthday it is, gets eggs cracked on their head on their birthday and also get their face smashed into their birthday cake.

• Monday was birthday for Kindergarten "Innicial" kids


• Tuesday was another volunteer's birthday - poor Patrick got about 20 eggs cracked on his head


• Thursday was birthdays for all the August born kids of our school. We buy presents for the kids on their birthday and all the volunteers make an exotic friut salad for the kids (as they normally don't get a large variety of fruits). Birthdays are special for our kids, as they dont get too many presents during the year. One little girl, Biancia from Grade 4, was so chuffed to get a backpack and pencil case for school - she couldnt take that smile off her face!
  
  this is a picture, after the kids got their face smashed into the cake...

and this is a picture of the kids opening their presents...At the end of the week, the school teachers decided that we would spend the Friday morning allowing our kids to fly kites. They were each to make a kite at home and bring it in on Friday. On Friday, we walked down to the paddocks/ fields in front of the school and watched the kids fly kites for 1.5 hours. Thats me and big Ivan, reeling his kite in...

It was amazing to see the materials the kids used to make their kites - most simply used plastic bags and bits of wood to make the kites. No fancy crepe paper here! And it was amazing to see the kites soar. We awarded prizes to those that flew the highest and were the most innovative with their kites. This is Magdalena, putting finishing touches on her kite...

Also, today marked the end of an era. One of our most talented volunteers left today, the kids were very sad at Victor Maldonado. They hosted a farewell dance and fiesta for him. Hasta Luego, Marcos!

Lizelle

Week 2: Arequipa Strikes Back meets Wednesday Night Fever

It was bound to happen. New country, new climate, new food. And while GVI has put many great health initiatives in place, many of the kids are exposed to lots of germs and are often carrying colds, etc. So on Wednesday night, Liz and I began our acclimatization process (i.e. fell sick).

On Thursday, we met our first Arequipinean doctor. I can honestly say that without the help of our host family, we would have been completely lost. But Martha was really great, and we were able to effectively communicate our symptoms. And now, all is well.

Speaking of communication, ours is steadily improving. English, art and PE aren't so challenging for us, but the other subjects can be pretty challenging to teach or to help with. But we're definitely getting there. Maths is coming along particularly well. We understand most of the relevant vocabulary, and we've been able to explain multiplication, long division, fractions, etc. pretty well.


This week was a full week (i.e. no public holidays or celebrations), so we taught 2 English classes, 2 art classes, 2 PEs, and assisted with plant composition (we know all the parts of plants in Spanish now!), several maths classes, dictation of things that we didn't actually understand, and lots of other things. It was a good week!


We also had a couple of new students. This is always a good sign, because the combined efforts of the teachers and volunteers in improving the quality of education and literacy has given the school greater credibility, and this means that the kids will hopefully have greater opportunities post-Maldonado. Someday, we'll have to tell you how the Maldonado school came to be in the first place - it is a pretty amazing story.


This weekend was pretty quiet, due in part to me shaking off my symptoms. But we did visit a local cathedral, which was very nice, and also a very large monastery that dates back to the 1600's. Not that we're spefically hunting down all the local religious sites, but they are profilic in Arequipa.



We've just finished about 3 hours of lesson planning, which will hopefully give a good head-start for the upcoming week. And now we're going home for some rest. Stay tuned.


Chris

A day in Salinas

The common term for what we are doing is "meaningful travel". 3 trips comprise the travel component:

• A day trip to Salinas to see the scenery and salt flats
• A mountain biking ride down one of the local mountains
• A weekend trek through Colca Canyon (2nd only to the Grand Canyon in size)

We are planning other weekend trips with other volunteers too, hopefully including Lake Titicacca and the Nazca Lines. And at the end of our program, we are visiting Macchu Picchu and the Amazon for a few days before returning home.

Yesterday was the first of our trips, to Salinas.

To be honest, we weren't sure what to expect, and our host family didn't seem too thrilled about our trip. Fortunately, this trip surpassed all our expectations. It wasn't one thing in paricular, in fact it was a combination of 3 things:

1. Great company

The other volunteers are all really good people, and always up for a laugh. At times, the breathtaking scenery seemed lost on us, as we were busily posing for silly photos and forming human pyramids.

2. Beautiful scenery

It took us around 3 hours in a 4WD to reach the salt flats, but there was heaps more than that. We weaved through mountains and volcanoes, and through endless terraced fields, all under the watchful eye of Misty (a snow-capped mountain that has become an icon of Arequipa).

3. Passion for photography

Photography is an intriguing hobby. Amidst spectacular surrounds, it might be a simple rock that takes your attention. And while Lizelle and I don't claim to be experts, we have a growing appreciation for the art of photography. This trip gave us heaps of source material, and was a photographer's playground.


This trip has us really excited about the remainder of our travels. We'll be sure to tell you all about them. Next stop: Lake Titicacca.

Chris

Where is your feather?

Hola! We have now been in Arequipa for just over 1 week.

Wow! what a week... it has been very full on. Life in the fast lane in a quaint little town. Cobblestone streets, old Spanish style buildings, good food, a great host family to live with (more on that next week), clear blue skies everyday. I have never seen a single cloud in Arequipa. And to top it off, there are some stunning mountains surrounding this little city - (dormant) volcanic and snow capped -- and simply stunning. Here is a picture from our bedroom window of "Misty" the flagship icon of Arequipa.

On Monday we visited our school - Victor Maldonaldo. Chris & I teach at the same school. We are assigned teaching of Grade 1, 2 & 3. The school is tiny, compared to schools back home - just 2 rooms. Upstairs a single room hosts Grade 4, 5 & 6; Downstairs room hosts Grade 1, 2 & 3.

The kids (los niños) are absolutely amazing. On our first morning, all 40 of the kids greeted us with a big hug & kiss. We have since learnt that they hug & kiss all teachers every morning -- pretty amazing. Even the 15 year old boys are happy to hug and greet us every morning and evening.

We start our school day, by giving the kids breakfast - a warm drink with bread. Thats it! Then we assist the teachers during the day. On our 1st day, we taught grade 3 kids "Multiplicacion" -- very good refresher for us too! The kids are so amazingly intelligent. It is a bit sad to know that without a good education, they would not have a chance to achieve their true potential -- of which they have a lot!

At break time, we give out the fruit to each child (I have never seen kids so happy to eat fruit).

This is a picture of the kids standing in line to receive fruit.

At lunch time (1 pm), we feed the kids a proper meal - rice and veges. Thats the end of the formal school day. But, we keep the kids back until 3pm to do homework, as they have no parental supervision at home until late.

This is a picture of a field trip we took the kids on for Arequipa Day. They are showcasing their art work from art class from the previous day. We taught them to make flags with the Arequipenian coat of arms.

Once we are back from school, we usually have an hour of Spanish lessons. Oh yes, Spanish -- we are coming along very nicely in our Spanish. We are not fully conversational, but can understand a lot of what is being said. Sometimes, we use the wrong Spanish word and the kids look at us funny. For example, I had been saying to the kids "Donde es tu pluma?". I had intended to say "Where is your pen?", but instead I had been saying "Where is your feather?". No wonder I got strange looks from the older kids...

After Spanish lessons, we usually start lesson planning for the next day. We usually have to have 2 or 3 ideas for lessons for the next day, as it is SOOO HARD to keep the kids attention for more than 10 mins. We always need a planB to keep them busy, especially the littlies.

This is a picture of our very first art class.

Oh, I almost forgot: on Thursday, 14th August - we hosted a party for the kids at the school for "Arequipa Day". Peruvians love a good party, and the kids certainly enjoyed the music/ dance and no lessons. Chris was the highlight of the day - the kids simply adore him and are amazed by his height. This is a picture of Chris with little Felix from Grade 1.

The older girls affectionately call Chris "Professor Hulk". The little boys want to climb all over his shoulders. I am called "Senorita Liz".

For the school party, all the volunteers teachers and teachers got dressed in "Peruvian costumes" -- here are some interesting pictures of us. The kids loved it.... Chris even tried Guinea Pig (cui, in Spanish) - picture below.

On a final note: I would seriously say that teaching is HARD work (even harder than 1 week of responding to storage-related RFPs). It takes a lot of preparation, planning, standing on your feet all day, continuously inventing new ideas to keep the kids attention -- and even harder still is doing it all in Spanish! We are simply wrecked at the end of the day... so apologies for the infrequent posts.

Until our next update next week...

Lizelle

Our Journey - Santiago and Lima

Our journey began in Santiago, Chile. It is perfectly placed, surrounded by snow-capped mountains. But after 20 hours on planes (thankfully no snakes), our first priority was sleep.

The next day, on the advice of Rodrigo, we headed for Cerro San Cristobal, a huge hill (mountain in Aussie terms) in the middle of Santiago. We headed up, and enjoyed the views from the top.



There was lots to see and do; a zoo, a couple of swimming pools, but most popular was a large statue of the Virgin Mary watching over the city. We spent a couple of hours taking in the scenery, punctuated by a cable car ride overlooking the city.

Our time in Santiago was very short, but even shorter was our time in Lima, Peru. Originally, we were supposed to spend just a couple of hours in Lima airport, but as time passed we received regular updates of changes to our flight time and flight number out of Lima. In the end, we had close to a day in Lima, and decided to make the most of it.

So we headed for Plaza de Armas (apparently most South American cities have one of these). Despite the name, we were surprised to find armoured vehicles and armed guards scattered around the city square, and a large gathering of people.

We thought we were going to see the President, as most of the attention was focused around Lima Palace. But it turned out to be a daily ritual, the changing of the guard.


We had hoped to embrace the native Peruvian cousine, but we failed miserably. The airport information desk had guided us to a popular street near the Plaza, and there was lots of food -big, greasy hamburgers and chickens. Not exactly the cuisine we'd hoped for, and we ended up retreating into a Chinese restaurant for lunch!

We finished our Lima experience with a quick visit to a beautiful Cathedral.

The journey ended there, and the adventure began!

Chris