I Knew There Was a Reason I Am Not a Teacher (13.08.08)

This morning I took grade three and four for art. We are supposed to try and base our activities around this month’s theme which is naturally sport ­- I guess because of the Olympics (which by the way I have not been able to watch as we get little to no coverage here, just soccer). I couldn’t really think of anything exciting to do, so after looking in the storeroom at the materials available I decided we would make medals and flags. My assumption was that kids would enjoy gluing streamers to paper plates and using glitter glue and stickers. One of the girls in our group was not thrilled with this idea as she kept suggesting other options that generally involved impossible or dangerous things to make such as javelins. I don’t believe she was very happy but the kids on the other hand seemed to have fun -­ not necessarily with the craft itself. Throwing streamers across the room and fighting over the glitter glue gave them a lot of enjoyment!

The best medal out of the lot.

Some of the kids showing off their craft with Tracey.

Jon organized a mini Olympics for grade one and two sports class. This involved a three legged race (very funny), egg and spoon race (the kids seemed very scared of breaking the eggs and took the race very seriously -­ perhaps because eggs are valuable to them) and a relay race. His sports class was a big success, the chocolate prizes added to this.

In the late afternoon we both had home visits with Mark (Volunteer Manager), Erin and Tracey. This involved going to various families in need with Iris, a local social worker (everyone is scared of her and obey whatever she says). We visited Maria Naomi’s (a 12 year old girl from the school) family home to check out whether she is eligible for sponsorship. Someone from Peregrine Tours met her when they visited the school and now they want to specifically sponsor her. Mark and Iris’s job is to work out if the sponsorship is justified or if the money should go to a different family. Maria’s family have a very basic shop so people presume they have money but this is not necessarily the case. The dad works in the fields and sometimes earns 100 soles ($40) a week. Our job was to see what Peru’s Challenge do and also observe how these families live (very poor conditions: dirt floors, one bed for four kids, no toilets, no electricity). We also take photos to send to the sponsors to show whether the family’s situation has improved with their financial assistance.

Maria Naomi’s mother is 33 but looks about 45. The mum doesn’t think that Maria is doing well at school. Iris asked if there is domestic violence in the family or if Maria feels sick (the children here have lots of parasites in them from drinking untreated water) as these are both reasons that contribute to lack of concentration in the classroom. Iris also explains to the mother that if we help them they also have to help themselves and we will check to see that they are doing so.

Some local kids I photographed.

Next we visited a family of 10 (above pics) to see if the carpenter Peru’s Challenge has paid for has started enclosing the second storey of their house ­ he hasn’t. The other week they were given blankets to help keep them warm. Jon and I peeked into their kitchen and saw heaps of guinea pigs. There was not much else in there. Apparently the locals here only eat around one guinea pig a month, often only on a special occasion. This is shared between the whole family -­ in a family of 10 you would be lucky to get a nibble.

We also checked on three boys who live by themselves in a house built by Peru’s Challenge. Their dad isn’t on the scene any more and their mother, an alcoholic, had an affair with the neighbour and was consequently driven out of town (nothing happened to the neighbour). Peru’s Challenge gives them food but they are suspicious that the boy’s older sister (married with her own family so she wont care for them) takes the food off the brothers. Mark and Iris are organizing a local woman to cook for them instead. This will ensure the boys get food and also provides an income for another family in the community.

A little boy with a chicken I photographed. Once I took his pic all these kids grabbed a chicken from the side of the road and wanted a photo too!

Francisco and the house he lives in. His mum is another person Peru’s Challenge helps. Both her kids are the result of sexual abuse.

It was very interesting to visit all these people. Our lives are so blessed. We really hit the jackpot with our middle class existence in Australia.

That night we went for a salsa lesson ­- we suck but happy hour was great! Jon refuses to lift his leg on the second beat. It drove me nuts.