Thirty-four kids. Some are vaguely attentive, most are blatantly not. They are taking some species of a test today, although the environment couldn’t be less conducive towards an exam. The kids speak freely; they turn around in their chairs to consult their neighbors. Some simply don’t bother with the test but instead draw, daydream or gossip about the two gringas in the classroom. The doors are wide open as are the windows, and a boisterous volleyball game resonates from the patio.
Five minutes pass and most students haven’t written a single word on their worksheets. I watch Katy and she is struggling. It seems apparent that she doesn’t know the conversion from meters to centimeters, nor the steps of the scientific process, and a large part of me feels tremendously guilty. The test constitutes information that Katy has never showed me before, and I’m struck by the realization and fact that if the girls choose not to tell us what they study in school, we remain ignorant and useless.
The test itself is both drole and worrisome. The teacher wants to feel as if his students have retained some information, so he repeats clues, gives solutions, illustrates ideas, and still the students don’t seem to capture that he’s gifting the answers. They simply stare at him blankly.
As the end of the exam nears, all the student’s sheets remain blank and they look at each other quizzically pleading for a response. We have our work cut out for us. Not just for Katy, although I am understandably most concerned about her, but for all these students.
Once the test comes to an end, the teacher reviews the information in a self-interested manner. He announces that if one student can respond correctly to a question on the dry erase board, then he will give credit to all the students. The concept of the individual and of comprehension seem utterly obsolete in this classroom, and I can’t shake the notion that 90% of the class will never comprehend the information simply because one of their classmates did.
Of course not all classes follow this prototype. Some must be better, and others worse. But what becomes clear is that we need a methodology for rightly knowing what the girls are studying inside of school hours. Currently I’m working towards building a strong rapport with the school director in hopes that this liaison will help both to track our students and to build a more dynamic program in the future. A small step towards one of the many long term and daunting goals of this novel process.
ps... and completely unrelated: I apologize for the lack of photos currently on our blog. After our “photo shoot” with the girls, my camera mysteriously broke. Unfortunately, I have to travel to the big city (Cusco) to get it fixed, and at this moment I simply can’t be bothered. I’ll try harder.
-Bianca
Monday, April 26, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Great People
Shiva's art class
I think you can tell from the bios below, but these young women are great! Besides being sweet, they are incredibly hard working and serious about their studies. No matter how hard their math homework is, they spend as long as it takes to understand it.
Every Tuesday and Thursday is art class. The girls get out their sketchbooks and push the study tables together. Class is taught by Shiva, a South African woman who is spending a year in Peru before going to University. She is a great art teacher and has been an incredible help to the dormitory. She is there most afternoons, helping with homework or serving lunch. She has a great connection with the girls. They are starting to understand the concepts of shading and depth, and their drawings come out really cool.
We also have a volunteer named Gaby with us this week. She’s helping while she researches the rural high school education system for her study abroad program. It’s been great to have both her and Shiva. They’ve really helped in providing the support the girls need.
I can’t say enough good things about Señora Bianca. While we look for a house mom she’s been living at the dorm and taking care of the girls, and she’s doing a wonderful job. She wakes up at 5:30 to give Dina extra help with her math homework. The homework is so hard that I’ve seen Bianca spend her free time learning math so that she can teach it. The girls know they can count on her when they need her and she’ll always be there to support them. Plus, they know that she can be tough if they act out of line. But that doesn’t happen often, especially when you consider that they’re 12-14 year old girls. Every afternoon, when I get to the dorm, the group I find finishing up lunch seems happy. When they sit down to do homework, there’s a seriousness to their work. Of course they get rowdy (Marie Elena is a little jokester) but they are organized and diligent, and everything else I wasn’t when I was 12. Dina got a perfect score on her math test. I’m very proud of them.
-Eli
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Mini Bios & Photo Shoots
I believe that it was weeks ago in which I promised all of you lovely individuals that I would post haste be sharing more information about our six delightful ladies. It would seem that I had failed in my promise and good will, but alas, I manage to pull through. Instead of my prattling on about how ingenious or stubborn or silly or hardworking these six individuals are, I’ve decided to let them speak for themselves. So, after a photo shoot, a convoluted lesson in Photoshop and seminar in the follies of the imac and it’s many programs, the girls generated the following photos and mini bios (of which I translated, attempting to stay as true to the original text as possible):
My name is Maria Elena. I live in Socma with my parents. I like to study and to draw and I love eating chicken. One day I would like to travel to Lima. I like to listen to Cucho Macano, and I like to watch El Rostro de Analia on TV.
My name is Katherine Cabrera Surco. I live in Kamicancha with my parents. I like to draw, play volleyball and to look at photos. My favorite kind of food is rotisserie chicken. One day I’d like to visit Cusco. I like learning math, I listen to Agrupocion Marilyn, and I like to watch El Rostro de Analia on TV.
My name is Yesica Mayhua Solis. I live in the community of Pallata with my mother and my siblings and I go to the Ollantay School. My favorite food is rotisserie chicken and I like all types of songs. One day I would like to go to Lima.
My name is Dina. I live in the community of Pallata and I study at the Ollantay School in Ollantaytambo. I would like to finish my secondary schooling and then go to university to be a math teacher. My favorite dish is chicken and rice and I would like to travel to Arequipa. I like all types of music.
My name is Nohemi Orihuela Aguilar. I live in Socma and study at the General Ollanta School in Urubamba. One day I would like to visit the United States. I like the music of Grupo Cinco and I like watching El Rostro de Analia on ATV. I like to play volleyball and soccer and the food I like best is causa rellena.
My name is Yanet Ortiz de Orue Ugarte. I am twelve years old, I have six siblings and I live with my parents. I study at the Agropecuario Technical School and am in my first year of secondary school, section E. My favorite class is communication and my favorite food is trout.
My name is Maria Elena. I live in Socma with my parents. I like to study and to draw and I love eating chicken. One day I would like to travel to Lima. I like to listen to Cucho Macano, and I like to watch El Rostro de Analia on TV.
My name is Katherine Cabrera Surco. I live in Kamicancha with my parents. I like to draw, play volleyball and to look at photos. My favorite kind of food is rotisserie chicken. One day I’d like to visit Cusco. I like learning math, I listen to Agrupocion Marilyn, and I like to watch El Rostro de Analia on TV.
My name is Yesica Mayhua Solis. I live in the community of Pallata with my mother and my siblings and I go to the Ollantay School. My favorite food is rotisserie chicken and I like all types of songs. One day I would like to go to Lima.
My name is Dina. I live in the community of Pallata and I study at the Ollantay School in Ollantaytambo. I would like to finish my secondary schooling and then go to university to be a math teacher. My favorite dish is chicken and rice and I would like to travel to Arequipa. I like all types of music.
My name is Nohemi Orihuela Aguilar. I live in Socma and study at the General Ollanta School in Urubamba. One day I would like to visit the United States. I like the music of Grupo Cinco and I like watching El Rostro de Analia on ATV. I like to play volleyball and soccer and the food I like best is causa rellena.
My name is Yanet Ortiz de Orue Ugarte. I am twelve years old, I have six siblings and I live with my parents. I study at the Agropecuario Technical School and am in my first year of secondary school, section E. My favorite class is communication and my favorite food is trout.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
2 weeks, 33 meals, a birthday and a death
The two weeks that have passed since our grand inauguration have felt to be mere days. Two weeks, 33 meals, 3 volleyball games, 2 English classes, one art class, one visit to the medical post, a birthday and a death.
Our second week was marked by nearly all of these events. Apart from homework and volleyball, it was our first week of supplementary English and art classes which have quickly proven to be a success. Lisandro is amazing with the girls, the girls themselves relish his English class, and I can proudly profess that thanks to Lisandro, they well know the colors in English. Similarly, I too have learned the colors in Quechua. An educational reciprocity! Art classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays are being lead by our first official volunteer, a carefree woman reigning from South Africa. So far we have touched on the subject of shading, yet out Thursday class was cancelled due to daylong power outage across the regions of Urubamba and Ollanta.
Wednesday marked an especially eventful day for myself as I was invited to one of the mother’s 40th birthday festivities. Right after school, Katy and I took off for her hometown in Camicancha. Our suffocating combi ride was spent listening mindlessly to the Huayno blasting on the radio, and our subsequent hike up to her home was dominated by my practicing how to say “happy birthday. I invite you to a beer and oranges” in Quechua. At our arrival, my dictation of the phrase was adequate, yet not without faults in pronunciation. Katy and I stayed for two hours of caldo eating, chicha drinking and huayno dancing. Everyone at the celebration was eager to hear about Katy’s progress in the program and insistent that she was a bright girl who could advance greatly despite her previous and inferior schooling.
And of course, with the upsides in life comes the down. On Tuesday evening, our house mother, Graciela’s mother in law passed away. Graciela was unable to work with us throughout the rest of the week, and will subsequently be leaving the position. Her mother in law passed away in Lima, and the family decided to bring her body back to her hometown of Ollantaytambo. On Friday, the coffin arrived, a procession ensued and then a daylong wake. The six girls and I went to the wake to pay our respects that very evening. It was a somber affair, but necessary for us to be in attendance.
I suppose one can never plan for such things in life. No matter how much of a perfectionist one may be, one needs to submit to the utter chaos of existence. And so, our search for a house mother starts anew, and next week I’ll be living alone with our six lovely ladies.
-Bianca
Our second week was marked by nearly all of these events. Apart from homework and volleyball, it was our first week of supplementary English and art classes which have quickly proven to be a success. Lisandro is amazing with the girls, the girls themselves relish his English class, and I can proudly profess that thanks to Lisandro, they well know the colors in English. Similarly, I too have learned the colors in Quechua. An educational reciprocity! Art classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays are being lead by our first official volunteer, a carefree woman reigning from South Africa. So far we have touched on the subject of shading, yet out Thursday class was cancelled due to daylong power outage across the regions of Urubamba and Ollanta.
Wednesday marked an especially eventful day for myself as I was invited to one of the mother’s 40th birthday festivities. Right after school, Katy and I took off for her hometown in Camicancha. Our suffocating combi ride was spent listening mindlessly to the Huayno blasting on the radio, and our subsequent hike up to her home was dominated by my practicing how to say “happy birthday. I invite you to a beer and oranges” in Quechua. At our arrival, my dictation of the phrase was adequate, yet not without faults in pronunciation. Katy and I stayed for two hours of caldo eating, chicha drinking and huayno dancing. Everyone at the celebration was eager to hear about Katy’s progress in the program and insistent that she was a bright girl who could advance greatly despite her previous and inferior schooling.
And of course, with the upsides in life comes the down. On Tuesday evening, our house mother, Graciela’s mother in law passed away. Graciela was unable to work with us throughout the rest of the week, and will subsequently be leaving the position. Her mother in law passed away in Lima, and the family decided to bring her body back to her hometown of Ollantaytambo. On Friday, the coffin arrived, a procession ensued and then a daylong wake. The six girls and I went to the wake to pay our respects that very evening. It was a somber affair, but necessary for us to be in attendance.
I suppose one can never plan for such things in life. No matter how much of a perfectionist one may be, one needs to submit to the utter chaos of existence. And so, our search for a house mother starts anew, and next week I’ll be living alone with our six lovely ladies.
-Bianca
Friday, March 26, 2010
Well be right back after this brief commercial break
While Bianca and Eli are still down in Peru doing everything, I escaped back to the States for a wedding and to try and keep our fundraising efforts alive. As you can see from our pictures, the dorm looks great and is becoming more like a home with each passing day. While the space is ample and will accommodate next years' incoming class, that will be it. As you may know, the goal of this project is to support the girls through their 5 years of secondary school. If we expect 6 students every year for the next 4 years that would bring our total enrollment to 30 eager young students. In order for us to accommodate such growth, we will have to begin build our own place by the end of this year. This building will be a major step to increase the solidity of the project and to take us in the direction of self-sustainability. To do this we need to make a huge fundraising push. This means searching out large private funders while at the same time continuing the push for small scale contributions through alpaca sales, student groups and individual donors. We are also looking for students interested is setting up a sister school program at their high school. If anyone is interested in helping us keep the dream of education alive for these girls please contact us as sacredvalleydormitory@gmail.com.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
and like that a week has passed
People keep telling me that it must feel great to have the dormitory up and running. Sometimes it does feel great. Like on Tuesday when I went with the girls to play volleyball. Watching the girls become a team, I got that gushy feeling of “I’m doing something great!” that all volunteers are ultimately selfishly working for. It quickly passed.
I really feel like our work is just getting started and I have little yet to be proud of. The goal is not to take girls away from their homes but to provide them with a nurturing environment where they can excel in their studies. I know that is a process that takes some time, but I am increasingly confident that we are moving towards our goal. That is thanks in a large part to the incredibly hard work of Bianca. She’s been living at the dorm and dedicating 24 hours a day to its improvement and upkeep, from buying food at the market to organizing community building activities for the evenings when the girls have finished their homework. Graciela, the woman we’ve hired, has been living at the dorm as well. She cooks and has been hard working and supportive, though I should let Bianca talk more about her. Bianca has been living at the dorm to get it started and make sure Graciela works out.
A sign now hangs in the common area listing dorm rules. The girls made it themselves during an evening activity. The girls, though, are incredibly well behaved and hard working. They get back from school around 2pm, have lunch, and then immediately clean up and begin their homework. Some stay home and some go to the town library for help and materials. If they’re done by five (a lot of their homework is painstakingly tedious), we have an event planned for them. I’ll be teaching English Mondays and Wednesdays, with the other days reserved for something a little more fun. At around 6:30 is dinner, then its chores, and then the girls hang out until nine when it’s time for bed.
Of course, I’m always out of the dorm around dinner time. I’ve been living in Urubamba (about 25 mins away) and teaching English at an elementary school in the mornings. That distance, plus the fact that I’m a man, delegates me a peripheral role in the dorm. I’ve been working more on the administrative aspects of the dormitory, and spending at least an hour with the girls every afternoon. There is still a lot to do, a lot to buy, and a lot to figure it out. But it feels good to be working to run a dorm rather than working to open it.
I really feel like our work is just getting started and I have little yet to be proud of. The goal is not to take girls away from their homes but to provide them with a nurturing environment where they can excel in their studies. I know that is a process that takes some time, but I am increasingly confident that we are moving towards our goal. That is thanks in a large part to the incredibly hard work of Bianca. She’s been living at the dorm and dedicating 24 hours a day to its improvement and upkeep, from buying food at the market to organizing community building activities for the evenings when the girls have finished their homework. Graciela, the woman we’ve hired, has been living at the dorm as well. She cooks and has been hard working and supportive, though I should let Bianca talk more about her. Bianca has been living at the dorm to get it started and make sure Graciela works out.
A sign now hangs in the common area listing dorm rules. The girls made it themselves during an evening activity. The girls, though, are incredibly well behaved and hard working. They get back from school around 2pm, have lunch, and then immediately clean up and begin their homework. Some stay home and some go to the town library for help and materials. If they’re done by five (a lot of their homework is painstakingly tedious), we have an event planned for them. I’ll be teaching English Mondays and Wednesdays, with the other days reserved for something a little more fun. At around 6:30 is dinner, then its chores, and then the girls hang out until nine when it’s time for bed.
Of course, I’m always out of the dorm around dinner time. I’ve been living in Urubamba (about 25 mins away) and teaching English at an elementary school in the mornings. That distance, plus the fact that I’m a man, delegates me a peripheral role in the dorm. I’ve been working more on the administrative aspects of the dormitory, and spending at least an hour with the girls every afternoon. There is still a lot to do, a lot to buy, and a lot to figure it out. But it feels good to be working to run a dorm rather than working to open it.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
March 14, 2010
In briefing, the inauguration was a success.
Our six families arrived early in the morning to help prepare the inaugural feast and to get their daughters situated for their first daunting evening in the dormitory. Throughout the morning, mothers busied themselves gutting the cuyes and cleaning the house, fathers readied the ovens and the girls decorated the dorm with serpentinas and flowers. The ceremony was set for one in the afternoon, so naturally, people started to trickle in at three. The radio boasted the best of huayno, the chicha infused with strawberries and delicious, and the people steadily gaining momentum and vigor.
I’ve attended five prior inaugurations in the Sacred Valley, so to a great extent I knew what to expect. The tardiness was essential and was naturally followed by a circular congregation marked by a myriad of speeches, the formal inauguration of the building by smashing a champagne bottle hung over the entrance, an inaugural toast of mini pisco sours, and a true feast of cuy, chicken, papas, choclo and spaghetti.
The attendees came from a slew of communities, and included the President and Vice-President of the Indigenous Community of Ollanta, the community President of Huilloc, Ollanta’s school director, English teachers from Urubamba, a vivacious Brazilian couple living in Rumira, volunteers from the valley, and a slew of friends that we’ve made and who have aided us along the way. At the moment, there was so much anticipation in regards to the event and what would ensue that I barely had a moment to entertain the notion of what was happening. Today, and as I write this blog, I’m filled with honor, with pride, and with a pressing urge to cry.
After the inauguration, a party ensued, and while the chicha was tempting, work had already begun. The girls had homework to finish, showers to take and packs to ready for the upcoming school day. I’ve spent two nights in the dormitory with the girls, and the excitement of being in a new home has not yet abated. Our first evening together, I asked the girls what time they normally went to bed and subsequently woke up in the morning. The general response was that a typical bedtime was from seven to eight in the evening with some girls rising as early as three in the morning. Our first night, giggles and fright impeded the eight o’clock bedtime, and the girls finally managed to fight off the exhilaration and fall asleep at ten. This delay was in a large part owing to the thrill of the shower. I nearly had to shut the water key to coax them out of the bathrooms.
We’ve been waking up at five am daily, which constitutes sleeping in for these ladies, and often I find that they’ve slept in the same bed together. Surely, some things will take getting used to, but as a whole, this dorm has been emphatically filled with smiles.
This week’s projects include painting names on each girl’s door, a photo and mini bio writing session so that you can get to know these six individuals better, volleyball, an English class and a potential hike to the surrounding ruins. We’re thrilled!
-Bianca
Our six families arrived early in the morning to help prepare the inaugural feast and to get their daughters situated for their first daunting evening in the dormitory. Throughout the morning, mothers busied themselves gutting the cuyes and cleaning the house, fathers readied the ovens and the girls decorated the dorm with serpentinas and flowers. The ceremony was set for one in the afternoon, so naturally, people started to trickle in at three. The radio boasted the best of huayno, the chicha infused with strawberries and delicious, and the people steadily gaining momentum and vigor.
I’ve attended five prior inaugurations in the Sacred Valley, so to a great extent I knew what to expect. The tardiness was essential and was naturally followed by a circular congregation marked by a myriad of speeches, the formal inauguration of the building by smashing a champagne bottle hung over the entrance, an inaugural toast of mini pisco sours, and a true feast of cuy, chicken, papas, choclo and spaghetti.
The attendees came from a slew of communities, and included the President and Vice-President of the Indigenous Community of Ollanta, the community President of Huilloc, Ollanta’s school director, English teachers from Urubamba, a vivacious Brazilian couple living in Rumira, volunteers from the valley, and a slew of friends that we’ve made and who have aided us along the way. At the moment, there was so much anticipation in regards to the event and what would ensue that I barely had a moment to entertain the notion of what was happening. Today, and as I write this blog, I’m filled with honor, with pride, and with a pressing urge to cry.
After the inauguration, a party ensued, and while the chicha was tempting, work had already begun. The girls had homework to finish, showers to take and packs to ready for the upcoming school day. I’ve spent two nights in the dormitory with the girls, and the excitement of being in a new home has not yet abated. Our first evening together, I asked the girls what time they normally went to bed and subsequently woke up in the morning. The general response was that a typical bedtime was from seven to eight in the evening with some girls rising as early as three in the morning. Our first night, giggles and fright impeded the eight o’clock bedtime, and the girls finally managed to fight off the exhilaration and fall asleep at ten. This delay was in a large part owing to the thrill of the shower. I nearly had to shut the water key to coax them out of the bathrooms.
We’ve been waking up at five am daily, which constitutes sleeping in for these ladies, and often I find that they’ve slept in the same bed together. Surely, some things will take getting used to, but as a whole, this dorm has been emphatically filled with smiles.
This week’s projects include painting names on each girl’s door, a photo and mini bio writing session so that you can get to know these six individuals better, volleyball, an English class and a potential hike to the surrounding ruins. We’re thrilled!
-Bianca
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)