So the time is passing by ever so quickly and we are down to our last week at work.
We just spent our last weekend together as a team and it was over before I knew it. We didn´t get up to too much, we wandered around the markets in Miraflores for some souveniers and even saw a little bit of sun! We went out for dinner and then met up with our Peruvian friends for a night on the town. On Sunday, the weather was back to normal, dreary Lima weather so we hit up Hangover 2. It´s insane how much things cost here sometimes, it was only 12 soles to get into the movie and 8 for a medium popcorn and pop (the exchange rate is about 2.7). So cheap!
Work is hectic now that the end is in sight. We are still constructing the remaining doors, filling in the gaps of the roof, puttying, sanding, priming and painting where needs be and putting cement around the outside. The Mums have now moved into their actual kitchen. Miguel has made the cement my job.. I think it´s because he actually remembers my name and just yelled it out when he decided to get that job done. It´s not so bad once you get the hang of it.. but I never seem to do it the way he wants and we always end up getting frustrated at eachother in our own languages. We get along much better with Miguel now though, there´s even jokes taking place. His favourite right now is calling Harjot, Obama.. I can´t tell you how it started but most people here can´t pronouce Harjot or even Jo.. so now she´s Obama.
Today, we had a visit from the Municipality again. We couldn´t tell excatly what they were doing there but they did bring a new stove for the kitchen. They also took a lot of pictures of us working and with the kids. We are visiting the Municipality on Friday.
Through all the craziness that goes on at the worksite.. all the mixed feelings of being tired, cold, frustrated ect, the kids stay amazing. There isn´t a single one of us that leaves the job site without a smile from a kid that day. We hang out with Jorge a lot.. he´s one and his mum works in the kitchen. He´s so cute and probably will have his own facebook album. He´s got a few nephews (his mum´s daughters have kids even though they are very young) so we hang out with Alejandro and Diego sometimes. Everyone has a kid they´ve kind of connected with.. Corina is Jorge´s sister and tries to learn Spanish from us, Alexander is a little trouble maker but just wants to help. Brian is a great soccer player and he speaks a little English! Antony plays so much whenever he comes to the soccer pitch. Jose is such a big sweetheart. Then there´s lots of kids we see around the kitchen too that we play with. Stephanie has memorized all our names! And the list could go on. It´s hard when you can´t communicate but they are all so welcoming and love to just try and talk to us. They will be the hardest part of leaving. San Jose Obrero, the school, is a school for working children so it´s so hard to imagine where they will end up a few years down the road. We can only hope that they´ll make it okay and be the nice, warm, welcoming people they have been as kids.
3 days left of work. Crazy.
Saturday... Cuzco... Tuesday, trek to Machu Picchu!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
1 week left in Lima!
May 26th
Today was a really interesting day for the whole group. We were picked up by Dora and our translator in the morning and got to go to a school called MANTOC. It is a school for working children and adolescents. We had a presentation on how the school works. It´s really interesting because it has so many different aspects. They have a work kitchen where the kids go once a week to learn about cooking and they sell those goods. In the kitchen, they learn math in their baking and where the products come from, ect. They have a whole part where the children take part in all aspects of the school such as organizating physical education, publishing a newspaper, being a liasion with the community. This all teaches great organization and leadership skills. The program was very different... but it needs to be because it is providing an alternative education for working children. These are kids who would otherwise not be able to attend school.. because they have failed a grade, they are too old to enter regular school, they are too poor or because they work. They allow children an education so they can continue to work because otherwise they wouldn´t be able to attend school.
The school has had lack of funding in recent years. They went from 4 full classrooms to 2 this year. This is because Peru has now risen, based on international standards, to a ¨less poor¨country and therefore, foreign aid from NGO´s is dropping. The thing is, the government isn´t giving any money to schools like this. In fact, with the new election taking place in the next few weeks, they said that no presidential candidates are making any promises for schools for working children. They simply want to eradicate children working. This does not seem like a good plan because for so many families, having the children help work can provide up to 45% of the family´s income. They provide no alternative for these children, simply saying they should be in school. The reality is, they wouldn´t be if it weren´t for schools like this one who provide an alternative way of learning. The children who come through MANTOC can advance onto secondary school and often, have great results because they have been taught such great life and organizational skills. MANTOC also provides the space for children to come and prepare food to sell to pay for their secondary fees.
It was a really educational experience to be in that school. We got to visit the grade 2 class and see the kids. They introduced themselves and said what kind of work they did. One kid juggles! And they were all so nice and polite, greeting us with the customary Peruvian kiss on the cheek. We all really enjoyed the visit and had a lot to think about afterwards.
At school, the work is always coming. We worked on roof which is entirely finished now! We started the painting and the kitchen is now a lovely shade of yellow. Things with Miguel have also been a lot better... much better communication and lots of joking (with the language barrier, a lot of jokes are on him).
We went out for dinner and a bunch of us tried Tacu Tacu, which is a sort of rice with beans and chicken saltado on top. Later, we all huddled together to watch Shawshank Redemption.
May 27th
The time constraint is starting to be felt all over the work site now. I´ve never seen us work as hard as we did this week. I painted the remainder of the next room yellow and did the touchups in both rooms. Miguel mixed the paint for the outside and we were all skeptical.. but now that we´ve rolled a couple of walls, it is a decent shade of burgandy. The doors they had at the school were too small (also resembled a school locker, as Leah pointed out) so Miguel is now building wooden doors. The progress is amazing and when I look at the building, I´m pretty proud of what we´ve accomplished in 3 weeks. We have 4 more days of work left and then a fun day on Friday. We still have an entire room to do so that means, putty, sanding, priming and painting. It´ll be busy but that´s the way we like it anyways.
We also had a visit from the Mayor of Villa Maria and a rep from the Ministry of Energy and Mines. They were very happy to see us and it appears they are going to help us buy the electrical supplies we need. Miguel did say that they come every year and rarely help so we will see how that goes.
After work, we were all excited it was Friday. We went out for a dinner on Pizza Street and then some of us went to a little cafe after.
1 week left in Lima and that seems crazy. We´ve got most of everything planned for Cuzco, we are staying at Los Ninos and our trek begins on the 6th. I can´t wait!
Today was a really interesting day for the whole group. We were picked up by Dora and our translator in the morning and got to go to a school called MANTOC. It is a school for working children and adolescents. We had a presentation on how the school works. It´s really interesting because it has so many different aspects. They have a work kitchen where the kids go once a week to learn about cooking and they sell those goods. In the kitchen, they learn math in their baking and where the products come from, ect. They have a whole part where the children take part in all aspects of the school such as organizating physical education, publishing a newspaper, being a liasion with the community. This all teaches great organization and leadership skills. The program was very different... but it needs to be because it is providing an alternative education for working children. These are kids who would otherwise not be able to attend school.. because they have failed a grade, they are too old to enter regular school, they are too poor or because they work. They allow children an education so they can continue to work because otherwise they wouldn´t be able to attend school.
The school has had lack of funding in recent years. They went from 4 full classrooms to 2 this year. This is because Peru has now risen, based on international standards, to a ¨less poor¨country and therefore, foreign aid from NGO´s is dropping. The thing is, the government isn´t giving any money to schools like this. In fact, with the new election taking place in the next few weeks, they said that no presidential candidates are making any promises for schools for working children. They simply want to eradicate children working. This does not seem like a good plan because for so many families, having the children help work can provide up to 45% of the family´s income. They provide no alternative for these children, simply saying they should be in school. The reality is, they wouldn´t be if it weren´t for schools like this one who provide an alternative way of learning. The children who come through MANTOC can advance onto secondary school and often, have great results because they have been taught such great life and organizational skills. MANTOC also provides the space for children to come and prepare food to sell to pay for their secondary fees.
It was a really educational experience to be in that school. We got to visit the grade 2 class and see the kids. They introduced themselves and said what kind of work they did. One kid juggles! And they were all so nice and polite, greeting us with the customary Peruvian kiss on the cheek. We all really enjoyed the visit and had a lot to think about afterwards.
At school, the work is always coming. We worked on roof which is entirely finished now! We started the painting and the kitchen is now a lovely shade of yellow. Things with Miguel have also been a lot better... much better communication and lots of joking (with the language barrier, a lot of jokes are on him).
We went out for dinner and a bunch of us tried Tacu Tacu, which is a sort of rice with beans and chicken saltado on top. Later, we all huddled together to watch Shawshank Redemption.
May 27th
The time constraint is starting to be felt all over the work site now. I´ve never seen us work as hard as we did this week. I painted the remainder of the next room yellow and did the touchups in both rooms. Miguel mixed the paint for the outside and we were all skeptical.. but now that we´ve rolled a couple of walls, it is a decent shade of burgandy. The doors they had at the school were too small (also resembled a school locker, as Leah pointed out) so Miguel is now building wooden doors. The progress is amazing and when I look at the building, I´m pretty proud of what we´ve accomplished in 3 weeks. We have 4 more days of work left and then a fun day on Friday. We still have an entire room to do so that means, putty, sanding, priming and painting. It´ll be busy but that´s the way we like it anyways.
We also had a visit from the Mayor of Villa Maria and a rep from the Ministry of Energy and Mines. They were very happy to see us and it appears they are going to help us buy the electrical supplies we need. Miguel did say that they come every year and rarely help so we will see how that goes.
After work, we were all excited it was Friday. We went out for a dinner on Pizza Street and then some of us went to a little cafe after.
1 week left in Lima and that seems crazy. We´ve got most of everything planned for Cuzco, we are staying at Los Ninos and our trek begins on the 6th. I can´t wait!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Huacachina!
May 20th, 21st and 22nd
This weekend, the 9 of us went on an adventure about 5 hrs south of Lima to the town of Huacachina, which is in Ica. It´s basically a tiny tourist town surrounded by desert and big dunes. It´s so neat when you drive in. We stayed at a hostal and it even had a pool. We haven´t had the greatest weather in Lima so we were so excited to get off the bus at 2pm on Friday and find tanning weather. Within minutes of being at the hostal, we were all out by the pool in the 30 degree weather, staring up at the towering dunes around us.
Friday night was a pretty quiet one and we all picked what we would do for activities the next day. A group of 6 of us decided to make the 3 hour trek to Nazca to see the famous Nazca lines. They are these huge shapes drawn in the sand and they don´t know why they have been there for hundreds of years.
The next morning, we got up and got ready for the day. We discovered it was going to be an issue that we only had copies of our passports, not our real ones. The hostal manager said it would be fine and we were on our way. We asked our driver to stop for food and he said he would.. but then 3 hours past and we didn´t. We also got pulled over and he received multiple tickets.. we think. It was a rough start to the day.
When we got to the airport in Nazca, we were all very hungry but excited with all the small planes waiting outside. We grabbed something small to eat and waited..and waited..and waited. Then we had more problems with our passports and basically, they told me we would have to pay them so that we could all go on. Now, we were caught in a Peruvian bribe. We all managed to get through security though after that. We were all split in 2´s and I was with Harjot. Walking out towards the plane, we were so excited. It was a 6 person plane, including the two pilots. We were taking all sorts of pictures. Then the plane was in flight. It was an amazing view and we could see all around us. But we soon realized we were in for the worst plane ride of our lives. They were dipping and twisting and we both felt so so sick. The lines themselves were very cool but as time went on, it was hard to even look out the window. Out of the 6 of us, 2 got sick in the plane and we all were very nauseaous after. Then we had to deal with the bribe and everyone just wanted to get home after that. What a day! Some of us laugh about it now.. it does make for a good story but oh man, it was pretty awful.
The next day, we got up and got ready to dune bugee all together! Everyone was pumped and we had good reason to be.. it was so cool! I´ve never been in a desert like that before. We got some amazing pictures and we got to sandboard too, which is like laying on your stomach on a snowboard and going face first. We all got a little bruised but it was overall a very good day. We headed home that afternoon on a much nicer bus than before and made it home earlier. We then got ready for the work week!
May 23&24th
On Monday, we went to IFEJANT in the morning. It was pretty good because our translator was there again and we could ask Dora questions that we had about the project as well as the school in general. Also, we gave some feedback on how things had been so far. We got to meet the founder of IFEJANT and hear some more about their philosophy of children´s protagonism. It´s so much to learn about since it´s a different system of thought and it got us all thinking. I would definetly like to read some of his work when I get home.
Being on this trip has really allowed me to think about what I really want to do and has made me determined more than ever to make a difference and work for an NGO. I´m looking forward to doing a lot of research when I get home and hopefully making some connections and finding some opportunities in my field.
But anyways, in the afternoon, we went to work and we worked on the roof and building a portion of a door. I was pretty set to work so I seemed to have more patience with Miguel and we worked better together. The building is coming along well but we do still have quite a bit of work to do.
Today, we worked more on the roof, putting the supports up and getting the shingles on and getting the rooms squares. We got to play with the kids after too and I brought out my skipping rope, which surprisingly, the boys loved most. We are organizing a fun day for next Friday for the kids, which should be really fun and a great way to end this part of the trip.
The 5 of us who are continuing onto Cuzco have been trying to get things ready for that. We are booking our hostal this week and reading up on what to do for our 2 days there and about Machu Picchu. I am getting so excited for the trek, I think it is going to be amazing. Hard to believe there´s less than 2 weeks of work but still lots to do!
Ciao!
This weekend, the 9 of us went on an adventure about 5 hrs south of Lima to the town of Huacachina, which is in Ica. It´s basically a tiny tourist town surrounded by desert and big dunes. It´s so neat when you drive in. We stayed at a hostal and it even had a pool. We haven´t had the greatest weather in Lima so we were so excited to get off the bus at 2pm on Friday and find tanning weather. Within minutes of being at the hostal, we were all out by the pool in the 30 degree weather, staring up at the towering dunes around us.
Friday night was a pretty quiet one and we all picked what we would do for activities the next day. A group of 6 of us decided to make the 3 hour trek to Nazca to see the famous Nazca lines. They are these huge shapes drawn in the sand and they don´t know why they have been there for hundreds of years.
The next morning, we got up and got ready for the day. We discovered it was going to be an issue that we only had copies of our passports, not our real ones. The hostal manager said it would be fine and we were on our way. We asked our driver to stop for food and he said he would.. but then 3 hours past and we didn´t. We also got pulled over and he received multiple tickets.. we think. It was a rough start to the day.
When we got to the airport in Nazca, we were all very hungry but excited with all the small planes waiting outside. We grabbed something small to eat and waited..and waited..and waited. Then we had more problems with our passports and basically, they told me we would have to pay them so that we could all go on. Now, we were caught in a Peruvian bribe. We all managed to get through security though after that. We were all split in 2´s and I was with Harjot. Walking out towards the plane, we were so excited. It was a 6 person plane, including the two pilots. We were taking all sorts of pictures. Then the plane was in flight. It was an amazing view and we could see all around us. But we soon realized we were in for the worst plane ride of our lives. They were dipping and twisting and we both felt so so sick. The lines themselves were very cool but as time went on, it was hard to even look out the window. Out of the 6 of us, 2 got sick in the plane and we all were very nauseaous after. Then we had to deal with the bribe and everyone just wanted to get home after that. What a day! Some of us laugh about it now.. it does make for a good story but oh man, it was pretty awful.
The next day, we got up and got ready to dune bugee all together! Everyone was pumped and we had good reason to be.. it was so cool! I´ve never been in a desert like that before. We got some amazing pictures and we got to sandboard too, which is like laying on your stomach on a snowboard and going face first. We all got a little bruised but it was overall a very good day. We headed home that afternoon on a much nicer bus than before and made it home earlier. We then got ready for the work week!
May 23&24th
On Monday, we went to IFEJANT in the morning. It was pretty good because our translator was there again and we could ask Dora questions that we had about the project as well as the school in general. Also, we gave some feedback on how things had been so far. We got to meet the founder of IFEJANT and hear some more about their philosophy of children´s protagonism. It´s so much to learn about since it´s a different system of thought and it got us all thinking. I would definetly like to read some of his work when I get home.
Being on this trip has really allowed me to think about what I really want to do and has made me determined more than ever to make a difference and work for an NGO. I´m looking forward to doing a lot of research when I get home and hopefully making some connections and finding some opportunities in my field.
But anyways, in the afternoon, we went to work and we worked on the roof and building a portion of a door. I was pretty set to work so I seemed to have more patience with Miguel and we worked better together. The building is coming along well but we do still have quite a bit of work to do.
Today, we worked more on the roof, putting the supports up and getting the shingles on and getting the rooms squares. We got to play with the kids after too and I brought out my skipping rope, which surprisingly, the boys loved most. We are organizing a fun day for next Friday for the kids, which should be really fun and a great way to end this part of the trip.
The 5 of us who are continuing onto Cuzco have been trying to get things ready for that. We are booking our hostal this week and reading up on what to do for our 2 days there and about Machu Picchu. I am getting so excited for the trek, I think it is going to be amazing. Hard to believe there´s less than 2 weeks of work but still lots to do!
Ciao!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Spanish speakers:1, Savannah:0
May 17th
Today, Ronal came with us to work. It was nice to have him there to translate and help out where he could. The language barrier is still really tough.. it takes a lot of patience and sometimes, I just dont have it in me. Suud is the most patient and so he works well with the Peruvians. In the morning, I just got fed up because I didn´t understand why we were doing things the way we were. In a perfect world, we would have someone come and explain the task at hand and how to do it and then leave the group of us to do it. But of course, it doesn´t work like that. It´s more a go with the flow type of thing and also, pushing to find yourself some tasks. We did finish the roof on the first building and get the walls for the other two buildings done. We also tore down the existing kitchen to make room for the new one.
We all have a new appreciation for the women who work in the kitchen of the school. They all help us where they can... they definetly can carry more than me and with a baby tied to their back(Ghana style)! They all work for a warm meal at the end, after feeding all the children. The women often do not have husbands to go home too. You see the other children caring for their brothers and sisters too. Thinking that these women are not making any money at their ¨job´means they have no way of escaping the cycle of poverty.
Another interesting thing that is going on here is the upcoming elections. I dont know a lot about it because I can´t read the Spanish newspapers but from what Ronal tells us, they have two candidates and he hates both, haha. The first is a woman who is the daughter of a former president and his presidency was corrupt, had trafficking ect. The other candidate is communist, or something. I wonder what they really stand for or if this is just what Ronal has heard. There are posters EVERYWHERE and graffiti also. It´s pretty interesting, the elections will take place in early June.
May 18th
Today was a much better day. For one, the weather was so warm again! We all had to use sunscreen and only one layer of clothing, very exciting. Also, we just seemed to get a lot more done. I was pretty determined today and brought all the patience I could muster. We got all the walls of the two remaining buildings standing! We seemed to have a break through with our communications with Miguel too. Suud talks to him most but we all started to get along and understand what he wanted to get done. It was a really good day at work. We also play with the kids all the time, Jorge is constantly in Mama Harjot´s arms and lots of other kids come around. One little girl named Carmen is super cute too!
Didn´t do much after, just went for groceries and cooked a stirfry dinner for everyone. There´s been quite a few people feeling sick so we´re trying to be more careful with food. Pretty much every meal is hilarious, such a great group of people.
Today, Ronal came with us to work. It was nice to have him there to translate and help out where he could. The language barrier is still really tough.. it takes a lot of patience and sometimes, I just dont have it in me. Suud is the most patient and so he works well with the Peruvians. In the morning, I just got fed up because I didn´t understand why we were doing things the way we were. In a perfect world, we would have someone come and explain the task at hand and how to do it and then leave the group of us to do it. But of course, it doesn´t work like that. It´s more a go with the flow type of thing and also, pushing to find yourself some tasks. We did finish the roof on the first building and get the walls for the other two buildings done. We also tore down the existing kitchen to make room for the new one.
We all have a new appreciation for the women who work in the kitchen of the school. They all help us where they can... they definetly can carry more than me and with a baby tied to their back(Ghana style)! They all work for a warm meal at the end, after feeding all the children. The women often do not have husbands to go home too. You see the other children caring for their brothers and sisters too. Thinking that these women are not making any money at their ¨job´means they have no way of escaping the cycle of poverty.
Another interesting thing that is going on here is the upcoming elections. I dont know a lot about it because I can´t read the Spanish newspapers but from what Ronal tells us, they have two candidates and he hates both, haha. The first is a woman who is the daughter of a former president and his presidency was corrupt, had trafficking ect. The other candidate is communist, or something. I wonder what they really stand for or if this is just what Ronal has heard. There are posters EVERYWHERE and graffiti also. It´s pretty interesting, the elections will take place in early June.
May 18th
Today was a much better day. For one, the weather was so warm again! We all had to use sunscreen and only one layer of clothing, very exciting. Also, we just seemed to get a lot more done. I was pretty determined today and brought all the patience I could muster. We got all the walls of the two remaining buildings standing! We seemed to have a break through with our communications with Miguel too. Suud talks to him most but we all started to get along and understand what he wanted to get done. It was a really good day at work. We also play with the kids all the time, Jorge is constantly in Mama Harjot´s arms and lots of other kids come around. One little girl named Carmen is super cute too!
Didn´t do much after, just went for groceries and cooked a stirfry dinner for everyone. There´s been quite a few people feeling sick so we´re trying to be more careful with food. Pretty much every meal is hilarious, such a great group of people.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Verano Azul
May 14th
Today was Leah's birthday! She had a couple cards from home and a virtual cake from her parents over skype. We went for a walk in the morning with Ronal to a little park and just relaxed, played cards, read, and napped (for me and Matt). We went for lunch after at Cafe Zeta, which has become a favourite of the group. Rory surprised us all with shots of Pisco, our first in Peru. It tastes kind of like tequila but with a better after taste. We walked down to the water front again and just watched the paragliders and took pictures. It hasn't been as nice of weather since that first day.
We got all ready and dressed up to go out after. We all went out to dinner at a restaurant called Mango's. We were very lucky to get a really nice table outside, with a view of the water. We had a really nice meal and then came back to the hostal. When we got back, Ronal had decorated the top of the hostal roof with streamers, balloons and lights. It was so nice! And then we brought Leah a cake with sparklers on it. We had music and drank Pisco sours, which is the Peruvian drink. Suud took Leah's video camera and did interviews with everyone, asking us to say something to Leah for 15 years from now. Also, Leah and Rory had done a chest bump when we were playing soccer at school last week and it was hilarious because he's 6'2 and a big guy and little 5'2 Leah doesn't stand a chance. We video taped her birthday chest bump and she went flying across the room! It was so funny. We also learned the Ottawa University dance to We No Speak Americano from Carley and Steph, which is really cool and we looked even cooler when we brought out at the dancefloor of the club.
We went to a really cool bar called Antiqua by the water. Leah's Peruvian friends got us on the guest list so we didn't have to wait or pay. The music was Peruvian with a few Western songs. It was a very good night.
May 15th
We all woke up at different times today from the crazy night before. I got up with Leah and we watched all the video from the night before. I went to the store with Suud to get some stuff to do some hand washing, Ghana style.
After, Leah's Peruvian friends were over and they took us to the Plaza de Armas, which is the big square in downtown Lima, about 45 minutes combie from here. It had some really beautiful churches and architecture. We went to the Monasterio de San Fransisco, an old church that has a really cool library and an amazing cathedral. It also had catacoumbs, where 25 000 Lima residents were buried back in the day. It was pretty interesting, and great to have an English speaking guide.
We came back and went out for dinner at a Lebonese type place after. Then we just hung out and went to bed early, getting ready for another week of early starts.
May 16th
Today was the coldest day by far at work. We were all bundled up all day. Our tasks of the day were finishing the supports on the walls and working on the roof. We had Miguel (someone who we also have a special nickname for) come and kind of take over the roof stuff so the other girls and I got to work on the supports. I used a hand saw for the first time! Once that was done, there wasn't a whole lot we could do to help the roofers. We tried to stay warm, took lots of pictures and played with the kids a bit. There's this little boy named Jorge and he's just about the cutest thing we've all seen. He got quite a bit of attention today. Leah was listening to her ipod and he smiled when he heard the Peruvian music on the other end. At first, he was a bit afraid of us, but most of us got a chance to hold him today.
He came home and all desperately worked on getting warm. We cooked tacos for dinner and just relaxed a bit.
A few people have been getting sick... Ryan has been sleeping a lot with a bad cough ect and missed work today. Rory was sick tonight and a few people have been complaining of sore stomachs. I haven't felt 100% but I can't tell if it's any more than my usual allergy sickness.
Ronal is coming to work with us tomorrow so it'll be nice to have someone to translate a bit. I believe we are going to finish off the roof and start on the next building. It is starting to come together very well and it's pretty exciting! We are also taking a weekend trip to Huacachina (a 5 hr bus ride) this weekend so we are all pretty pumped about that.
Hasta luego!
Today was Leah's birthday! She had a couple cards from home and a virtual cake from her parents over skype. We went for a walk in the morning with Ronal to a little park and just relaxed, played cards, read, and napped (for me and Matt). We went for lunch after at Cafe Zeta, which has become a favourite of the group. Rory surprised us all with shots of Pisco, our first in Peru. It tastes kind of like tequila but with a better after taste. We walked down to the water front again and just watched the paragliders and took pictures. It hasn't been as nice of weather since that first day.
We got all ready and dressed up to go out after. We all went out to dinner at a restaurant called Mango's. We were very lucky to get a really nice table outside, with a view of the water. We had a really nice meal and then came back to the hostal. When we got back, Ronal had decorated the top of the hostal roof with streamers, balloons and lights. It was so nice! And then we brought Leah a cake with sparklers on it. We had music and drank Pisco sours, which is the Peruvian drink. Suud took Leah's video camera and did interviews with everyone, asking us to say something to Leah for 15 years from now. Also, Leah and Rory had done a chest bump when we were playing soccer at school last week and it was hilarious because he's 6'2 and a big guy and little 5'2 Leah doesn't stand a chance. We video taped her birthday chest bump and she went flying across the room! It was so funny. We also learned the Ottawa University dance to We No Speak Americano from Carley and Steph, which is really cool and we looked even cooler when we brought out at the dancefloor of the club.
We went to a really cool bar called Antiqua by the water. Leah's Peruvian friends got us on the guest list so we didn't have to wait or pay. The music was Peruvian with a few Western songs. It was a very good night.
May 15th
We all woke up at different times today from the crazy night before. I got up with Leah and we watched all the video from the night before. I went to the store with Suud to get some stuff to do some hand washing, Ghana style.
After, Leah's Peruvian friends were over and they took us to the Plaza de Armas, which is the big square in downtown Lima, about 45 minutes combie from here. It had some really beautiful churches and architecture. We went to the Monasterio de San Fransisco, an old church that has a really cool library and an amazing cathedral. It also had catacoumbs, where 25 000 Lima residents were buried back in the day. It was pretty interesting, and great to have an English speaking guide.
We came back and went out for dinner at a Lebonese type place after. Then we just hung out and went to bed early, getting ready for another week of early starts.
May 16th
Today was the coldest day by far at work. We were all bundled up all day. Our tasks of the day were finishing the supports on the walls and working on the roof. We had Miguel (someone who we also have a special nickname for) come and kind of take over the roof stuff so the other girls and I got to work on the supports. I used a hand saw for the first time! Once that was done, there wasn't a whole lot we could do to help the roofers. We tried to stay warm, took lots of pictures and played with the kids a bit. There's this little boy named Jorge and he's just about the cutest thing we've all seen. He got quite a bit of attention today. Leah was listening to her ipod and he smiled when he heard the Peruvian music on the other end. At first, he was a bit afraid of us, but most of us got a chance to hold him today.
He came home and all desperately worked on getting warm. We cooked tacos for dinner and just relaxed a bit.
A few people have been getting sick... Ryan has been sleeping a lot with a bad cough ect and missed work today. Rory was sick tonight and a few people have been complaining of sore stomachs. I haven't felt 100% but I can't tell if it's any more than my usual allergy sickness.
Ronal is coming to work with us tomorrow so it'll be nice to have someone to translate a bit. I believe we are going to finish off the roof and start on the next building. It is starting to come together very well and it's pretty exciting! We are also taking a weekend trip to Huacachina (a 5 hr bus ride) this weekend so we are all pretty pumped about that.
Hasta luego!
Friday, May 13, 2011
Living in a country with no English
3 days have passed since my last post and so much has happened.
May 11th
We get up at 7am everyday and are out the door by 8am for our combie. In that hour, we get ready, have breakfast which is provided by the hostal and make lunch. Today, we went in the combie and saw that Dora had hired a translator! This was very exciting news because we had been struggling with Dora´s minimal English.
First we moved all the supplies from the school to the upper platform where we were going to start construction. It seems like an easy task but the stuff is heavy and it isn´t an easy route up.. no stairs or anything, just dirt. Leah had a small tumble on the way down but I definetly had the battle wound of the day; I fell down a hole while I was carrying a sheet of wood with Leah. My legs are nicely cut up now.
Milo, our translator, has worked in New York and has done construction before. He led the project for us at the beginning and it was very helpful. But after some time, there was some frustration among the girls because he favoured the boys for all the work, even work that we could have easily helped with. It was also just a different dynamic than we had been expecting, with him in charge. We tried to make ourselves useful when we could and played with the kids and the dogs (Steph wants to be a vet and is always petting and naming the dogs).
The girls worked on a project later on by salvaging some old wood to make a fence. We took it all apart, took out the nails and cut the pieces to size. It was pretty cool, most of us haven´t worked with a lot of these tools or labour work before.
The weather was nice today, pretty windy so most of us didn´t realize we were getting sunburnt. I got a lovely oval at the top of my shoulders because I had put sunscreen on but then rolled up my sleeves. No one was complaining too much though!
After we got home, I showered, people got groceries and we made a big pasta dinner. It´s definetly interesting cooking for 9 people in that tiny kitchen.
Most evenings are spent just hanging out, I´ve been reading a book called Little Princes, about a guy who volunteered at an orphanage in Nepal for trafficked kids and sets up an NGO to find their families. It´s really good, I recommend it!
May 12th
The weather was much cooler today. The mist was set over the valley we work in and we wore our windbreakers. Matt had wished for no sun to recover from his burn so we blamed him.
It was slow going in the morning, with the girls sitting around a lot again. We did help where we could in assembling the structure, we had 3 sides up by lunch.
After lunch, we were fed up of sitting around. Carley and I went down the hill to help with a job he had specifically asked for boys to do and made sure he understood that we were capable help too. After that it was a little better, with the girls helping to assemble the last walls. By Canadian standards, it´s a pretty shaky building but it is nice and made out of wood.
We played soccer with the kids at the end of the day. They just love soccer and playing with us.
On the way home, we had a bit of a scare when some creepy guy tried to open the window of our combie when we were driving home. We now keep our bags on the floor, like we should have been doing, to avoid that happening again.
We came home and Suud and I went to get groceries at the modern supermarket two blocks away. We made pasta again. We all ate together as a group and it was really nice, we all get along so well and we are like a little family now!
May 13th
Today was the coldest day so far. I even wore a long sleeved shirt under my usual Tshirt. When we got to Villa Maria, it was misting on us. We got to work today on stabilizing the roof and the walls. The girls also worked on the fence, which is ready to be installed now.
Things got a little crazy with Milo. There was definetly a lot of frustration throughout the week about his role in the project and the way he was handling everything. He also wasn´t acting very much as a translator. Leah had a talk with him and Dora at lunch because he didn´t think the amount he was offered to work was enough. He also made some comments about the kids and stuff.. we just didn´t feel like he really understood why we were there and what we came to do.
The sun started coming out around lunch which was a nice surprise. We finished up working and played soccer with the kids again. The ride home in the combie was a lot more entertaining today because it´s Friday!
I made my own dinner tonight and the others had pizza. We had to discuss the situation with Milo when we discovered we would have to be paying him from our own budget. We´ve paid enough to be here and he just didn´t seem to understand that we paid for the supplies and we are volunteering to construct it. He was also not really translating and was taking work away from us. So we´re probably back to the large language barrier at work but now we´ll be working a lot more on the project and I think it´ll be okay.
Tomorrow is Leah´s birthday so the plan is to head to the beach if the weather is nice and then to live it up on Saturday night. Then we will all enjoy a little sleep in on Sunday and relax.. then back to work on Monday!
May 11th
We get up at 7am everyday and are out the door by 8am for our combie. In that hour, we get ready, have breakfast which is provided by the hostal and make lunch. Today, we went in the combie and saw that Dora had hired a translator! This was very exciting news because we had been struggling with Dora´s minimal English.
First we moved all the supplies from the school to the upper platform where we were going to start construction. It seems like an easy task but the stuff is heavy and it isn´t an easy route up.. no stairs or anything, just dirt. Leah had a small tumble on the way down but I definetly had the battle wound of the day; I fell down a hole while I was carrying a sheet of wood with Leah. My legs are nicely cut up now.
Milo, our translator, has worked in New York and has done construction before. He led the project for us at the beginning and it was very helpful. But after some time, there was some frustration among the girls because he favoured the boys for all the work, even work that we could have easily helped with. It was also just a different dynamic than we had been expecting, with him in charge. We tried to make ourselves useful when we could and played with the kids and the dogs (Steph wants to be a vet and is always petting and naming the dogs).
The girls worked on a project later on by salvaging some old wood to make a fence. We took it all apart, took out the nails and cut the pieces to size. It was pretty cool, most of us haven´t worked with a lot of these tools or labour work before.
Suud lightened the mood by making lots of nailing and screwing jokes.
The weather was nice today, pretty windy so most of us didn´t realize we were getting sunburnt. I got a lovely oval at the top of my shoulders because I had put sunscreen on but then rolled up my sleeves. No one was complaining too much though!
After we got home, I showered, people got groceries and we made a big pasta dinner. It´s definetly interesting cooking for 9 people in that tiny kitchen.
Most evenings are spent just hanging out, I´ve been reading a book called Little Princes, about a guy who volunteered at an orphanage in Nepal for trafficked kids and sets up an NGO to find their families. It´s really good, I recommend it!
May 12th
The weather was much cooler today. The mist was set over the valley we work in and we wore our windbreakers. Matt had wished for no sun to recover from his burn so we blamed him.
It was slow going in the morning, with the girls sitting around a lot again. We did help where we could in assembling the structure, we had 3 sides up by lunch.
After lunch, we were fed up of sitting around. Carley and I went down the hill to help with a job he had specifically asked for boys to do and made sure he understood that we were capable help too. After that it was a little better, with the girls helping to assemble the last walls. By Canadian standards, it´s a pretty shaky building but it is nice and made out of wood.
We played soccer with the kids at the end of the day. They just love soccer and playing with us.
On the way home, we had a bit of a scare when some creepy guy tried to open the window of our combie when we were driving home. We now keep our bags on the floor, like we should have been doing, to avoid that happening again.
We came home and Suud and I went to get groceries at the modern supermarket two blocks away. We made pasta again. We all ate together as a group and it was really nice, we all get along so well and we are like a little family now!
May 13th
Today was the coldest day so far. I even wore a long sleeved shirt under my usual Tshirt. When we got to Villa Maria, it was misting on us. We got to work today on stabilizing the roof and the walls. The girls also worked on the fence, which is ready to be installed now.
Things got a little crazy with Milo. There was definetly a lot of frustration throughout the week about his role in the project and the way he was handling everything. He also wasn´t acting very much as a translator. Leah had a talk with him and Dora at lunch because he didn´t think the amount he was offered to work was enough. He also made some comments about the kids and stuff.. we just didn´t feel like he really understood why we were there and what we came to do.
The sun started coming out around lunch which was a nice surprise. We finished up working and played soccer with the kids again. The ride home in the combie was a lot more entertaining today because it´s Friday!
I made my own dinner tonight and the others had pizza. We had to discuss the situation with Milo when we discovered we would have to be paying him from our own budget. We´ve paid enough to be here and he just didn´t seem to understand that we paid for the supplies and we are volunteering to construct it. He was also not really translating and was taking work away from us. So we´re probably back to the large language barrier at work but now we´ll be working a lot more on the project and I think it´ll be okay.
Tomorrow is Leah´s birthday so the plan is to head to the beach if the weather is nice and then to live it up on Saturday night. Then we will all enjoy a little sleep in on Sunday and relax.. then back to work on Monday!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Villa Maria
May 9th
We heard last night that we would be going to see our school the following day. Everyone was so excited.. it was nice to walk around Miraflores but we came here to work and be a part of that community.
We were up and ready by 10 the next day. We met Dora, our translator.. or possibly more appropriately our IFEJANT representative. Her English is ¨little¨and so it has created some challenges. It is still helpful to have someone who speaks Spanish with us as the language is way more of a barrier than I had thought it would be. I guess it is a bit ignorant to think that they would speak more English here but that is what I assumed. That is definetly not the case and my weak Spanish is not enough to get us around.
We soon realized that we had been living in the nice part of Lima. As we ventured further and further out, things started to go downhill. The beautiful gardens that are in Miraflores turned into polluted streets and dust. It began to look a lot more like the developing country I had imagined in my mind. And we kept going. The roads around us resembled the beat up shop fronts of Ghana and then looking higher, we could see the houses rising up the mountain sides.
The ride to our school is about 45 minutes. It is in the hills, far from any paved roads and shops. Houses, or shacks, line the hills all around with different colours. It is a severely impoverished area.
The school itself has had many improvements since Leah was there last year. It is fairly small but it looks pretty good. Leah said they didn´t even have roofs last year but now some classrooms even have tile floors.
We were shown to a grade 6 class and the preschool class. Then we went to see our worksite. It is a little ways above the school and we will be constructing an additional building with 3 rooms. From our understanding, it will have a kitchen and a living room. We didn´t have the supplies so they put us to work on the pathway/stairway to the school. We got to get right down and dirty, moving and shoveling rocks, making a rock border for the stairs and leveling the pathway. We were all just so excited to be getting to work, we did well as a team. It was definetly rewarding at the end of the day!
The highlight of my day was being able to have a semi conversation with one of the girls Leah knows from last year, Karla. Basically, I´ve figured out that I can speak 11 year old Spanish. It was really exciting though, being able to talk to her. And I´m improving.. I hope. I also tried to talk to this kid, Alexander, who was a little trouble maker but pretty fun to have those two around. Karla also helped shovel! She´s tough.
The reaction of the kids at the school surprised me. I was so used to being a big ¨hit¨in Ghana, the kids pretty much flipped when we´d come. They would want to touch everyone and just were so overly excited for white people. The kids at Villa Maria were excited but nothing too special. They didn´t jump up or immediately cling to us at every chance. We could easily take out our cameras and take pictures. I don´t really know why this reaction was so different.. they seemed to know we were ¨rich¨but maybe because DWC has a policy that we cannot give things to the children or we just haven´t come enough to the school for them to know that we always bring things. Peru in general seems not too concerned with these white people.. they seem pretty content with things without us.
We made a stirfry for dinner last night with Ronal and I practiced my Spanish. We still haven´t gotten into a routine so ended up going to bed late. 7am would come too quickly...
If any of my Ghana friends are reading, they have tampico here!
May 10th
We got up early and got ready for work. So fun to put those dirty clothes back on. We were ready for Dora at 8.. but soon found out that things don´t always go as planned. Dora had sent an email saying we were to meet at IFEJANT for a meeting at 915. So we waited. Then we waited some more when she didn´t come. Finally Ronal said we were expected to be there already and he would come with us to navigate the combie system. Thank goodness, because this system is like the tro tro system.. there is really no way of knowing where the buses go unless you already know.. you know? So for us English folk, it´s hard.
We finally made it to IFEJANT, where they had food (yay!) and a real translator (YAY!). So we learned all about IFEJANT, which turned out to be quite interesting. IFEJANT is an movement, trying to create a new idea of equality between children and adults. They want children to have rights and dignity. Basically, they represent the working children of Peru and focus on getting them the right to work. Now, I was skeptical too but as the presentations continued, it all started to make sense. 60% of children under 18 in all of Peru are mal nourished. And 90% of the Lima population is under the poverty line. The organization believes that it is unjust to elimanate all children from working and telling them to go to school because most children cannot even afford too. The organization wants to focus on the children having rights to work but in a positive way and not being exploited by adults. The work they would do would teach them things too.. responsibility, respect, ect. IFEJANT provides kind of like, alternative schools for working children. Perhaps a child cannot go to school because a normal school runs 9-3 and that child must work to provide for themselves and their families in the morning. The school´s IFEJANT provides away for kids to be able work and get some schooling. The schools also help them develop their business skills, fabricate things and at the end, they can work on a project to receive a micro credit loan. It all seems outrageous, but that is just our Western way of thinking. We have no idea what it is like to be this impoverished. I think that children working isn´t ideal but at the same time, if something like that can empower children and their generation to create change and rise up, this could be a way to do it. Anyways, it was long and kind of confusing, but this is what I understood from the presentation and it gave me a lot to think about.
We ended up getting to Villa Maria by midday again. Dora and the director of the school went to buy supplies for our big project so we found some small things to do. Leah and I painted one of the classrooms, Karla sat and watched. The others finished theirs and so Matt took over for me. I went to join the others on the ¨soccer pitch¨ or the ¨volley¨. Ryan had started a game of soccer with the kids, Harjot was loving life, with a small child in hand. Everyone was so happy to spend some time playing with these kids. They are so much fun, so happy with so little. I could talk to some of them, which was cool. I stood up there, as the sun was going down and looked at how peaceful this little town was. Although it was poor, it looked so beautiful and calm in the setting sun. I actually love it there.
Soon after, it was time to leave. BUT we didn´t get to leave. Dora hadn´t returned yet. Most of our stuff was locked up so we just sat and stared at the road. Some of the kids were running around, pretending to be scared of us. Finally, over an hour later, with the sun going down fast, Dora returned with a truck full of construction stuff. Everyone wanted to leave but first, we had to unload all this stuff. The boys obviously had no problems... me and Leah struggled just a little. We had to then wait for a combie down the hill to the town at the bottom.
The combie.. was an adventure. At that time of the night, not many were going by so we had to take what we could get. So 6 of us crowded into an already full bus.. which meant that Rory was squatting, Carley and I literally had our heads sideways. Matt even took a video and when we got off (after going over many potholes), we counted that we had fit 25 people into that little thing. Finding another combie to take us back to the hostal proved to be difficult too but then finally, we arrived home at around 8pm.
We ordered Chinese tonight and we are all so dead to the world. The work is hard but it´s rewarding. We are hoping for a full day at work tomorrow with some construction of our addition. And hopefully another soccer game!
Fun facts I´ve found
We heard last night that we would be going to see our school the following day. Everyone was so excited.. it was nice to walk around Miraflores but we came here to work and be a part of that community.
We were up and ready by 10 the next day. We met Dora, our translator.. or possibly more appropriately our IFEJANT representative. Her English is ¨little¨and so it has created some challenges. It is still helpful to have someone who speaks Spanish with us as the language is way more of a barrier than I had thought it would be. I guess it is a bit ignorant to think that they would speak more English here but that is what I assumed. That is definetly not the case and my weak Spanish is not enough to get us around.
We soon realized that we had been living in the nice part of Lima. As we ventured further and further out, things started to go downhill. The beautiful gardens that are in Miraflores turned into polluted streets and dust. It began to look a lot more like the developing country I had imagined in my mind. And we kept going. The roads around us resembled the beat up shop fronts of Ghana and then looking higher, we could see the houses rising up the mountain sides.
The ride to our school is about 45 minutes. It is in the hills, far from any paved roads and shops. Houses, or shacks, line the hills all around with different colours. It is a severely impoverished area.
The school itself has had many improvements since Leah was there last year. It is fairly small but it looks pretty good. Leah said they didn´t even have roofs last year but now some classrooms even have tile floors.
We were shown to a grade 6 class and the preschool class. Then we went to see our worksite. It is a little ways above the school and we will be constructing an additional building with 3 rooms. From our understanding, it will have a kitchen and a living room. We didn´t have the supplies so they put us to work on the pathway/stairway to the school. We got to get right down and dirty, moving and shoveling rocks, making a rock border for the stairs and leveling the pathway. We were all just so excited to be getting to work, we did well as a team. It was definetly rewarding at the end of the day!
The highlight of my day was being able to have a semi conversation with one of the girls Leah knows from last year, Karla. Basically, I´ve figured out that I can speak 11 year old Spanish. It was really exciting though, being able to talk to her. And I´m improving.. I hope. I also tried to talk to this kid, Alexander, who was a little trouble maker but pretty fun to have those two around. Karla also helped shovel! She´s tough.
The reaction of the kids at the school surprised me. I was so used to being a big ¨hit¨in Ghana, the kids pretty much flipped when we´d come. They would want to touch everyone and just were so overly excited for white people. The kids at Villa Maria were excited but nothing too special. They didn´t jump up or immediately cling to us at every chance. We could easily take out our cameras and take pictures. I don´t really know why this reaction was so different.. they seemed to know we were ¨rich¨but maybe because DWC has a policy that we cannot give things to the children or we just haven´t come enough to the school for them to know that we always bring things. Peru in general seems not too concerned with these white people.. they seem pretty content with things without us.
We made a stirfry for dinner last night with Ronal and I practiced my Spanish. We still haven´t gotten into a routine so ended up going to bed late. 7am would come too quickly...
If any of my Ghana friends are reading, they have tampico here!
May 10th
We got up early and got ready for work. So fun to put those dirty clothes back on. We were ready for Dora at 8.. but soon found out that things don´t always go as planned. Dora had sent an email saying we were to meet at IFEJANT for a meeting at 915. So we waited. Then we waited some more when she didn´t come. Finally Ronal said we were expected to be there already and he would come with us to navigate the combie system. Thank goodness, because this system is like the tro tro system.. there is really no way of knowing where the buses go unless you already know.. you know? So for us English folk, it´s hard.
We finally made it to IFEJANT, where they had food (yay!) and a real translator (YAY!). So we learned all about IFEJANT, which turned out to be quite interesting. IFEJANT is an movement, trying to create a new idea of equality between children and adults. They want children to have rights and dignity. Basically, they represent the working children of Peru and focus on getting them the right to work. Now, I was skeptical too but as the presentations continued, it all started to make sense. 60% of children under 18 in all of Peru are mal nourished. And 90% of the Lima population is under the poverty line. The organization believes that it is unjust to elimanate all children from working and telling them to go to school because most children cannot even afford too. The organization wants to focus on the children having rights to work but in a positive way and not being exploited by adults. The work they would do would teach them things too.. responsibility, respect, ect. IFEJANT provides kind of like, alternative schools for working children. Perhaps a child cannot go to school because a normal school runs 9-3 and that child must work to provide for themselves and their families in the morning. The school´s IFEJANT provides away for kids to be able work and get some schooling. The schools also help them develop their business skills, fabricate things and at the end, they can work on a project to receive a micro credit loan. It all seems outrageous, but that is just our Western way of thinking. We have no idea what it is like to be this impoverished. I think that children working isn´t ideal but at the same time, if something like that can empower children and their generation to create change and rise up, this could be a way to do it. Anyways, it was long and kind of confusing, but this is what I understood from the presentation and it gave me a lot to think about.
We ended up getting to Villa Maria by midday again. Dora and the director of the school went to buy supplies for our big project so we found some small things to do. Leah and I painted one of the classrooms, Karla sat and watched. The others finished theirs and so Matt took over for me. I went to join the others on the ¨soccer pitch¨ or the ¨volley¨. Ryan had started a game of soccer with the kids, Harjot was loving life, with a small child in hand. Everyone was so happy to spend some time playing with these kids. They are so much fun, so happy with so little. I could talk to some of them, which was cool. I stood up there, as the sun was going down and looked at how peaceful this little town was. Although it was poor, it looked so beautiful and calm in the setting sun. I actually love it there.
Soon after, it was time to leave. BUT we didn´t get to leave. Dora hadn´t returned yet. Most of our stuff was locked up so we just sat and stared at the road. Some of the kids were running around, pretending to be scared of us. Finally, over an hour later, with the sun going down fast, Dora returned with a truck full of construction stuff. Everyone wanted to leave but first, we had to unload all this stuff. The boys obviously had no problems... me and Leah struggled just a little. We had to then wait for a combie down the hill to the town at the bottom.
The combie.. was an adventure. At that time of the night, not many were going by so we had to take what we could get. So 6 of us crowded into an already full bus.. which meant that Rory was squatting, Carley and I literally had our heads sideways. Matt even took a video and when we got off (after going over many potholes), we counted that we had fit 25 people into that little thing. Finding another combie to take us back to the hostal proved to be difficult too but then finally, we arrived home at around 8pm.
We ordered Chinese tonight and we are all so dead to the world. The work is hard but it´s rewarding. We are hoping for a full day at work tomorrow with some construction of our addition. And hopefully another soccer game!
Fun facts I´ve found
- The crosswalk and street lights countdown so you always know how much time you have or how long you have to wait.
- The traffic is crazy! Not as crazy as Ghana though
- Toilet paper goes in the garbage can, not the toilet, like Greece!
- Of course when I go to write these, I go blank. More next time!
Buenos Noches!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)