Visiting Pre School and Elementary Students on Tuesday and Wednesday

We feel that we at least have a basic system for what to do with 40 minutes with a class, depending on their age-related English abilities.  If we have a strong English interpreter, we are much more confident when we walk in and say "Hola!."  Occasionally, Sr. Monica or Sr. Matilde are not able to be with us, and we then have to stretch ourselves, and so do the children. We have taken great comfort in the knowledge that all students relish the opportunity to "practice their English."

On Tuesday we visited 7 classrooms from 8am until 1pm. Lisa had a handy dandy map of the world for which she would use English to briefly explain our travel distance in hours on the airplanes and naming the cities we traveled through. We also found a Spanish translation of "Row Row Row your boat" which we pulled out to use with the kindergarten and younger children. The fun of it was that we added some gestures. This was interesting with some of the very young ones who just looked at us.  Sara was a "star " with her guitar once we got above 3rd grade. Before that, we couldn´t count on the students ability to read along on a lyric sheet  of either Spanish or English. 

Lots of "Nice to meet yous" and "high fives" and "big hugs" and gifts both ways helped to make a connection between us which will make it hard to say goodbye tomorrow. Deb always had her mind on the proceedings, making sure we had our gifts of rosaries or tattoos or bookmarks ready, and was always mindful to pull out one or both of her cameras during each room visit.


1982 Bronco Driven By Sr. Monica

We were also scheduled to just visit and observe the late afternoon enrichment workshops, which are part of the curriculum, but a bit more relaxed.  Between school and the workshops, Sr. Monica brought us to the village of Yasila using her 1982 Bronco manual transmission vehicle, about a 30 minute trip. She wanted us to see the beautiful beach and the small seaport there.  We teased Sr. Monica about her affinity for the extreme sport of "driving in Peru." We walked around and viewed the beautiful rock formations and also the small rafts used by local residents for fishing.  Several hundred small rafts, made of wood, slightly larger than a beach raft that we use were piled on the beach. According to Sr. Monica, this port had no large commercial processing factory, and this meant that the fish caught there was sold locally.



Sr. Monica and Deb Passino

 

Fishing Rafts

 

 





(Some of the homes in the area  with no electricity or water. There are many dead dogs in the streets with vultures eating the carcasses as seen below.)                        

We hurried back to catch the dance workshop that the 5 year olds participated in that afternoon, and realized that dance is part of their curriculum like any subject, and this must be why their dance is so elevated.

 

So tired making our way back to the convent after leaving the dance workshop at 5:30pm. We know we have to prepare again for 7 classroom visits for Wednesday, assemble gifts, start packing for our trip home, be at Mass at 7pm that evening with the sisters, and finishing unpacking the donation suitcases.

 

There's a little girl we met today. Her name is Faviana. She's got a severe case of eczema. We were told that she has gone to Lima for treatment but are wondering why her eczema is so bad. Why can't she get the miracle drugs needed to treat this? Maybe there aren't any miracle drugs or maybe she's misdiagnosed. She's got it on her scalp, hands, arms, legs, and feet. Sr. Monica talked about the need of a medical team to visit with them. We pray that we can get a medical team together and possibly, one of the team members will be a dermatologist.

 

 

 

 

We also were hoping that we could cook a meal for the sisters, and we agreed that our meal would be on Wednesday. Well, the sisters have one communal meal together and that is at 1:30 or 2:00 in the afternoon, when the academic program is over, so this meal has to be ready after our classroom time. The sisters do this every day.

We will need to shop at the one grocery store and stand in aisle-long lines after Mass to pick up more items which we couldn't manage on the motos Monday night, and start our meal once back "home." (This was also a good time to pick up a few packaged food items we wanted to bring home! I loved a cookie called Alfajore.)

The sisters also wanted to treat us to one of their favorite foods for a snack that evening; pollo a la brasa or rotisserie chicken  cooked over a charcoal fire at a restaurant that seemed to specialize only in rotisserie chicken for take out, accompanied by very delicious soft french fries. The place was crowded and not keeping up so we had to wait a few minutes in a park in the charming town square for some to finish cooking, and then we caught our usual 2 motos for 5 of us and chugged up the hill for the last time. 

Ride to the airport:

With Sr Monica behind the wheel, Sr. Matilde and Sr. Paula accompanied us on the drive to Piura to the airport.  Our flight to Lima was scheduled to leave at 7:40 pm so we left at 5:15, pretty much rush hour.  Now that we were awake this time and (mostly) alert we were able to more fully witness the true miracle of Heaven that people actually survive on Peruvian roads. We were fine with the 38 mile trip through the desert, but the airport was across town once we got to Piura. Imagine a large city with poor roads, large buses, motos everywhere, plus cars, and pretty much NO signage, painted lines, or traffic signals.  Some of the more basic rules:  Bigger wins, just like in boating.  A "touch" is not a big deal. More than two "vehicles" can ride abreast if a moto can squeeze in. A horn from your left means "I am coming across!" Other horns simply, "I am HERE!" We made it to the airport, and despite a small parking lot and lots of congestion, Sr. Monica parked, and the sisters all accompanied us to check in. It was hard to say goodbye to them! Their love and kindness had made us all feel like we were part of their family of sisters.

 

 -Lisa