Rema su Barco

PRONOEI School in Paita

Ever since our arrival in Peru, we have asked the sisters countless questions about the St. Clare School here in Paita. ¨How many students do you have? Are many of your students on scholarship? What does a typical school day look like?¨ But on Monday morning, we spent the day visiting the classrooms and seeing first-hand the gift of St. Clare School. We were told that over the next three days, we would meet and work with all 21 classes, spending 40 minutes with each one. Now, you may be wondering how we could teach a class of Spanish speaking children for 40 minutes. We had the same concern! But, the children in Paita begin learning English at 3 years old, so we were very impressed with how much they knew. Additionally, we had an English speaking teacher with us the entire day who helped us communicate. First, we visited the PRONOEI school, a public pre-school program for 3, 4, and 5 year olds staffed by St. Clare School. This small 2 classroom campus is located in the poorest area of Paita, where houses are built out of scrap metal and often lack indoor plumbing and electricity. Because the little kids knew very Little English, we taught them the song ¨Rema Rema Rema su Barco,¨ known to us as ¨Row Row Row your boat.¨ We then gave them balloons and reviewed colors and numbers with them in both Spanish and English. And yes, the 4 & 5 year olds know their numbers and colors in English!

PRONOEI Children

When we finished at PRONOEI, we rushed back to the main campus of the school and met with the sophomores and juniors in high school. This is the part I loved! I played ¨Trading My Sorrows¨ on guitar for the students and made them not only sing it in English, but made them stand up and do the actions. I think they loved it as much as I did! The students then asked us questions about life in the US. They asked us if it was true that all Americans loved Hamburgers and Pizza, which of course is absolutely true. They asked us what winter in Wisconsin is like, and they gasped and giggled as we described snow and ice. We ended the upper level classes by handing out a rosary to every student and recited the Hail Mary in English.

  

Since my arrival in Peru, I´ve been moved and changed by many of the things I´ve experienced. But, spending the day with these kids was the greatest gift to me. All day long on the playground kids ran up to give me a hug and to say ¨hello, how are you?¨which they had been practicing for us. Many of these children live in poverty and some may even go hungry. They do not have an X-Box to go home to or even piano lessons or soccer tryouts. But they cherish the life they´ve been given and they live it in a constant state of wonder and awe. They carry a joy and a love that is so contagious, it must come directly from God. And so, it is the children of Paita who have taught me what it means to truly embrace the life and the world God has given you.

-Sarah

Super Sunday

We had a really busy day on Sunday. Our morning began with Mass. In order to get to the church, we had to take a moto taxi into town to attend Mass. Well, we had a little mishap...another moto-taxi pulled out in front of us and we had a slight collision with it. Not a big deal. Nobody was hurt, nor the vehicles damaged. We were just a little startled.

Mass was to begin at 9am.  There are two priest at this parish. One of the priests had surgery and Father Jaime had to officiate at 8 different Masses throughout the region. He had already said a 7 and 8 am Mass across town, and had to drive a distance to this church. So Mass began at 9:25am once he arrived. The Youth Mass was packed. Not only was each pew filled with lots of children, teenagers and adults, families were standing along the side isles. We thought it was Easter Mass. We were all amazed at how many people attended. I thought to myself, at St. Paul’s, we have this big beautiful new church, with many empty pews.  St. Francis Parish in Paita is a very old church and it was bursting at the seams. Even when we were at Mass on Friday evening at 7pm, there was standing room only. What’s wrong with this picture? Do people go to Mass because they are so poor and they know that God is their only hope? That has to be it! God is our only hope!

The youth music was loud, and well done. After the Mass, Sarah asked if it was a CD because she thought the kids sang perfectly. No, it wasn’t a CD.  It was just darn good music! Bravo to the children who sang on key with enthusiasm.

After Mass, many of the parishioners stayed in the church to pray. We were there for at least 30 minutes after Mass and people were busy walking from statue to statue praying. There’s the Captive Jesus, which is very important in northern Peru, and then there’s the Lord of the Miracles, and  the Sacred Heart of Jesus. There's also St. Francis, St. Martin de Porres, St. Rose of Lima, Our Lady of Fatima,  St. Anthony and most importantly Our Lady of Mercy, she’s also very important among the people of Paita, and many, many, many more statues. People spend hours walking around the church communing with the various saints after Mass.  

St. Martin de Porres     St. Rose of Lima         St Francis Solano

 

 

The Captive Jesus

We continued our day touring the harbor on boat. We were able to see all the fish factories in Paita that take advantage of the people by hiring them sporadically and paying $5 a day. We also saw lots of fishing boats arriving in harbor after being out at sea for a week. Can you believe it? They also have sea lions and of course, seagulls (rats of the sea).  

 

 

 

 

 

We drove to Catacaos, a very picturesque village just south of Piura. There were vendors selling silver, gold, leather, wood, and clay items. This city is also known for its cuisine. We stopped at one of the local restaurants for lunch. We tried the ceviche which is fish marinated in sour lemon, onion, salt and hot pepper. It was accompanied by sweet potatoes. We also ordered a combination plate consisting of beef and pork, accompanied by mashed plantain banana dish and mashed yuccas. Sarah had the chicken nuggets, which were deep fried, and included a raw carrot and cabbage dish. The food has been excellent. Knock on wood…we haven’t gotten sick yet.

We haven’t told you about their famous drink called “chicha”.  It is fermented drink, made from a special type of corn only found in Peru. We can’t wait to have it again. Here's Sarah drinking chicha.

We bought quite a few souvenirs to show our parishioners and look forward to sharing our stories of Peru. One more thing, we stopped at a cathedral in Catacaos after our souvenir shopping. It was around 7pm and the church was at least half full with people saying the rosary. We found out that the rosary is prayed every day of the year. How awesome!

By the way, if you click on the picture, you'll see a large version of the picture and view all pictures used in the blog post. Try doing that. You'll see more detail.

-Deb

 

 

Papas Para Los Papás (Potatoes for the Fathers)

We are ridiculously bad in Spanish, but we were proud of ourselves for coining the phrase above. Today, Saturday, was a HUGE celebration in honor of Fathers Day. Held in an outdoor gathering space, the entire school community assembled at 9am for a pageant of Peruvian dance and music. The theme introduced by Sr. Monica stressed that becoming a father is easy to, but being a father takes great love and commitment.  (The sisters have noted that the poverty in Peru combined with the chauvinistic culture has not led to faithful fathers.)

Sr. Matilde and two teachers saying opening remarks.

With that introduction, the fathers were all invited to the front for a blessing, a plate-sized gold pin being awarded to one man who was the Father of the Year for this year, and a sprinkling rite. (They seem to have a connection to sprinkling rites here.)

The dads being blessed and sprinkled with holy water.

Sr. Matilde told us the parents mostly rented costumes for this, dance being an important and typical way of celebrating in Peru. We were so impressed with the intricate movements and footwork of the children of all ages in their beautiful, traditional dress.

After the pageant, the sisters held their annual fund raiser, a meal consisting of a large cut of barbecued beef, and a side of a sweet and a yellow potato, with some Peruvian sauces. We volunteered to help serve, but the sisters had lots of help from mothers of their students, and we were too many cooks in the kitchen, especially with the language barrier.

Meals were assembled and sold for 8 soles (equivalent to $3.00). Each school family was required to purchase 5 meals. After the event was over, Sr. Monica told us they were now going to package meals for those families who didn't show, as the sisters wished the families to receive something for their mandated participation. We told the sisters to allow us to help with clean up, but it is 5pm and so far, nothing from them. We believe the sisters are exhausted, and are looking forward to relaxing this evening, with Saturday being the one day of the week that the sisters don't catch a moto to downtown Paita for 7pm Mass.

Discubriendo el moto!!

 

On Friday afternoon, we made a huge discovery - el moto! In Paita, people do not drive around in cars. Instead, there are hundreds of motos. What is a moto, you ask? A moto is essentially a Vespa with a rickshaw on that back for 2-3 passengers. You can easily jump in one of these on any street corner and for 3 soles (= $1.2) they will take you anywhere you want to go in Paita. While they don't have a lot of horse power, they are not afraid to tailgate and cut in front of anyone who is going to slow. It is certainly an adventurous take on a boring commute!      If you've been following our blog carefully, you should realize that when we arrived in Paita yesterday, we were going on roughly 2 hours of sleep. But, those who know us, know that exhaustion didn't keep us from exploring the city and the school. When we first walked outside the school, which is next door to the convent, the children ran to us, so excited to shout ''Good Morning!!'' in perfect English and to get a look at the American ladies. As part of our tour of the convent, Sister Monica explained to us that we needed to take great caution in our water use. They do not have hot water for showers or dishes and they must use their water sparingly. Of course, this came at no surprise to me. How many times have I heard that third world countries don't have the water they need? Yet, adapting to this has proved challenging for all of us. As I wash up with baby wipes and hand sanitizers, I'm constantly reminded of the long, hot showers I like to take and the gallons of water I waste while washing dishes each day.   After we settled in and unpacked, we visited the off-campus preschool a few miles away. Riding there (in our motos), you could see a shift in the housing. There is no paved road to get to the neighborhood, only a dirt path leading to a complex of hand-built homes - many without electricity. At the pre-school (2 one-room buildings), we met with 56 children. Because Lisa is a nurse, the sisters and the parents wanted her to examine the children for medical issues. The first girl we saw was almost two and lacked the muscles to stand on her own, most likely from vitamin deficiency. Unfortunately, we were very limited on the help we could provide as we could not hand out medicine or treat her. However, I believe that merely consulting with Lisa was beneficial for the families and each child left with a yummy sucker. For example, one woman brought in her one year old son who had a fever and a cough. Because she didn't want him to get sick, the mom had him dressed head-to-toe in fleece pajamas in 75 degree weather. Lisa was able to explain, through a translator, that he was overdressed and needed to cool down. It was incredible to witness Lisa offering advice and sympathy to the mothers and giving each child a big hug.            We ended our evening with a packed 7pm Mass downtown and a chat with the sisters about life in Paita. A perfect ending to a great (but tiring) day!