First alarm.. 5 am. Second alarm 5:10. Sleep. Next alarm 5:15. Woke up, put on underarmour long sleeve, followed by tee, copper river fleece, then helly hansen jacket. Plus double lined alpaca gloves from the market. Goal: stay warm today in the mountains.
Went down for breakfast of yogurt, hard boiled egg, black tea, fresh orange juice and mini empanada things.
My host mom walked iain and I to our pick up points.
Iain takes a public bus towards the school, then has a 45 min walk to the school itself.
I met up with Adrienne, corrie, Johan, Olga, owen, and Chris. We were all picked up by Jaime, our bus driver who was accompanied by Zoe our project coordinator. After waiting for 20 min the school teachers showed up. There is one teacher per school who usually teaches the oldest kids and oversees everything.
We drove for about 30 min, then Adrienne, Chris, Zoe, one of the school teachers and I hopped out and loaded into the back of a truck to get up the rest of the way.
This part was pretty interesting because the road was a bit slippery. So after sliding around up a dirt road we crested onto a ridge where a handful of kids jumped in the back with us. We now became a school bus and the 11 of us bumped around In the back for the remaining few miles. We finally arrived at Huayrapungo school which sits at 11,500 feet, nestled between volcanoes, which couldn't be seen due to the dense clouds that seemed to be swallowing everything, including us.
After serving the kids a type of porridge concoction, Chris took me into a large room where the 5th and 6th graders had one half and the 4th grade had the other half. Chris introduced me to the 5 kids, minus Diego who was absent today.
After making a small poster with basic classroom etiquette for the kids we began the math lesson. Finally it was lunch time, where one of the children's mom has prepared a meal for the kids with food that we provide for them to cook with. After each of the kids has eaten we snuck away to munch on the food our host parents have packed for us. I finished mine up quickly and went outside to go kick the soccer ball around with some of the boys.
The bell rang to get back to class and we returned to our 'classes.' We worked for a bit more, then I got to read Where The Wild Things Are in spanish to the kids. Then the teacher took all of the kids to work on Quechua, their native tongue. During this time I went to see how Adrienne was getting on with the 2nd graders.
A couple of the kids were absent today, so she and Zoe only had 2 kids. At 1pm, the school day ends and all the kids get a piece of fruit to eat or take home with them. Our truck pulled up and almost all the kids loaded in this time, it was pretty right quarters but after about 15 min of bumping around the truck came to a stop. The kids all jumped out waved adios and ran off down the road. Leaving a moment of surrealism.
Did that all really just happen? It's really hard to explain an experience like this one, but perhaps through pictures and documenting it as I go along, I'll be able to remember it in its entirety when I'm older and the details have been forgotten.
I have already gained such respect and appreciation for these kids. This is as authentic and real as it gets, but they make it happen. They work hard and are so intelligent.
The other part of this program that I like, is that it is not just teaching kids. There are so many other aspects to consider. For example: nourishment. Part of what GVI does with the money they get is provide food for the children on a daily basis.
As volunteers, we are responsible for going out into the market to find the best deals and gather the necessary amounts to feed the kids. Today was one of the shopping days, so I went with Chris and pairs of volunteers for the other schools as well. Its fun because you get to go interact with the merchants and see all the sights of a daily market.
Well! That's today! Do it all over again tomorrow! :)
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