Visit from Adeline!

So Adeline came to visit me and we had a whirlwind few days. It was really great to have a visitor who knows South America, has experience of community water projects, speaks English, and has been able to see various different aspects of my life here.

She brought a huge amount of goodies from the UK - chocolate treats, newspapers, gifts from people at church.

We went to church together on Easter Day then, because she's a bridge engineer, we went to look at the old colonial bridge.

She came into the office and we went around the different ministries - it was great for me to hear and be re-inspired by them all too.  It was really encouraging to talk through my plans for the year and hear her ideas.  And, because there was someone else holding the camera, here's a picture of me and the AIDIA team at morning devotions:

There was even an opportunity to visit Ancobamba - one of the villages where I am trying to build up relationships at the moment.  We delivered 100 of the "cajas de amor" - little food parcels that are being given out to needy families.

We also met that rare breed: a dog who was friendly.

And stopped on the way home to buy some potatoes

Then I was off to a training course and Adeline started her journey home - so we enjoyed an afternoon together in Cusco.

It was a huge encouragement to be able to talk through many things and pray together with someone who understand so much of what it is like to live here and do this work.  I'm very grateful to God for enabling her to visit this week.

Feeling more at home in Pampallacta

I went again with Dina to Pampallacta - after last week's success this time we planned to go early and walk back. it's lovely now to arrive and be greeted by people we know in the village.

I haven't yet  managed to coordinate with the local government water rep for the district - partly because I'm disorganised and partly because he is! - but in the meantime it's great to be able to visit and build up relationships - and participate in the amazing work of evangelism that Dina is doing.

We visited many of the same families as last week, but also visited a couple who had been away.  it was very encouraging for me to see that here, in a non-literary culture, they had clearly been studying the Bible - it can only have been bought 8 months ago and is well-worn.  We talked about how to grow in Christian maturity from babies to adults - that this is a long process but one that we can work towards.

One of the sights of Pampallacta - getting ready to kill a cow.

This time we took with us some more of the food boxes that AIDIA had received in November (containing rice, beans, pasta and other dried foods, for the neediest people in the communities). Dina had spoken with the president earlier to ask who these should go to and he'd given various names of widows, or single parent families, or people physically unable to work. The boxes are heavy! We reckon each one is at least 6kg, and we had brought 4 to carry down the very steep hill between the new and old parts of the village! Eventually unpacking 2 of the boxes into our rucksacks we managed - just.

We started our walk home. The first part is the most annoying because you can see straight from A to B but walking you have to go via H, Q and W because of the lie of the land. We had got just about over halfway, to the top of the zigzags, when we heard an engine above us - but we'd already left the road. I scrambled up a VERY steep bank at top speed and just about managed it in time to get us a lift in the back of a lorry. I was home in time for music practice!

   

"Abancay" street                                  Lower Pampallacta                                    Winding mountain paths

 

 Sheltering from the rain and having lunch                  Our lift down the hill!                           

Unfortunately the people who we were travelling with last year have sold their truck and are no longer visiting. AIDIA works in partnership with the local church and not independently, so without their involvement we can't sustain the work. Dina is visiting the church leaders and we are praying that God will raise up more people who can commit to visit regularly so that this work can continue.

Project Mochila

Project Mochila is a summer school programme for primary ages, focused on literacy and numeracy for children in areas where education may be poor.  At the end of the week the children who've participated receive a rucksack (mochila) with school materials.

We (AIDIA, accompanied by several volunteers, and a team of puppeteers from Lima) ran the project in one of AIDIA's focus districts near Abancay.

As well as teaching maths and communication we also gave health-related workshops which I coordinated - topics of water, hygiene, dental care, the environment and nutrition.

Day 0 - preparations

We loaded up all our luggage for the week, lots of food to contribute, sleeping bags, teaching materials, rucksacks for the children, and lots of puppets.  There was barely room for 3 of us to travel as well, but we squeezed in (including my guitar - thanks to frequent childhood practice).

Arriving 2 hours later we unpacked and carried everything into one of the classrooms at the school, and then proceeded to blow up about 100 balloons and tie them onto sticks ready to make an arch in the morning to welcome the students.

We hadn't sorted out accommodation yet, so stayed with one of the couples from the church - 3 of us sharing a mattress on the floor of their room.  It was very cold but we slept well under 5 blankets.
 

Day 1




About 100 children came, along with the school director, ministry of health representatives, and people from the mayor's office.  There were speeches, we sang the national anthem and raised the flag, and then everyone was off to their classes.

 

 

My first class was with the parents, teaching about hygiene.  I really appreciated how the teaching is focused on visuals and group contribution, because I was conscious that some of the parents didn't speak Spanish.  I could help a little in Quechua but it was great to have them working together and explaining to one another. 

After the break I taught 3rd and 4th grade about water.  It was a disaster!  Well, I thought so at the time.  I used a story to tell them about the water cycle, and actually they listened quite well to that part.  But they were far too hyperactive for the activity I had planned for them afterwards, wanting to play, run around, shout, look out of the window, fight, or ask me questions about where I am from.  I have an increased respect and appreciation of teachers.  Always before when I've worked in schools, I've been visiting but the teacher has always been present - this time I was in sole "control"!

We spent the afternoon preparing our next classes but also borrowing various mattresses and blankets from the mayor's office and setting up our sleeping arrangements (a room for the boys and one for the girls, with 8 mattresses and 18 blankets to share between 13 of us - and a cold shower!).

Day 2

Today I was teaching 5th and 6th grade about the environment after the break, but had nothing scheduled first thing. So I asked if I could help with the morning literacy classes - so that I would know the students and they would know me by the time it came to my classes.  This worked far better than yesterday!  I also enjoyed being able to help the children while they thought up adjectives to describe the different animals in their district (a slippery fish, or a thieving weasel).

In my class we talked about how God created everything, and how we as humans are both dependent on and responsible for the natural world.  Then we looked at different types of waste and how long things take to decompose - there were quite a few surprises, mainly that "disposable" polystyrene cups and trays take perhaps forever to decompose.

In the evening there was a church service - usually a prayer meeting on Tuesdays but tonight was full of "specials" - songs prepared bu different groups, including us.  I led "Alelu alelu alelu aleluia" complete with standing up and sitting down - I even know it in Quechua because there are only 3 other words!

A musical interlude...

Food in the school canteen

Day 3

It was my turn to lead our morning's devotions today, so I talked a little about Samuel growing up in God's house surrounded by his influence - and how our hope is that we can contribute to building this positive environment for the children here.  We spent the rest of the time praying for the week.

At breakfast I had a lovely surprise.  One of the boys from Monday's horrendous class came and recounted to me the story I'd told them about the water cycle - and there was I thinking I hadn't been able to teach them anything at  all!

Board game to learn the vowels

I repeated yesterday's strategy of getting to know my next class, so helped with 1st grade in their numeracy and literacy classes.  I tried to teach a little boy to do sums on his fingers, but I don't think he got it.  But I did successfully manage to help a little girl to write the letter "o" - we went from tracing to independent writing :)

Then I was with 5th and 6th again, teaching them about hygiene.  This is one of my favourite lessons as it's very picture based and very interactive.  I basically don't teach much but get the class to tell me everything. But it's very hard to get people to admit that they don't already do all of the "good behaviours".

In the afternoon I came back to Abancay to pick up some more materials from the office and go to my Quechua classes (they are every night but I'd said I would go to one this week).

 

 

Day 4

I got an early car back and this morning I had another teaching session with the parents.  I wasn't actually teaching but generally facilitating and I wanted to observe the nutrition teaching because it was based on the materials I'd prepared.

Noemí taught about child protection and prevention of sexual abuse which seems to be quite a new topic here but definitely something that is needed.





Gianella who is a student from Arequipa taught about nutrition.  She included some extra elements in her teaching was were very helpful and I'll be noting for the future.  It was great to see the mothers using the cards we'd prepared to plan meals containing the 3 food groups, and to hear a lady from the church explaining our illustrative 3-legged stool in Quechua - both showing that she'd understood, but also effectively translating for those who hadn't.








Luis taught about dental care - focusing not on what you can and can't eat but on how important it is to clean your teeth.  Since seeing his graphic illustrations I have been cleaning my teeth even after lunch! 

Then I had my lesson with grades 1 and 2.  Again it was really helpful to have met them yesterday and got an idea of their learning level.  My story was very successful and they enjoyed retelling it to me. (It works with every age group! It's based on a book I had when I was small.  A child wants to say thank you for his drink, so thanks first the glass, then the tap, and the pipes... and so on as each one tells him where the water came from.  It finishes with him discovering that God made, or helped us make, all these things and so he prays his thanks to God.) Then we went outside for some water-carrying games.

 

Day 5

They needed help in the kitchen today (we've been preparing mid-morning snacks for the children) so I learned how to make humitas (although there is some debate as to when it's an humita and when it's a tamal - it depends on the freshness of the corn but also on whether it's sweet or savoury). 

Then my final class, teaching grades 5 and 6 about water.  Because of the other classes happening today, this time the two were combined which meant about 60 children!  It was chaos, but they still listened attentively to the story.  Afterwards, I got them together in groups depending on which village they came from, to draw a map of their community including the elements of their water cycle.

  
We also had a class teaching grades 3/4 about hand-washing.  This was also a combined class and as I'd had such trouble with them I figured I ought to help Luis.  We used an idea I've been wanting to try out for ages - mixed glitter with vaseline and he went round shaking everyone's hand to get them good and coated.  Then we demonstrated how you have to wash your hands properly in order to get the glitter off.  It's great to know how well this works - I shall be using it again!
 

Day 6

The closing ceremony! There were lots of contributions from the puppets and lots of speeches.  Even I made a speech, first learning to correctly greet all the various personages (this time the mayor came) and then congratulating the children as I can't imagine British children voluntarily coming to lessons in their holidays!

 

 

The mothers had prepared a special surprise for us - which of course turned out to be lunch: fried trout with potatoes and a chili sauce.  It was delicious.

When we'd packed everything up we hired a couple of minibuses to take us up the mountain to the lakes at the top.  We posed for lots of photos and tried to throw each other in (sort of).  It was beautiful and very cold because it's so high.  Coming back down then it was a long and squashed journey back to Abancay with all the luggage.