The company I´m volunteering with in Peru is called IVHQ (International Volunteer Headquarters), and I chose it because the prices were very reasonable compared to any others I could find. i-to-i run by STA charges over a thousand dollars for a month's placement, and others are similar, but IVHQ was only a couple of hundred. The options were construction, jungle conservation, teaching English, or childcare.
I chose childcare and knew I wouldn't find out what sort of placement I'd be in until I arrived, because out of all the schools, orphanages, day-care centres and street kid centres they wait to see which one needs help the most at that time. So on Tuesday morning a Sydney girl called Jenny and myself were taken onto a local bus (tiny white van) by a woman who works at Maximo Nivel to our placement.
The van was so crammed; our knees were interlocked with elderly women in traditional full skirts, woollen cardigans and amazing hats, students schoolbags hung over our shoulders, and we were leant on by kids pulling bags of market produce. The van crawled up the cobbled streets of Cuzco past markets and squares and streets I'd never otherwise see, through old archways and around steep corners. Then we left the city and headed up the hills, past packs of dogs snoozing and scratching on the side of the road, past shanty towns with corrigated iron rooves and rubbish littering every surface. People flagged the van down every 20 metres and squeezed on, and others yelled 'Baja!' when they wanted to hop off. We wondered how we would remember our stop as it all looked the same, memorising landmarks like 'the rubbish skip with three dogs in it' and 'the pile of tyres.'
But luckily ours is the last stop so we can't possible miss it! It's about 30 mins out of town up at the top of the hills, so we can look down on the sprawling brown rooves of Cuzco, the tiny shiny specks which are cars, we can even see the runway. It's an amazing view with a snowcapped mountain in the background. Up here it's very rural, pigs and chickens mixing with the dogs. We learnt we are placed in the kindergarten of a tiny school called 'Chinchasuyo,' me in the 4 year-olds room and Jenny with the 3 year-olds. I was a little apprehensive of the language barrier, but as soon as I stepped into the room I was greeted with a shouted chorus of Buenos DIAS!! and had my hands taken and others hugging my legs.
The room has a dirty, broken concrete floor and an open bucket which serves as a toilet. The kids had gorgeous smiling faces but most of them were filthy; string holding up their pants, ripped clothes, rotten and broken baby teeth. Some looked better off and had clean faces and hair, and some had nicer clothes like a little girl in a long skirt, lacy blouse and cute sunhat. We did a little bit of maths (3 + 1 = 4) then it was playtime with the 3yos outside.
Fresia being a monkey
In the playground is a broken set of rusty swings, two slides, and a scary metal see-saw with sharp bits sticking out of it. Jenny & I tried Ring Around a Rosie (which the kids sang in Spanish) and some other games but all they wanted really was to be picked up, dangled upside down, tickled. I started a game to try and get them to go down the slides instead of climb up them and block up the top, where I'd lift them off the bottom of the slide, and swing them round before putting them back on the ground. Silly idea by me, there was a fighting queue a mile long wanting to be swung off the slide, and I got exhausted and light-headed and had to stop!
Elizabeth (looks cute but she's so naughty!)
I was supposed to leave at 12 to be home by lunch, but the teacher (who speaks no English) left the room with me alone with the kids so I couldn't leave, and chaos reigned. We were supposed to be drawing our families, but there were brawls over the eraser, pencil stabbings, and general paper tearing violence. It was completely out of control and overwhelming as I couldn't even tell them to sit down, stop fighting, important vocabulary like that. Jenny came in to get me, and ended up helping until another woman came in (not the teacher), then we could leave. Exhausted, realising how much Spanish I needed to learn to be able to have a bit of control.
The next few days were much better though because a 3rd volunteer was there, a girl called Sophie in her late 20s from Belgium. She's been there for 3 weeks already, speaks Spanish, and brings in all sorts of activities. Wednesday was skipping ropes. 3 and 4 year-olds can't skip, but they can whip each other with the ropes, and loved jumping over the rope when it was wiggling on the ground like a snake. Lots of tears and ´Senorita mirar!´' (Look Miss!) at what someone else had done to hurt them. I am called either Senorita, Gringita (whitey), or Yessica. 'Mirar' is about the most used verb in the playground.. 'look, he stole my hat/ pushed me/ pulled my hair/ threw a rock at me...' etc. The boys are cheeky, blocking up the top of the slides, holding down the see-saw so one end is stuck up the top. But the girls fight just as much; punching, throwing rocks, pulling each others hair.
Thursday was hair washing. Lots of the kids knew about shampoo and obviously had their hair washed by their mothers at home, but some turned the water brown. I was on combing duty.. and made sure to be very gentle on knotty hair because I can definitely relate, hated having my hair brushed when I was a kid.
Boys wanted to be 'perritos' (puppies) when we facepainted.
Today (Friday) was face painting. All these activities are Sophie's ideas, and she brings the things in. She's been fundraising for ages so can buy things like skipping ropes etc, she even bought a whiteboard for the room. We did butterflies, hearts, monkey and dog faces. I got to learn the words for colours. The kids are so funny, wiggling and laughing until you take a photo of them when they suddenly look solemn and sad. It's great having Sophie next to me because she can translate the important things the kids tell me, or what they're asking for.
Sophie swamped by kids
The cutest moments include the teacher beginning the lesson by asking 'Who's been eating all the colours (pencils)?' and everybody chorusing 'Johann!' And when they dance and sing.. I've got to try and get a video of it!
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