jueves, 22 de abril de 2010

Check out More Pics of Earth Day

Link: http://picasaweb.google.com/107425425446859607474/GreenMarch?feat=directlink

A Little Bit of Everything…


Being an assistant in Professor Sarah’s Art Classes, Adelante (for students with learning disabilities) with Professor Marilu and an Auxiliar in Professor Diana’s 3C class is going well. It keeps things interesting- always moving around.


Today, as I was walking up to Fe y Alegria, I ran into many of the classes marching for Earth Day to inform people that they should live green, singing the song at the top of their voices “Cuidemos al planeta… no vamos a gastar,” energetically hoisting up their posters and banners, most which had drawings of smiling planets. I joined in their steps since Professor Diana’s class was among them. It was cute to see them enthusiastically rallying together for a cause and sharing their knowledge with the community. We walked down to the Tupac Amaru Park- which was perfect- giving me the chance to stop off at my house and grab my camera- didn't want to miss the opportunity to take some pictures of this day!

I think it’s great that they are starting off young to try to teach them environmental consciousness! I think out of necessity there is a lot less waste here. In our own house, hardly any of the water just gets wasted down the drain; we wash and rinse our dishes in plastic bins so we don’t use much water, later it’s used to water the plants, we put the water we shower with in buckets to flush the toilet and so many other things I normally never think of. Water is indeed precious here. Many times there is a shortage of water in Chorillos. Almost every day the tank gets filled from a public supply of water; yet sometimes it runs out or doesn’t get filled. Luckily, this house has an extra supply and we “bombear” if we run out of water. However, not everyone is so lucky to be able to do this here. There are so many basic needs that people lack here that I once took for granted: access to water, food and electricity.

sábado, 10 de abril de 2010

Check out photos I just posted!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47945472@N07/

Shadows to Sunlight


*In this photo is Sheila, Sister Magda and Mim (the volunteer who was here last year). Mim baked a heart-shaped raisin bread that Sheila went ecstatic over; saying it was her heart.

The strong presence of this house and the church within the community is really incredible. They seem like a really supportive, tight-knit community and try to help as many in a variety of things as possible; from providing small jobs for people to do to earn a little extra money to having different types of therapy sessions each week. I really do get to see great work being done everyday. Everyone really cares about one another and helps out in various ways. Most here are relatively poor but they have generous hearts. I've found that a lot of times, people with the least tend to give the most which is such an incredible thing. Another unbelievable thing that has been happening is the change in Sheila each day.

“God led me to this house,” replied Sheila, our recently new live in guest when Sister Magda asked why she had decided to knock on this particular door late one night. Sister Magda told me how Sheila had come with “Una cara tan triste [a face so very sad].” She also came with hunger, lice, dirt and grime from living on the streets and tuberculosis- and an even greater need for kindness and love. Magda, with her generous heart and kind spirit, opened Tupac’s arms to Sheila. She has been Sheila’s “Mamita” figure to her, and I have been “La chinita” (now “Kimiko”) to her, who cooks food, bakes the beloved banana bread, and talks to her. Each day she becomes more confident and talkative; and her considerate nature and eagerness for learning about different things really shows.

For more than a month, Sheila had highly contagious tuberculosis. But with regular treatment, pills in the morning and at night that Magda administers, proper rest and a healthy diet, Sheila has gotten better, gained more weight and is overall much happier and communicative. Last week, we found out that she is no longer contagious but still needs to continue her treatment for the entire six months. What a blessing that she is better!

Sheila, like many people in this community, has had a tough life. At 25, she is already the mother of two, has suffered from an abusive husband; turned to selling candy, drugs, cigarettes, herself in order to survive, mental difficulties, and lived and ran away from family members houses. Her many aunts say that every time she stayed with one of them, she’d run away, leaving their doors wide open. But here, she’s stayed. And hopefully will continue to stay until her treatment is complete. “Dios es grande,” as Magda always says.

Here, Sheila seems content. Magda began teaching her how to read, write and other basic skills, such as counting money. These past few days, I have also been helping her to read. She recently learned how to read “Mama,” and “Ama [loves].” Illiteracy runs rampant here; especially among the very poor. Tuberculosis is also a huge problem; so much that free treatment for it is offered. Instead of hearing Sheila’s hacking cough and spitting phlegm, we hear her clapping and singing songs at the top of her voice; in Quechua, songs praising God and popular rock and pop songs. I always hear her shouting “Gracias Dios.” Knowing and meeting Sheila has made me realize how there is so much to be grateful for; so many things that can be done to help people here.
Each day we can see Sheila blossoming and coming into herself. Many times, she falls back into her past, the stinging memories, the pain and the trails of shadows that still follow her; she continues to repeat the most painful experience, still says she’s a “Cualquiera [a nothing],” like many people in her past called her.


Both Magda and I keep reinforcing what a good person she is, trying to stop making her think of herself as a "Cualquiera." I think it's easier for Sheila to connect with me since we are around the same age, although she told me that I look like I'm 14 or 15. Haha!Recently, she has begun confiding and talking to me, asking me for advice. Sheila recounts her past while we are eating lunch, during dinner, while I am sitting at the downstairs dining table keeping her company. All of a sudden, she begins talking about everything. But soon, we hope to help guide her away from all of these shadows and help her live in the present, look to the future; like the Founder of the Sisters of Notre Dame, Julie Billiart said, “To be simple is to be like a sunflower which follows all the movements of the sun and ever turns toward it.” How wonderful it would be if Sheila could always turn towards the sun and forget all of her shadows!

domingo, 4 de abril de 2010

English Teacher to Auxiliar


Here's me with the adorable kids in Kindergarten (which has an auxiliar assistant helping me.) They got their colors down; I think they might even know them better than the older grades!



Here's a picture of one of my last classes as the official English Teacher. (The last days the teacher stayed in the class with me- which made it much better.)

Life is good here in Tupac. I am now an auxiliar (a teacher’s assistant) in the Class 3C, with Profesora Diana and I love it. I feel as if I can be much more effective in actually helping the students with their work and building more of a connection with each one of them in the class than I was at being by myself in the class as an English teacher in the class; trying to get them to obey, pay attention and listen to me for all the grades in primary. The last two weeks were really beginning to take a toll on me- and I always went to sleep with anxiety about my classes the next day; I had nightmares of kids tearing the classroom apart and everything going up in chaos (Wait, that did happen. Haha).

Helping out in 3C is really fun. It's a good age- they're old enough so that most of them have a longer attention span and they can learn material that's more challenging. Right now, I'm acting as a kind of tutor and helping them with their homework, encouraging them to keep working and chatting with them a bit.

The community here in Chorillos is really lovely. More than a few times I've had parents come up to me (not only just outside the school, but on the streets and in the market) and ask me why I wasn't teaching English anymore. They tell me how their child was talking about "La Chinita" who was the English teacher and "Muy buena." I think students are a bit dissapointed I'm not their teacher (since I'm only in one class now). But I'm really touched that they liked me enough to tell their parents about me- and that there parents are so involved in their child's education that they ask questions.

There is officially a new English teacher, Ivon, who will teach the same classes I was going to teach, Kindergarten through third grade. She is planning to enroll in university to get a certificate to teach English. Last week, she came to the house and we were chatting in English/Spanish because she wants to practice her English conversational skills. So now I have two English students, Louis Enrique and Ivon. So many people here want to learn English, it seems. I think I will just have to limit my time because it’s crazy how tired I get from speaking English for more than two hours). So hopefully I will get to help Ivon in her English classes because that would be fun too! I am also looking forward to starting some after school clubs once I settle into Fe y Alegria more- such as an English conversational one for the older students, a healthy cooking class or Creative Writing!