Second week at school

Two classes down, many more to go. Today was my last day with class 1 "B" with profesora Alejandra. Manana I will start a whole new adventure in a different class. But, I do have to admit, it is fun meeting different students and encountering different learning styles. Education is so different in Peru. Like many things in this country, I sometimes find the classes to be chaotic and overwhelming; three students tapping your arm and calling out "Senorita, senorita" "Miss, miss" to show you their work, ask you a zillion questions, while a quarter of the class is running around, falling over the floor and escaping out the open door. Bienvenidos a Peru, as people always tell me, with a grin.

The professors, students, parents and staff at Fe y Alegria seem like such a warm community; not a day goes by without students glancing at me, whispering, give me a bright smile, and ask about me- where I'm from, my name, when I'm going to come teach their class. A lot of them know about me already, me being the only "China" there. Haha. Some even know my name. Each day, a new parent greets me and asks me when I will start teaching English. EVERYONE here seems to want to learn English! I feel really welcomed, and lucky.
My first day in class 1"B," one of the boys asked me, "But what planet do you come from?" "How did you get to Peru? [ie: What kind of ship or something]" Jaja. Many of the students only know about Asians from what they see on television; which in Peru seems to generally be Korean soap operas and movies with kung foo and fighting. Yet, "Chinita" is never said in a malicious way; rather out of pure curiousity and affection.

In fact, many of the faces here seem to have characteristics of East Asian in them, many of them may very well have some Asian ethnicity in their blood. The people who speak Quechua and Aymara have very distinctive looks, very different. I've heard the Quechua language has a beautiful flow to it, but have yet to hear it.

Below is a picture outside of the bathroom. It's so funny; the kids are so fascinated with
the liquid soap. They are always like, "It's agua, because it's liquid! Green liquid." When they find out it's soap, they yelp in surprise and say how good it smells, doling out more squirts on their hands. What a funny novelty!
Hygiene is one of the biggest lessons throughout the day, always reminding them to use toilet paper and wash their hands very well. And it's also funny how they are always told that school should only be used to "mixionar" not to go #2 because, though the bathrooms are clean because el senor is always cleaning them, because many students use them, it is more sanitary to use them for that other cosa at home. There is definitely no PC terms with this subject either. But I agree; hygiene is such an important thing to teach because it stops the spread of so many germs. And there are so many diseases and sicknesses here.

I never knew things like tuberculosis (TBC) and AIDS were so rampant here. At the moment, we have a young woman, Shayla, living here, who had severely contagious TBC a month back. Thank goodness it is getting better, with the loving care of Sister Magda and the many pills she takes every day. Because TBC is such a big problem, they have a program that gives out free pills for TBC. I am so glad that Shayla is getting better. She seems like a sweet girl, and when she sings to the music on the radio, her childlike voice carries. Shayla's singing voice gets louder after she finishes her food, an indication that she's still hungry and would like more food. Haha. As small as she is, she has an incredible appetite! Day by day, you can tell she is improving. Like Magda and many say, "Dios es grande."

Many of the people who get TBC are the ones whose immune systems are so weak, the ones who are living on the streets and people who are already sick. I heard that the cobradors (workers on the buses and micros who collect the fares) make the majority of TBC cases; they work long days, are always on their feet, don't eat properly and encounter thousands of people every week.

It's so sad how so many things here are so preventable. Many of the things the kids at Dr. Tony's hogar had could have been easily preventable if their mothers had a proper diet and weren't lacking certain nutrients when they were pregnant. One woman, Isabel, who has three little kids and a husband that is very sick, comes to the house once in awhile for help. Sister Magda recently gave her some donated food because her kids are malnourished. There are so many babies, and people at that, who are malnourished. It's incredible how many injustices I have seen in the past month and a half that I have been here. Everyday, my heart goes out to all the dogs that look starved, with wounds and scraggly fur. Yet, when I think about it even more, there are so many people here that go without food!