Day 2...la Escuela

Good Morning! I guess it is my turn to write. I am not nearly as prolific as Kathleen, but here it is...

First, let me describe our first two days here. Wednesday night, Ginet told us we were to have Thursday off to settle in, and she offered to take us on a tour of the hospice. We actually wanted to get started, so at the hospice, Kathleen gave hand and leg massages and I helped to make and serve 'jugos'. Their hospice is a very interesting place. They have 7 residents and 1 nurse who does everything, including washing their sheets and changing their beds, making and serving their meals dispensing their medication, etc.
After a long lunch, we walked into town.

Mass on Thursday evening was quite interesting. I had hoped to totally enjoy the masses and maybe in time, I will. Everything, of course, is in Spanish...all songs, readings and homily. (Last night, Fr. Joe did explain the reading and summarize his homily in English for us.) On Thursday, there must have been 25 baptisms, 2 first communions and another 25-35 confirmations. All of these were adults, which I found very interesting because the population of Peru is nearly 98% Catholic. So, how did all of these adults become adults without being baptized and/or confirmed? The congregation took this mass very seriously, the church was standing room only and the people were all dressed in their finest clothes. We participate by clapping and there is a lot of clapping! We clap to songs and to many celebrations during mass that I don't why we are celebrating.

Yesterday, Friday, Kathleen and I joined a group of 3 young women and went to the school owned by the parish. It is attached to the hospice and when we were at the hospice, we continually heard lots of noise. I couldn't imagine a place of learning being that loud. There are 800-900 (depending who you ask) students ages 3-18 attending. All classrooms open to the outside. They are made of cement...walls, ceilings, and floors. I imagine this helps to cool the rooms, along with 4 huge oscillating fans. There are 35-45 children in each classroom (no kidding). I looked at each roster posted outside the rooms and looked in many open doors. As a group of 5, we went to musica with the special ed group. This is a group of 10-12 severely needy children up to the age of 20 (they can stay in school until age 26). The music room was extremely well equipped...9 full sets of drums, numerous keyboards, guitars, etc. It is a room most music teachers would envy. That being said, however, I did not see any books in any of the 3 classrooms I was in. The walls are bare and there are no shelves to hold any materials. The teachers have a small desk to work on, and the children line the walls with their backpacks. They have wooden desks which are empty and make a lot of noise, especially when they get knocked over. I followed the English teacher to a 6 year old classroom (grade 1) and a 4th grade room. She made her own materials and carried them with her. Each classroom gets 2 hours of English each week. The 4th graders were much more fluent than the 6 year olds so it was nice seeing the progress.
Getting back to the noise issue...I am sure it is a combination of the size of the room with their 4 very loud fans and the number of children in each room, but there was no noise control. The teacher attempted, but the children did not respond. I wanted to jump in with the 'Give me 5' we used at Jackson School! I just do not know how they learn....so much noise, very hot, and no materials. It sure makes me appreciate the Green Bay Public Schools and I realize how good I, and the children of Green Bay had/have it.

Last night's mass was not quite as well attended, but considering it was a Friday night at 7:00, I was very impressed!! As I said previously, Fr. Joe talked to the volunteers in English, which was appreciated. Still lots of singing and clapping.

We have met some very nice and interesting people who are making this trip even more memorable.

I wanted to give you some of my impressions, but seeing as this is so long already, I will save those for another day! Thanks for following us!

Sent from my iPad