Huancaro
After a great meal in the Witches Garden listening to CDs with Noel, I leave feeling very happy, whistling and contemplating my next move. On the Plaza I bump into Linda again and sign up for a week´s volunteering - it´s amazing what a couple of glasses of wine do for you.
On Tuesday I turn up at Hostal Familiar, home to Linda and Bruce Peru Cusco, then off I head to Huncaro with Katie, who has been here one week. I wish I could explain what i expected to find, but I really had no idea. The reality was however a little unpleasant. Huncaro is situated on a dirty river about 5 mins ride from the centre of Cusco. It´s very poor but not dangerous (I think). The school is the community centre, and is dirty, dark and cold. The kids are dirty, dark, but very happy and very curious about the appearance of a shaven'headed boke.
Within a couple of hours it´s quite clear that the kids have a very short attention span, and getting them to concentrate for 2 hours is really hard. After studying we give them a sandwich, a glass of juice and the then they clean their teetch and wash their faces. Once clean we them cover their cold-hardened skin in baby moisturiser before they head off. This is pretty much the pattern every day.
Angel & Alonso are particularly dirty but loveable Brothers who I decide to byc clothes for. I buy a couple of sweatshirts and fleece hoodies and give them to them on my supposed last day. They look like different kids. The organisation is a bit short of volunteers and this week we hvae 2 doctors giving free check-ups making it even more hectic so i sign-up for another week. Flu keeps me in bed on the Tuesday, but after that i make it to school albeit very snotty. I´ve had words about how boring the school day is and this week we make banners & flags for independence day. The kids are far better behaved when they are not doing spanish or maths all of the time. On the Thursday I take a trip to find Juan and see the state of some of the houses. Real poverty. We also recruit 2 more kids for school on Monday - let´s see if they turn up.
I upload my snaps in an attempt to raise some money. I get about 200 quid, which is great so i buy clothes, CD player, socks & books and still have over 50 quid left.
Kids: Luis, Junior, Vilma, Nancy, Roxana, Maria, Juan, Angel, Alonso, Alex, Yoni, Eliana.
On Tuesday I turn up at Hostal Familiar, home to Linda and Bruce Peru Cusco, then off I head to Huncaro with Katie, who has been here one week. I wish I could explain what i expected to find, but I really had no idea. The reality was however a little unpleasant. Huncaro is situated on a dirty river about 5 mins ride from the centre of Cusco. It´s very poor but not dangerous (I think). The school is the community centre, and is dirty, dark and cold. The kids are dirty, dark, but very happy and very curious about the appearance of a shaven'headed boke.
Within a couple of hours it´s quite clear that the kids have a very short attention span, and getting them to concentrate for 2 hours is really hard. After studying we give them a sandwich, a glass of juice and the then they clean their teetch and wash their faces. Once clean we them cover their cold-hardened skin in baby moisturiser before they head off. This is pretty much the pattern every day.
Angel & Alonso are particularly dirty but loveable Brothers who I decide to byc clothes for. I buy a couple of sweatshirts and fleece hoodies and give them to them on my supposed last day. They look like different kids. The organisation is a bit short of volunteers and this week we hvae 2 doctors giving free check-ups making it even more hectic so i sign-up for another week. Flu keeps me in bed on the Tuesday, but after that i make it to school albeit very snotty. I´ve had words about how boring the school day is and this week we make banners & flags for independence day. The kids are far better behaved when they are not doing spanish or maths all of the time. On the Thursday I take a trip to find Juan and see the state of some of the houses. Real poverty. We also recruit 2 more kids for school on Monday - let´s see if they turn up.
I upload my snaps in an attempt to raise some money. I get about 200 quid, which is great so i buy clothes, CD player, socks & books and still have over 50 quid left.
Kids: Luis, Junior, Vilma, Nancy, Roxana, Maria, Juan, Angel, Alonso, Alex, Yoni, Eliana.
posted by Wingnut at 11:18 am
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