Spanish and volunteering in Cusco
Friday, 26th June 2009
Becky Hutter tells us about her recent trip to Peru, where she did a four-week Spanish language course and four-week volunteer placement.
The school, ´ASVIN´ (Escuela Vida Nueva), was created 3 years ago in a very poor village just outside of Cusco for some of the poorest children and families who can´t afford the national school fees. The school is very basic, with 4 classrooms, and the kids barely have much more than an excersise book and a few pencils.
There are approximately 50 children ranging from 5 to 11 years old, and the primary purpose of the school is to give these children a basic education, which the children would otherwise have no chance of obtaining. Gaining an education means that they are no longer destined to a life in agriculture like their parents. For many of the children one parent has died and the other, as a consequence, has to work extremely hard resulting in the children being badly cared for at home and often mal-nutritioned.
In my month spent at the school, I had the oppoutunity to work with all 4 classes, ranging from assisting and helping the youngest class learn basic shapes (´los triangulos y circulos´) and the alphabet, to teaching the oldest class long multiplication (in Spanish!) and planning and teaching a few English lessons. Some of the lessons proved challenging, especially with a slight language barrier (I had studied spanish at language school 1 month prior to my project), and the kids where sometimes quite badly behaved during classes or break time, but generally the experience was absolutely incredible and I formed such a great bond with so many of the children that it became so hard to say goodbye.
Watching the children at break time, playing skipping or football, it´s just wonderful to see how happy they are, and from the outside it could almost be like any other school. However, to know that when the kids go home they really have nothing, it is just heartbreaking.
Throughout the time I worked there I was lucky enough to see some changes taking place. Due to a donation from another volunteer, we were able to serve breakfast (hot milk and bread) to the children at breaktime – giving them some necessary nutrition and some energy for the following classes. One day we also threw a birthday party for all the children whose birthday had taken place during the past 3 months and began teaching them some basic hygenic skills, for example washing their hands properly and brushing their teeth. The week after I left, the director of the school told me that they were planning on installing a water pump, as at the moment the children have to go down to the river to get the water to wash their hands. The changes and improvements being made to the school are happening all the time, little by little, but all are dependant on volunteer work and donations.
I immediately wanted to write to share my experiences, and if you are looking to do a volunteer project I can´t recommend it enough!
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Tags: volunteering, cusco, language course, language, peru, culture, spanish
Posted by Laura Lippert 2009-06 under Experience Cultures,
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