another building at PPA
Play put on by prekindergarteners
"house" dog, a hairless Peruvian
Dorms
kitchen
pantry
Monday, November 10, 2008
The Global Volunteer project in Peru is at PPA (Periculturo Perez Aranibar.) We took a tour of the fourteen acre campus, part one yesterday and part 2 today. We visited the kitchen, storeroom, toddler laundry, regular laundry and the hospilito. Children are grouped according to age. After age four girls and boys are housed and play separately. They do go to school together. The dormitories are large, clean rooms with rows of beds with colorful bedspreads. We visited the primary school, for children in grades one to six. Children in grades 7-12 go to a local public school. The kinder (ages 3, 4, and 5) gave a delightful presentation of the fable “The Hare and the Tortoise.”
We walked to lunch to Qubba, the restaurant we will eat at every school day. The Queen’s salad was half an avocado with a mixture of cooked peas and carrots. The entrée was a chicken dish with a cream sauce and mushrooms, and of course, rice. The dessert was a very yummy brownie with vanilla ice cream.
The walk back through the upscale residential area was so pleasant. The weather here is about 69 degrees during the day and dips to about 62 at night. It’s humid but not oppressive.
When we got back to PPA we read the journals of people who had done the jobs we had chosen. I’ll be working the “hospilito” (infirmary) in the mornings from 8:30 to noon and with kinder crafts projects in the afternoons, 2:30-4:30. Our team leader Edith showed me the way to the craft room. It’s on the second floor of an orange building on the boys’ side of the campus. I was introduced to Maria Flores, the teacher. The students weren’t due for a while, so I set about preparing materials for another class. They are making angels out of pop bottles and plastic balls. The pop bottles were cut, then papered so they will hold the student’s personal items. My first job was to cut holes in plastic balls, like the ones in McDonald’s playgrounds. I then fitted these on top of the pop bottles. I cut large circles of paper, then cut into the circles so the paper could be glued around the balls and thus fastened on to the bottles. Maria gave me very viscous sticky white glue. I was an absolute failure at gluing. The first one I tried ripped in several places. I felt bad about wasting resources, but there was no way to salvage the paper. The second one was off center and not done correctly. Edith came in to check on me and tried to rescue the project. Luckily the six three year old students came in and interrupted the work. The students were practicing skills they will need to make Christmas cards for their parents. They penciled around plastic triangles and circles, colored them, and cut them out. This is quite a feat for three year olds! Many of them were able to do it and were able to name the colors. I was impressed! I worked with Jessica, Heidi, and Ester. Jessica stopped working for about ten minutes and couldn’t be encouraged to continue. On her own she went back to her work. I hope they enjoyed my company as much as I enjoyed theirs.
When I returned to the Global Volunteers office I found Lulu, formerly known as one of the Lauras, looking like she had been whipped by an alligator. She and Laura were supposed to do one on one therapy with toddlers, but the physical therapist was not available. They spent two hours in the toddlers’ playroom being manhandled, hugged, bitten, and generally loved. Both Lulu and Laura looked absolutely exhausted.
We took a cab back to the hotel and met at 6:30 for dinner. We walked along the shore line and went to a restaurant called ---. We sat on the patio and listened to the waves. I ordered a Pisco Sour, but it was way too strong. I couldn’t drink it even after they watered it down. The first course was vegetables al dente: mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, artichoke hearts, and green beans. The entrée was kabobs of chicken and beef. It is amazing how well our team gets along and enjoys each other’s company. We’ve decide not to take any tours out of the city during the weekend. We want to go downtown to the pedestrian street, check out some museums, and see the musical fountains.
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