I got back to the UK last month and boy is it good to be home! I learned a lot from my time in Peru, much of which I am still processing. I apologise that things have been a bit quiet of late, especially regarding what I was actually doing, and I will try and fill things in retrospectively.
The main problem is that my volunteering experience in Peru was a *very* challenging time and if I'm being honest, wasn't really all I had hoped for or expected. Still, I think that it is important to write about these experiences as this blog is to give other people a flavour of overseas volunteering and unfortunately these aren't always positive experiences.
Now that I'm back in the UK I don't have to worry about burning any bridges with CIESCU and so will be going into more specific details soon. However, I still have one or two things outstanding with 2wayDevelopment, the organisation that set up my placement, and would like to resolve these issues before writing about them.
More to follow soon....
Monday 7 June 2010
Tuesday 13 April 2010
Back In Arequipa
I'm now into my last month in Arequipa and have booked my return flight for the 7th of May. I'm really looking forward to getting home but I have a bit of work to sort out before then. The main thing left to do is to finish translating the website. I've now completed the principal pages and am just filling in some of the background. Hopefully I can finish this week or next and have everything up and running in English for when I leave. The website can be found, as always, at www.CIESCU.org.
Bolivian Travels
Natalia left at the start of February and Laia stayed on until the end of the Summer School towards the end of the month. Laia was planning on doing some traveling after she finished and I decided that after 6 months it would be a good oppertunity for me to get to know some more of the area.
I don't mean this to be a travel blog (although I might set one up to run parrellel) so I won't go into all the details here. I will however put up a few pictures that I took during the three-four week I had traveling.
Puno Marina on Lake Titicaca
The floating village of Uros
La Paz
The Vally of the Moon
I don't mean this to be a travel blog (although I might set one up to run parrellel) so I won't go into all the details here. I will however put up a few pictures that I took during the three-four week I had traveling.
Puno Marina on Lake Titicaca
The floating village of Uros
La Paz
The Vally of the Moon
Monday 1 February 2010
Vacaciones Utiles
The main reason Natalya and Liaia have come out now is because January and February are the school holidays and so allows volunteers more of a chance to get to know the kids and their parents. As I mentioned in a previous blog I had been thinking of giving the kids some English classes, perhaps on the weekend with the help of my friend at the English school. I was a little surprised then to turn up at the kitchen one day and find a full rota of English classes for the next week stuck on the outside of the building!
Not that I’m particularly averse to teaching English (although it wasn’t the reason I came here) it was a little surprising to see that I was supposedly teaching the next day and didn’t have anything prepared. I’ve never taught young kids before and hardly had any idea where to start. Fortunately I was able to call in a few favours.
When I started teaching at the school in the centre I thought that it might give me somewhere to get help and resources from if I ever was called in to teaching at La Mansion. My friend Samantha who had offered to help previously unfortunately was unable to help me teach classes in the week but had a few materials such as books and flash cards that I have been able to use.
Also, although I didn’t have any personal experience of teaching English to primary aged kids I had some friends who had. When I taught in Japan several of my friends taught kids of a similar age and so I sent out a facebook spam asking for ideas and several people wrote back sending links and ideas which I’ve somehow managed to fashion crudely into the semblance of a class.
The lessons have been going well. The kids love the games (or at least the sweets i had out if they win) and seem to be increasing their vocabulary. Some of the kids are really bright but unfortunately many (especially the boys) find it difficult to focus. Still, the games bring attention and enjoyment to the kids, something that sadly they often lack, and so I am glad that I can have some positive impact here. Even if I didn’t come here to teach...
Natalya & Laia
For most of the time I have been out here I’ve been the only volunteer. We had a group from Germany come out for about a week in October and there were a couple of Spanish girls who I met briefly before that, but for the majority of my time here I’ve been the only one staying in the volunteer accommodation above the families house. From the start of February however I had some company.
Natalya arrived in the first week of January and Laia (whose name I’ve almost certainly misspelt) arrive a week or so after that. Both are from Spain, Natalya is a 30-something chef from Valencia and Liaia has just finished her psychology degree in Barcelona. Neither speaks much in the way of English which means my Spanish has certainly had a work out this last month!
It’s been a little strange sharing my room with two other people (especially as they are girls) after having the run of the place for the last four months but it’s been nice to have some company. Part of my role here supposedly was to help volunteers get settled into the city and so I’ve been showing them some of the different places in Arequipa and feeling like a bit of a tour guide.
Another good thing about having other people here is I’ve had an opportunity to get to know some of the bars a bit better and see some of the night life in the city. Not really things you can do quite so easily when you’re by yourself.
Christmas In Arequipa
One of the hardest things about doing voluntary work overseas for a prolonged period of time is that you inevitably miss a fair amount of events like birthdays, weddings and Christmas’s. This wasn’t my first Christmas away from home but it was the first year when I spent the whole period in a warm country. It’s a very strange feeling to know that back home the nights are drawing in, everyone is getting ready for Christmas and snow, yes snow, is actually falling *before* Christmas.
While everyone in the UK was enjoying (or enduring) the heaviest downfall in the last twenty years I was forced to console myself sipping cold beer on an outside roof terrace in a short sleeved t-shirt applying sun cream every few hours. Ah the things I suffer!
Christmas lights were hung around the city and on many of the houses although in the house where I was staying there were no signs of Christmas. I wasn’t sure if the family celebrated Christmas or didn’t have enough disposable income to take it too seriously. Nevertheless it left me with a bit of a conundrum as to whether I should buy presents or not.
If I didn’t buy them anything but they bought me something it could be embarrassing, however it could be equally uncomfortable if I bought them something when they had not got anything for me. I was not expecting anything, and given their income it was unlikely but I felt I should at least get them something just incase.
In the end I opted to get gifts that the whole family (including myself) could share. I bought some Christmas cookies, a bottle of wine, and a type of cake called ´Panaton´ that is very popular at Christmas in Peru. I wrapped all these up and placed them on the kitchen take late on Christmas Eve.
In the morning I was glad to see I’d made the right choice. The family hadn’t gotten me anything (and I would not have expected them too) but the gifts I had chosen hit the right level. Also the fact that I was able to share them too was a plus!
While everyone in the UK was enjoying (or enduring) the heaviest downfall in the last twenty years I was forced to console myself sipping cold beer on an outside roof terrace in a short sleeved t-shirt applying sun cream every few hours. Ah the things I suffer!
Christmas lights were hung around the city and on many of the houses although in the house where I was staying there were no signs of Christmas. I wasn’t sure if the family celebrated Christmas or didn’t have enough disposable income to take it too seriously. Nevertheless it left me with a bit of a conundrum as to whether I should buy presents or not.
If I didn’t buy them anything but they bought me something it could be embarrassing, however it could be equally uncomfortable if I bought them something when they had not got anything for me. I was not expecting anything, and given their income it was unlikely but I felt I should at least get them something just incase.
In the end I opted to get gifts that the whole family (including myself) could share. I bought some Christmas cookies, a bottle of wine, and a type of cake called ´Panaton´ that is very popular at Christmas in Peru. I wrapped all these up and placed them on the kitchen take late on Christmas Eve.
In the morning I was glad to see I’d made the right choice. The family hadn’t gotten me anything (and I would not have expected them too) but the gifts I had chosen hit the right level. Also the fact that I was able to share them too was a plus!
Saturday 2 January 2010
Teaching the Queens
In my previous entry I mentioned how I'd some how managed to get talked into teaching English classes. This actually worked out quite well for me as it added a bit of structure to my day (even if it did mean i had to get up at 6am!)
For 18 days throughout December I caught the morning bus to work. I didn't realises that busses could be any more cramped but somehow they managed it! The only small blessing was that as I lived so far out I was normally able to get a seat. However given the crammed convi is I often had to move towards the door a good minute before I wanted to get off as to negotiate a path through the jigsaw of bodies swelling in the vehicles central aisle.
After teaching two classes I finished at 11 and so had time to go into the centre and get some food. This was a really blessing as I've been struggling with food in Peru so being able to choose what I feel like was really great. I would also have a coffee or maybe an ice cream (as it's pretty hot here all year around) and plan my classes for the next day before catching a bus to the office.
Given the lack of structure to my position things can get a bit tedious and sitting in the office for 7 hours would not have been much fun. However as I was only there for 4 hours or so I felt I could be allot more focused on translating the website which was my main job.
You can see the progress at www.ciescu.org. Most of the principle pages are now available in English. I managed to get them to clear the structure up a little but but I still find it's a maze to find what you're looking for. I've been trying to get through a page a day though which I feel is pretty good going given the amount of information that's been crammed on the page. I did try and get things simplified but i think Jose has alot of information he wants to get across.
The other positive thing about teaching is it's given me some links which could be useful for the work. Many of the kids in the Mansion have been asking me to teach them English and to be honest I don't really know where to start! I figured if I taught in the school I'd get some more experience and access to materials which I could use.
I have also mentioned to Samantha (the Sarah Palin look-a-like) about the project and CIESCU and she's interested in helping me set up an English class at the weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to get it up and running and get other foreign visitors who are teaching at the school to help out on the project. The only thing holding it back is that nothing is that easy in Peru!
I asked Jose when a good time to start would be and he suggested the second week of January which didn't give me a lot of time to plan. I contacted Samantha who said that she wanted to visit the area and start to plan. I tried to find out if it was possible to visit in the next day or when would be a good time but it seems the project is struggling and stopped for Christmas/new year/indefinite future or something. so i'm caught between a rock and a hard place. I'm trying to get more involved and set something up which would help the project and the organisation but there isn't actually anything concrete to work around! Ah Peru!
For 18 days throughout December I caught the morning bus to work. I didn't realises that busses could be any more cramped but somehow they managed it! The only small blessing was that as I lived so far out I was normally able to get a seat. However given the crammed convi is I often had to move towards the door a good minute before I wanted to get off as to negotiate a path through the jigsaw of bodies swelling in the vehicles central aisle.
After teaching two classes I finished at 11 and so had time to go into the centre and get some food. This was a really blessing as I've been struggling with food in Peru so being able to choose what I feel like was really great. I would also have a coffee or maybe an ice cream (as it's pretty hot here all year around) and plan my classes for the next day before catching a bus to the office.
Given the lack of structure to my position things can get a bit tedious and sitting in the office for 7 hours would not have been much fun. However as I was only there for 4 hours or so I felt I could be allot more focused on translating the website which was my main job.
You can see the progress at www.ciescu.org. Most of the principle pages are now available in English. I managed to get them to clear the structure up a little but but I still find it's a maze to find what you're looking for. I've been trying to get through a page a day though which I feel is pretty good going given the amount of information that's been crammed on the page. I did try and get things simplified but i think Jose has alot of information he wants to get across.
The other positive thing about teaching is it's given me some links which could be useful for the work. Many of the kids in the Mansion have been asking me to teach them English and to be honest I don't really know where to start! I figured if I taught in the school I'd get some more experience and access to materials which I could use.
I have also mentioned to Samantha (the Sarah Palin look-a-like) about the project and CIESCU and she's interested in helping me set up an English class at the weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to get it up and running and get other foreign visitors who are teaching at the school to help out on the project. The only thing holding it back is that nothing is that easy in Peru!
I asked Jose when a good time to start would be and he suggested the second week of January which didn't give me a lot of time to plan. I contacted Samantha who said that she wanted to visit the area and start to plan. I tried to find out if it was possible to visit in the next day or when would be a good time but it seems the project is struggling and stopped for Christmas/new year/indefinite future or something. so i'm caught between a rock and a hard place. I'm trying to get more involved and set something up which would help the project and the organisation but there isn't actually anything concrete to work around! Ah Peru!
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