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...

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!

23rd November

The last few weeks have been pretty quiet here so I really don't have much of an excuse for not having written here other than there simply wasn't much to write about.

We had two or three very busy weeks coinciding with the group from Germany coming out here, the trip to Orcomampa and Alca and the start of the project in La Mansion. At that time I felt I wasn't getting a moment to myself so it has been strange these last couple of weeks where nothing has really been asked of me.

The Comedor (kitchen) in La Mansion seems to be running along successfully. I went most of the first week and a few times the second week but of late I've been a bit pre-occupied with trying to get the website in order and the two hour round trip has also been a factor.

For those reading this post as a one off, La Mansion is a pueblo joven, a shanty town on the edge of Areuipa where malnutrition and parasites affect many, in fact post, of the residents especially the children. CIESCU's project is designed to combat these issues by providing nutritional meals for primary aged children. A secondary aim is to aid the capacity building of the community, mostly the mothers, who learn how to prepare these meals under the supervision of two trained nutritionists. Also it is hoped that improved nutrition will have a beneficial effect on the school work of the students.


It's great to finally see a project get going and to get a tangible understanding of what CIESCU actually *does*. When I signed up to come out here I had been under the impression that there were several projects already under way here but as of yet I have not seen them.

On the website there seems to be some projects planned and awaiting finance but these seem to range from restoring colonial era churches to setting up mobile dentists and optromocists however I'm still confused as how this is meant to be accomplished. Jose has explained that my role here is to raise funds for the projects and get volunteers to come out to take part, but without being clear on what the projects are, or even if they currently exist this is proving difficult. At least now that my Spanish is improving I should be able to broach some of these subjects. I also need to find out more about how much money the organisation has and where this goes as any potential funders will want to know this before they send out any money.

I should at this juncture highlight that it is not my intention to complain or gripe about my situation here. My role, however ill defined, is allowing me to learn and explore avenues that would not otherwise be open to me. If all I get out of this year is the experience of living in Peru for a year and improved Spanish this will be enough. I raise these points and problems to illustrate some of the challenges faced in working in Development, especially when you are working with a Southern organisation where stricture and accountability are sometimes not given the same attention as they are in Northern countries.

La Mansion: More about the Project

Just had a chat in the kitchen with Jerenie and Davis about some of the specifics for the project in La Mansion. I couldn't understand why a project was not taking place in the school since it so obviously benefited the students. Sadly it turns out to be corruption...allegedly. (Probably won't get sued for anything written here but best to be careful eh?)

The Project was run successfully for about 12 months however the school's director grew to dislike the project as he wasn't receiving a cut. Apparently he turned the staff against it until it was wound down in December of last year. The new project will have more freedom as it will be on a venue outside of the school. However I'm not sure how long the venue will be available for as I was with Jose the day he went around the pueblo looking for a potential venue and he told the owner it would only be used until December. Whether we can extend this date, or find another venue will have to be seen.

I also found more specifics out about the cost and the funding. The estimated cost for the food is about s/3, roughly 70p per child per day. I'm not sure how much the venue costs or how long the funds will last. I need to find these details out and also how to make the project more sustainable and then try and use this information to raise funds. There's a lot to do, but at least little by little, I'm increasing my understanding.

Malnutrition Vs Education Project

This is the name of the project that will be starting up in the pueblo joven of La Mansion in the next few weeks. The general idea is to provide well balanced, nutritional meals for children in the area who are suffering from malnourishment and other ailments. Food will be prepared by parental volunteers with the help of two nutritionists, Daisy and Pamela.

I'm still a little unclear on the status of the project, it seems that a lot of work had been done previously in investigating the extent of the problem and I have translated reports relating to the level of chronic malnutrition and number of parasites present in the primary aged population. I think previously the project had been running in the school but the arrival of a new director changed that. Apparently the Director and some of the parents and teachers had problems with the project and, if I understand correctly, didn’t feel that it was the school concern to provide meals for the students. I sense I'm not getting the whole story here but it's a little difficult to get specifics given the level of my Spanish ability.

Yesterday we had a meeting with interested parents and teachers in a venue that we've found to provide the meals. Around about 30 parents, all women bar two men and with small children in tow attended. I was able to follow most of the agenda given that I'd already translated some documents on the topic, and it seemed to get a good response. (The report can be found here http://www.ciescu.org/ProjectMalnutritionPovertyVsEducation.htm, although you will need to click the "available in English tab to read it) The whole thing was very organised and involved the election of representative from different areas and the selection of a committee including the a president, vice president and treasurer.

It's good that I'm beginning to get a handle on the projects as up to now I was wondering what was going on. I think CIESCU has many plans for projects but not always the funding. The funding for this particular project comes from two German organisations, Claim for Dignity and another one whose name I can't find right now (the web site is still labyrinthine, even for me). I'll have to try and find some other bodies that might be willing to support projects. I know DfID will be worth contacting but if anyone has any idea who else is worth approaching please let me know.

La Mansion

One of the projects that CIESCU is involved in is in a part of Arequipa called 'La Mansion'. La Mansion is a pueblo joven that, if the gateway welcoming people to the district is to be belived, was founded in 1996.

Like many pueblo jovens it looks very much like a building site with half constructed houses and building materials along the side of the road. Many of the people construct additions to their houses as and when they have the money so it is very common to see shafts of metal sticking up out of walls for when the home gets the next level of investment. Only a handful of homes that I saw had a completed second floor.

Many pueblo jovens and rural area's have high levels of malnutrition and paracites and anemia is common. CIESCU's project in La Masion is centred around bringing nutritional meals to school children of primary/elementary age. The idea is to use local grown ingrediants as far as possible and to have volunteers from the children's parents and families help prepare the meals under the guidence of a qualified nutritionist.

The project hasn't quite got off the ground yet however. The director of the school apparently doesn't think it's his responsability to be concerned with the childrens nutrition, only their education and has refused to allow the project to take place on the site of the school.

On Sunday I went with Jose to try and find another place where we could provide school dinners. A few of the houses had garages or large yards and we had a look at but I wasn't convinced they would be large enough to fit 100 studentshave space to cook the food.

We kept asking around and finally ended up knocking on the door of a lady who took us to a newly build house just around the corner. no one had moved in yet and there were no appliences in the kitchen, but the space was large and looked promising.

I'll be returning to La Mansion some time in the next week and hope to have more details then. But so far it's looking promising.