SOS Children´s Villages visit

I work for SOS in the UK, and just by chance I came across their Ayacucho office in my first week, so I went to introduce myself. In Peru they are called ´Aldeas Infantiles SOS´. They are keen to have volunteers, and although I´m not sure I´ll have time to help much, they arranged a visit for me and Sharon, another volunteer, who funnily enough also works with me at the language school!

SOS has two programmes in Ayacucho, one where they look after orphans, and one where they work with families in poor areas to try to keep the families together to prevent having more orphans.

Last Thursday, we visited some of the areas where SOS works with families, with a very nice coordinator called Rosa. Rosa works in very poor communities to identify families that need support, and then works with them and other charities to set up ´casas hogares´(sort of community centres) for the young children to stay during the day, so that the mothers can go out to work to earn enough money to be able to feed their children. Several of the women I met were single mothers, and without this support they would not be able to go out to work. The community centres usually have a nursery, a place for children to play, and a kitchen. SOS funds the food for lunch every day, and works with the parents to organise them to take turns to work in the kitchen and the nursery; also to build the centre in the first place. I could do with some SOS help at the school!!!

The centres are closing down for two weeks over Christmas so it´s not good timing for me to be able to help. But we´re also hoping to visit where the orphans live sometime soon, so maybe we´ll be able to help there. In the meantime, we´re helping in the office from time to time - last week we spent a few hours splitting up huge bags of sugar into kilo bags, and packing chocolate and milk into Christmas parcels to give to all the parents who´ve been working in the community centres.

For more details re SOS Children´s Villages and Aldeas Infantiles, Peru - see links in right-hand column.

Yanamilla Primary School update 9

It´s surprising what you see at this school! One morning I turned around to find a child asleep on a bag of grain, and a sheep along with a dog wandering around!



Then later that same morning, towards the end of the class, grain was spread all over the tables to cool down and dry out over the weekend. I think it had just been ground and the next step was to separate out the good bits ... not sure, as my Spanish wasn´t up to the explanation!

The classroom is sometimes also used as a classroom, but I must admit very little teaching goes on. This could be because it´s the last week of term and not particularly typical, and there are signs of work on the walls. But I´m not sure time is always very well spent. School starts at 8, and when I get there at 9-ish, kids are still arriving, wandering round the playground, and class has sort of started. Then at 10 there´s a 30-minute break, when the kids all go out into the playground, if there aren´t wandering around there already. And this week, straight after break there have often been very long teacher meetings, so guess what, yes there´s more break for the kids! You´d think the teachers would meet during break, but not here ...

In the 5-year-old class they´ve been working on colours and numbers up to 20 all year, and some know them quite well and others are lost. They really like art activities though, and this one kept them in the classroom!

The classroom is also used for eating lunch, which means food gets all over the desks, books, floor and there´s usually a fairly big mess to clear up afterwards. They often get something that looks like big brown kidney beans and they have to remove the skins, so they get everywhere. Hopefully they are very nutritious as otherwise it´s a really silly choice of menu!!

I must admit I´ve delayed posting this entry as I´ve been waiting to have some positive things to say. There have been times this week when I lost the will to carry on! Part of the problem is just the way things are here - it´s a bit of a culture shock. And I was hoping to work with Marisol, but she´s too busy and I hardly ever see her so I´m all on my own and it´s not much fun!!

We had a meeting with the parents last Saturday and Marisol did a great job chairing. Only a handful of parents spoke other than the presidente, and several went to sleep - Marisol reckons they´ve got parasites too. We agreed that the priorities for improvement in the school were the kitchen, toilets, rubbish, and to cover the playground with concrete to stop all the dust. I agreed that with our contributions we could help with the kitchen, as the local government is supposed to be dealing with the rest, though true to form nothing is happening. Marisol is on the case, but getting pretty fed up too.

We agreed that if I use our contributions to fund the materials, the parents would organise themselves to do the work. Things started off well with agreement at the meeting that an improved kitchen would be a very good thing. We decided we´d use a spare room on the other side of the school, much nearer to the water source, and big enough to also have a little dining room for the 4- and 5-year-olds who have lunch here. I arranged with the presidente of the teachers´association to meet on Sunday morning to go the various shops to get quotes on the materials we needed.

In Peruvian time-keeping tradition, we finally met up at about 4pm, when most of the ironmongers had closed - it was Sunday afternoon afterall! We did manage to get some prices though, and the presidente assured me by Monday morning he´d have the full quote ready and that he´d meet me at 9 the next morning at the school to start work.

The last few days have been a bit of a nightmare! On Monday the presidente didn´t show up and the quote didn´t materialise, which meant that I couldn´t go and buy the materials. There were a few parents hanging around, and another man had been sent to start work, but he didn´t speak much and when we tried to get him to start preparing things, he said he didn´t want to and didn´t have any time ... I´m still baffled as to why he showed up at all! So I wasted a whole day and left feeling pretty frustrated thinking that if nothing happened the next day, as I´d been assured it would, that I´d pull out and find another project to support. I didn´t come here to do this on my own!

On Tuesday the presidente made an appearance and he explained that the parents were going to raise money by having some kind of food event at the weekend to pay for him and some workmates to do the kitchen. When I asked for the quote he said he was working on it right then and showed me a half-completed scribbled list. He´d also lost the list we´d made on the Sunday! After a few hours of hanging around, I gave up on the quote and managed to persuade him to come with me to buy the materials, as I had a rough idea of what it would cost and knew it was within our budget.

We managed to get most things from one shop and they agreed to deliver the next day - sand, cement, stucco, pipes, taps, sink, etc... and we found a chimney and a stove in another shop. At least the day wasn´t wasted, but no workmen showed up at the school that day, so no actual work on the kitchen itself in two days! And we only have this week, aarghh! You´d think they´d grab this opportunity and get on with it, but I don´t think they have it in them!

Working on the quote ... the one that is yet to materialise

Buying the stove and chimney ...

Wednesday, I dragged myself back to the school, and this was the worst day so far ... I arrived to find no workmen, no presidente, no parents, and what´s more all the children and teachers were leaving the school as they´d been invited to a private school for a chocolatada. They hadn´t told me about it and I wasn´t invited, and had to wait for the men to arrive anyway, also for the materials to be delivered at 9.30. None of the teachers came to ask if they could help, they just left. I sat in the playground on my own for about an hour, looking at the dust and rubbish, wondering what I was doing here when nobody else seemed to care! Very depressing. By about 10.30 two men and the presidente appeared, and by 11 the materials finally arrived. Then a bit of work was started - filling in the holes beneath the roof with stones and mud.

But I must admit I´m feeling a bit better now (Friday) as work has continued Weds-Friday with the same group of men who seem to be doing a good job, as far as I can tell - don´t know much about adobes! And we now have water connected, pipes and sink are in, and an adobe kitchen worksurface is nearly finished. When I left today, they were going to cover the walls with stucco and start on the cement floor. Also some adjustments are needed to where the stove will go, as they hadn´t made a big enough hole for the fire, and we need two stoves for the big pans to heat the water. So we´re not going to finish by end today, but work is also planned for tomorrow, and I´ve been told that parents are going to come next week to clean the playground and rubbish area. So fingers crossed that I´ll have more good news to report when I go back on Monday ...

Arrival of the materials

Filling in the gaps under the roof

Coca leaf and chicha break - they have a lot of these!

Chocolatada at Pokras

A ´chocolatada´ a is the traditional thing to do here in the run up to Christmas. And they´ve started this week. It´s basically when people get together to make a big communal pot of hot chocolate, cooked over an open fire, and then you usually drink it with panetones. I was asked by some of the people who work here in Manthoc (the charity for working kids) if I could contribute towards a chocolatada for the children in Pokras, a poor area above the city. I paid for the chocolate from the contributions, and I was invited to join in.

I was told to go at 8 in the morning which seemed a little early for hot chocolate! But now that I´m getting used to ´hora peruana´I got there about 9 and they were still sorting out where to make the fire. Kids were gathering though, and about a hundred were expected to attend. I only had an hour to spare, and in that time the fire was built and the pot of hot water gradually warmed up, but so slowly that I didn´t get to see the adding of the milk and chocolate or the final result! Never mind, I´m sure there are going to be other opportunities!

9th December, Battle of Ayacucho

This Tuesday was a holiday in Ayacucho, to commemorate the victory at the Battle of Ayacucho in Quinua in 1824, and independence for Peru. As there was no school, I went up to Quinua with Cassandra who´s staying in the same hostal, Wilber who works in the hostal, and a couple of CCS volunteers. Quinua is a 30-minute scary, bumpy bus ride into the mountains above Ayacucho.

Just above the village there´s an obelisk commorating the Battle of Ayacucho. I had visted this place before, but this time it was packed with people, who had all gathered to watch the re-enactment of the battle. We sat around for an hour or so in true Peruvian style, with no idea when anything was actually going to start. And in the middle there were two groups of young lads, half of them dressed as Peruvian soldiers in blue, and the other half as Spaniards in red. They too were sitting around for ages, waiting for something to happen. Every now and again some soldiers on horesback turned up and they all stood up and chanted´Viva Ayacucho!´,´Viva Peru!´...

Eventually there were some speeches and ceremorial stuff at the obelisk and then the Peruvian soldiers surrounded the Spaniards and marched them off and that was it! We were all hoping for a bit more of a battle!

There were lots of stalls set up for lunch and the locals were happily tucking into chicharrones(fried pork), mondongo (tripe stew), and cuy (guinea-pig) amongst other things that I couldn´t identify. It all smelt very nice, but I´m looking after my stomach and decided to skip the experience and play safe!

Yanamilla Primary School update 8

It´s nice, finally, to be able to write another update from Ayacucho. I´ve visited the school a few times now, and I´ll be helping with the five-year-old class every morning for the next few weeks until the end of term, when summer holidays start. As well as giving the teacher a welcome hand with about 25 wild kiddies, it´s also a good way to just spend time at the school, to get a feel for what it´s like there day in day out ...

It´s been so great to see the completed and painted wall with my own eyes! Even though I´d seen lots of photos of progress after I left - the mural, the tiles on the top, the main gate, etc. - it was still so good to see the kids playing in the playground, with the playground equipment in place, little gardens outside the classrooms. It´s a more wholesome place and it actually looks a bit more like a school now, with an entrance and an enclosed, safe space for the kids to play.

There are a few more improvements too - there´s electricity in some of the classrooms, and more of the classrooms have chairs and tables. And I think there are more proper windows too; only a few seemed to be taped up with plastic or blocked in with adobe bricks. And both the cupboards that we donated two years ago are still there and very much in use!

The US marines came earlier this year (not entirely sure why) and they built two more classrooms. They also added two new latrines. The older latrines are in a sorry state, and although I haven´t yet ventured too close, it looks like they are all blocked up and could do with a clean up. But it´s better than before as at least all the latrines have doors now and there´s somewhere for the kids to pee, other than right in the middle of the playground, though that habit hasn´t gone away entirely!

But there´s so much more that could be done. There´s still just one water source, a tap now on a wooden platform so more practical than when in the mud. But it´s a long way from the kitchen on the other side of the school. There´s still no proper sink, as the materials we bought for the sink got stolen before it was built. If we do any more work while I´m here, we´ll have to find a way of getting the materials used and fixed to something before anyone gets tempted to take them home!

The kitchen seems to be an obvious place to improve, and we have a meeting planned for this Saturday (second time date has been changed!) to discuss how we can improve the school with the parents - I only want to help where they think help is needed, and with their involvement. But at the moment the kitchen, which is used to provide the state-funded hot drink for all the children at break time and lunch or all the five-year-olds, is just a dark, smoky room, with a fire on a muddy floor.


Inside the kitchen

The kitchen is the room at the end of the classroom block - pots outside as too dark to see inside

Outside the kitchen - sheep on left and dog in rubbish behind!

The whole school could also do with a big clean up - most classrooms now have rubbish bins which is an improvement on two years ago, but all the rubbish goes into the corner of the playground where there was once a pit, but it´s brimming over, and unfortunatley it´s right next to the kitchen - great! Kids still drop rubbish in the playground and I seem to be the only one who bothers to tell them not to! And there are loads of dogs wandering around the playground because the school gate is left open during school hours. And of course the dogs love all the rubbish that the kids drop - who can blame them?!I´ve been chasing the dogs away with exaggerated expressions of horror, hoping that somebody might realise that it´s not nice to have them in the school. I think the kids just think I´m a bit mad, especially as my other obsession is with the rubbish bins.

Lunch being served from the floor outsdie, dogs looking on ...

There is a very general problem with sanitation in this area and it´s not just in the school - there´s rubbish everywhere, animals roaming about eating the rubbish. Not enough of the children wash their hands properly before they eat. CCS has been working with another NGO specialising in public health and they´ve been giving the children medical examinations. The results are just in and 78% of the children in the school have parasites. They can get free medication from the local clinic, and at the meeting on Saturday Marisol will tell the parents all about it and encourage them to take their children to the clinic and talk about how to prevent it happening again. But with all the rubbish lying around and dogs everywhere, the problem isn´t going to go away unless there´s a huge change of lifestyle. Marisol wants to work with the local government to get them to come and take the rubbish away and although the mayor has agreed to help, we are yet to see any action ... it´s a bit of an uphill struggle!!

The rubbish in the street about 5 mins´walk from the school - don´t fancy eating lamb or beef here!

My new home

This is where I´m staying: Quniq Wasi - Quechua for ´warm house´ - a hostal run by a charity for working kids. There´s a kind of youth club in the basement where the kids can come and do their homework, with people there to supervise, and there also various workshops - drama, dance, etc. It gives them somewhere safe to come to during the day when I guess their parents are out working all hours, and the kids work some of the time too. And upstairs there´s the hostal, run by one adult manager, and the kids help out with cleaning, reception, making breakfast, etc. It´s very sweet and friendly!




I have a nice little room called ´Cesar´, with my own bathroom and hot water (since day 3) - luxury! And I have a great view from my window on the 3rd floor, but the views from the roof on the 4th floor are even better!





The hostal is right in the centre of town - you just go through a little passageway and then down the hill to the market and the shopping centre, main square etc. And all the buses run past, so it´s proving very easy, even if a bit hot, dusty and bumpy, to get around!

Getting started

Whilst working out how to breathe up here, I´m also still working out how to organise my time between the various projects. Setting things up myself is, as I expected, a wee bit of a challenge! But I was ready for it, and for plans to go Peruvian pear-shaped from time time, and I was right! I´ve got time this afternoon to write this, because today didn´t work out as I´d hoped!

Having slept my way through Monday, with just a quick trip out to get soles and buy coca tea to stop my head spinning, I was all set to get going on Tuesday. Especially as a plan to visit the school with Marisol on Monday had fallen through. But then the Tuesday attempt fell through too, as Marisol had to get a sick volunteer to a doctor. I could have just gone myself, but the prospect of finding the right bus, recognizing the right bit of wasteland, re-introducing myself in Spanish to teachers who may not recognise me was all too scary a prospect on day 2, and I decided best plan was to wait for when Marisol was going there anyway.

I then tried calling Gil at Los Gorriones, the home for special needs kids, and he was out so I left a messy Spanish message. I could have just turned up, but again, the propsect of a bus ride out into unknown wasteland wasn´t tempting!

So I cut my losses and went for a pleasant stroll around the town in the lovely sunshine, and had a safe lunch in one of the nice squares. Everything is pretty much as I remember, and there´s certainly been no big surge of tourism. There are a few snazzy new buildings in the centre, banks mainly, but the rest is comfortingly familiar. The outskirts I´m afraid are also very familiar. So the rich part is a bit richer and the poor parts just as poor as ever ...

One good thing that came out of other things not working out was that on my walk just by chance I found the SOS Children´s Village office. Feeling brave, I walked in and introduced myself, and the Directora was free and happy to speak to me. She coped with my Spanish and she´s very keen for me to help while I´m here - not sure what I´ll be doing, but she`s going to show me where they are working and tell me more next Tuesday.

In the afternoon I finally got to meet up with Marisol at CCS - and it was just like old times, and so lovely to see her! She was very keen to tell me about all the latest problems at the school, and about all the work she´s been doing there, and how she´s been waiting for me to come back so that we can tackle things together! We then arranged to go to the school together on the Wednesday.

Last stop was a trip to an ELT school called Los Cachorros, as thanks to Marisol, I´d agreed just before I left the UK to help there because they´ve just lost a teacher and probably won´t find a proper replacement until January. Am not quite sure how I feel about teaching adults, but the school gives all its profits to a street kids shelter, so how could I refuse? I´m only observing this week so nothing too scary.

Wednesday, things finally started happening! I got to the school in the morning, up to Los Gorriones in the afternoon, then to the school to observe another class, and then back to the centre for a drink with someone I´d met at Los Gorriones - an American weaver in Ayacucho for a few days, researching textiles and thinking about coming back as a volunteer to give art classes to children. And after one small beer I was certainly ready for my bed!

This morning I decided to take it a bit easier and this afternoon the plan was to go back to the school with Marisol for a parents´ meeting that we´d found out about yesterday. It was going to be a good opportunity to talk to them about the state of the school and to discuss what we might be able to do to help further, and Marisol had some results of medical tests on the children to discuss with them. But after a very bumpy and hot 30-minute bus ride, we got to the school to find that all the parents had left and just a few stragglers were still there. They told us the meeting hadn´t happened as the Presidente of the parents´ association had gone to Lima. Given that he´d set up the meeting, it was all a bit odd, but I remember this kind of thing happening before, and Marisol says it happens all the time. So all a bit frustrating as it´ll now take a while to set up another meeting and we can´t really set it up ourselves, so have to wait for missing Presidente to reappear ...

Tomorrow I´m going back to the school to help with a class of tiny kiddies, and then to Los Gorriones in the afternoon, so more on each of those soon! Photos too, once I get my act together.

The blog is back!

Yes, it´s back! And I´m finally back in Ayacucho, hurrah! After a straightforward but long 30-hour journey and no sleep for two nights, one of them spent in Lima airport, I finally made it here at 6 on Monday morning. And what a way to arrive. Last time I came by plane, and it was pretty small as I recall, but this time there were only 16 passengers and it was full! We had to climb up a ladder to get into the plane, and any hand luggage only fitted on our laps, and even for me it was a tight squeeze. Ear plugs were supplied - and used - and we chugged over the Andes for an hour and then swooped down into Ayacucho, landing on the little piece of concrete and grass that they call a runway.

I was about to approach the taxis, when a familiar face from CCS - Emerson, one of the drivers, plus Cassandra an ex-CCS volunteer who´s staying at the same hostal as me - came up to greet me. I was very touched that they had bothered to come and meet me, especially at 6 in the morning! And then Marisol from CCS also came to meet me, but just missed me and then phoned the hostal to check I was here and OK. I was very touched by the warm welcome - it´s one of the things that I loved about this place.

I´m now acclimatizing, but it´s a slow process and I´m still struggling a bit with the altitude and heat - though am not complaining about the bright blue skies and sunshine! The hostal I´m staying in is basic and a little quirky, but clean, comfortable and friendly. It´s run by a charity for working kids, and some of the kids work in the hostal - cleaning rooms, serving breakfast, etc. Breakfast doesn´t always happen quite as you expect, but I´m acclimatising to that too! I´m right in the centre of the city, next to the market so have fresh food on my doorstop, though as the kitchen here is very basic I´m not sure if I´ll manage much actual cooking. And I have a great view of the city and mountains from my room. The buses I need all seem to run almost past the door, so that´ll make things nice and easy to get around. Thanks to Marisol for setting this up for me!

I´ve caught up with Marisol a few times now, and I´ve also visited the school and the home, and have made contact with a few other places - more about all that in another entry! Bye for now.

Yanamilla Primary School update 7

I can't believe it's now been a year since an update! I'm afraid I still haven't made it back to Ayacucho, but I'm working on that ... and in the meantime this information comes from Marisol.

So what's news? Well the school - and the wall - are still standing! And there's no sign of a new school, and still no sign of any help from the local government or the mayor. I must say that after struggling for a year or so to get any response or help, I'm not at all surprised. Luckily CCS is still supporting the school by sending volunteers.

There is yet another new Principal - the previous one didn't last long! This time a woman called Diodora Gaby de la Cruz Pérez; that's all I know about her ...

And earlier this year we spent the rest of the money collected on tiles for the top of the wall and for cement and other materials to build a sink and latrines. The good news is that the wall is now complete - covered in lovely murals, with tiles on top, and with a much nicer gate. The bad news is that the equipment we'd bought for the sinks and latrines was stolen - the work was started but then it just stopped once this happened. It's very hard to do anything about it from this distance, and until the school is being managed properly, I don't want to send any more funds for replacement materials as I fear things may get stolen again - a sad situation!

Other good news is that the playground equipment has finally been installed and there are also some gardens in the playground. The classrooms are also being kept quite clean on the whole, and the cupboards we donated are still in use. All in all, it's a much more wholesome place than it was a couple of years ago!

And apparently the US Marines are now in town and they are going to build more classrooms and a health clinic; they have already built some latrines! Watch this space ...

To finish, here's a selection of photos of the school in 2008. And I hope that my next update will from me when back in Ayacucho!

The classrooms











Outside, with the new classroom block finished



The playground equipment is finally here





Even signs of a garden!



Keeping rubbish under control



The marine latrines



The new gate

Yanamilla Primary School update 6

I was keen to do regular updates on the school, but progress has been slow, and it's hard to keep in touch with details from such a distance. And the 6 weeks of public-sector strikes in June and July didn't help matters. But there IS some progress to report, so here's a summary of what's been happening since March. Thanks to Marisol, as always, who has sent me the information and photos, and has been coordinating the CCS volunteers’ work and liaising with the school.

New Principal!
Yes, there is a new Principal this year, which is good news. He is called Augusto Gómez Meneses and he has been working very hard to improve the school. There have already been some teachers' meetings, and things seem a bit more organised, though there is a long way to go ... His goal is to create a better infrastructure and for the school to grow so it can serve more children. He’ll be working at the school until December and after that, nobody knows what’s going to happen ...

New desks and chairs, teachers and parents, and the new Principal (middle)

Unfortunately, there is also a rumour that the former Principal wants to come back, but I don't quite understand how he can if there is a new one appointed!

New school ... or maybe not?
Early this year we found out that the new Principal had managed to get a proposal approved for funding (by INFES - instituto nacional de infraestructura educativo y de salud) to build a new school on the site. Details as to exactly what and when have been hard to come by, but this is obviously fantastic news for the future!

There was talk of things starting this August, but now we’ve found out that there are problems. The former Principal has the land title deeds, required for building permission as these prove the community owns the land, and he won’t give them to the new Principal, so the project is at a standstill. Ridiculous! The school is now trying to get a copy of the document from solicitors, but no more news as yet. I have a feeling this could take some time as paperwork is involved, and this is Peru! So maybe this is just a dream for the future, and in the meantime, there are lots of things that can be done to improve the current situation ...

Building progress
The walls are now complete and we have murals on some!

And 3 new classrooms have been completed, which has also helped to enclose things.


CCS volunteers fitting roof and window to a new classroom

One of the new classrooms (left)

And we have a gate!

Grand entrance gate

Now all that remains is to build a proper top for the walls, to protect them from rain. This is now a concern, as the rainy season is looming.

Apparently some of the old classrooms have also been painted and some have concrete floors, and a kitchen is being built, but there’s no roof as yet. And the school and teachers now pay a woman 100 soles/month to keep an eye on and clean the school, so things are more secure and wholesome!

New garden area outside one of the old classrooms

Since the earthquake some of the classrooms have developed cracks, but nothing too major, and Marisol tells me that the current priorities are to improve the latrines (they are blocked and are not used), build a proper sink, and to cover the top of the wall.

Playground equipment
The playground equipment that another charity was going to donate once the wall was complete still hasn’t materialised! Marisol thinks there was some kind of argument between the charity and the Principal, and she is going to try to find out more and urge the charity to donate the equipment. So this is still work in progress!!

Stolen furniture
Several chairs and desks were stolen earlier this year, and great news is that Marisol's sister managed to provide some replacement furniture, donated by the private school where she works. And another volunteer called Stacey White also donated some more desks.


Desks and chairs donated by Stacey White

Furniture contributions
Our 2nd lockable cupboard was donated to the 2 kindergarten teachers as a lot of their materials were being stolen. Apparently they are very happy!

Books
Last year CCS volunteers collected a number of second-hand books from private schools and while I was there last autumn I helped to sort them all out by level/age appropriacy. They have now been donated to relevant classes. A central library wasn't created in the end, but with lockable cupboards in some classrooms, there’s now at least somewhere safe in the school to store materials.

Help from mayor/regional government ... or lack of!
I'm sorry to report that there is absolutely no progress here, which is very frustrating! There has been no response from the regional government to our report submitted in January. And I was told in March that CCS was going to set up a meeting with the mayor after Semana Santa as everyone was too busy until then. This was important to establish how the mayor could help the school - he was very positive about it all last December and again when we met in January, but there has been no progress or anything concrete since. Marisol has tried to contact him, but with no luck. She says she’s going to try again, but I don't think we're ever going to get any help from the authorities. The school seems to get forgotten and alienated as it's out in a very poor, marginalised area of the city ... very sad.

Help from CCS volunteers
Great news is that other CCS volunteers have been helping the school this year ...

In April, Ronald and Ryan Rubbico plus some other volunteers, worked at the school for 2 weeks and they helped to finish one of the new classrooms, by providing funding for a roof and windows and fitting them.

Ron and Ryan Rubbico with some appreciative children

In July, more volunteers, Elizabeth Smith and Julia Schuchard, paid for stucco and put it on the wall and then painted a mural on one side of the wall. We also used 50 soles of our contributions to help pay for paint and brushes. The plan was then to get the children to paint the other side of the wall, but the strikes put a stop to that. A few children helped the volunteers, but apparently it got a little messy as the paint was such a novelty!!

In August, more volunteers helped the parents to dig holes to build new latrines and a sink. Then the argument with the former Principal blew up and at one point the school thought they were also going to lose the new Principal and so the parents got distracted by all of that. The new Principal is now staying and Marisol is hoping to make more progress with the latrines and sink soon. Next stage is to buy cement and other materials required.

Digging holes for new latrines

Contributions and plan of action
I've found it very hard to agree on a plan of action and implement it from a distance! I’ve asked what the school's priorities are - what the teachers and parents can do, what, if anything, the mayor and regional government can help with - so we can then decide what to spend the rest of our contributions on. We don’t want to just buy materials or make decisions on our own – it’s very important to involve the school, the teachers, parents, and children in making decisions on how to improve their school and for them to be involved in the work. But this is taking some time! I’m really hoping that our contributions and CCS’s work will eventually make things happen.

Marisol has had meetings with the new Principal and teachers and they have decided that the priority for the school is to improve the latrines, and build a sink.

We have plenty of contributions left to spend. Ex-volunteer Shelley King collected some money for the women in the prison and says we can use some for the school if we need it. And another ex-volunteer Gillian Keegan has sent money for a 3rd lockable cupboard. Without any further contributions from Shelley, and minus the 50 soles already spent on paint and brushes, we have about 800 soles and $140 left to spend – nearly £200 – that’s worth quite a lot in Peru!

So the current plan is to buy 4 bags of cement for the new sink (100 soles), plus any other materials needed to complete the latrines and sink (Marisol to find out what this will cost). Then we'll see what we have left to help with other things - here are a few ideas I've had and Marisol will discuss these with the teachers and parents and we'll get back to you with more soon, hopefully!

* Tiles for the top of the wall?
* A roof for the kitchen?
* Other materials for new or old classrooms?
* Another lockable cupboard for primary, using Gillian's contribution?

* A sign for the school or paint to paint one?
* More stucco for walls?
* Concrete to make a playground area for the equipment?

Thank you!

See below for an official thank you from the new Principal for the 2nd cupboard that we donated - nice to see that we are appreciated! (Click on the image if you want to read the text.)