First Cita

Yesterday morning we had our first cita, meeting, with the families that live in the community where we work. The meeting was suppose to start at 7 am but as it sometimes goes in Latin America we were slow to start and began the meeting at 9am. Most of the mothers were there for the meeting and two of the fathers. It was very cool to see a group of mothers sitting around discussing the advancement of education in a society that is often dominated by men. The meeting began with Gabriel and myself introducing ourselves and explaining why we have come to Peru. We talked about how we have been blessed with education and how we want to help others receive this same blessing. After the introductions were done we got down to business and talked about the projects for this summer.

The meeting made it clear that what is needed and wanted is a new school building for the children. This week we will be going to various contractors to gather information about costs and hope to begin the construction in July. The community would also like to combine the construction of a new bathroom with the new school. There is limited space but a few members of the community presented ideas and, along with our team, are going to research these ideas and an estimated cost. We also explained our idea for a small library for the current school that will be able to expand in the new planned school. We are going to start with 3 to 4 books for each age group in the school that will be available to the children to loan from the school for one night. The idea is that if the kids have books available they will be excited about learning and also draw their families into the excitement. The future library will be available to the community as a whole. We are in the process of planning a trip to a local park and museum so the kids can see more of the city they live in and experience what their country has to offer.

Today in class Gabe and I put on a small puppet show with pop sickle animal sticks to help the kids learn English. The skit was in Spanish with only the names of the animals in English, my favorite character was Señora Pig. The kids were very attentive during the skit and Gabe and I are planning a continuation.

We are pretty tired and are looking forward to the weekend when we won´t have to get up as early. I am trying to figure out how to get my pictures up so you can see where we are living. Have a great night and check back soon.