One week in

Gabe and I have been very busy this past week as we have gotten acclimated to Peruvian life. Getting to know a city of almost eight million people can be a very tricky process but we feel a lot more comfortable than when we first arrived. We live with a family in Barrios Altos, a district in Lima. We wake up each morning around seven, drink some coffee and eat some bread, and take an hour bus ride to San Juan de Lurigancho, where we work. This district is the poorest district in Lima. After the bus ride we walk for 20 minutes through part of the district to our school where we stay until two pm.

This past week in the school has been dedicated to getting to know the kids and identifying the most pertinent needs of the school. The children have so much engergy and we have found it challenging to keep their minds on learing. Part of the problem stems from the school being extremely small and unable to support the 24 kids ages 3 to 5 that attend daily. There really is no place around the school where they can play and so the classroom becomes both a playground, cafeteria, and place to learn; the lines between the three blurr together. Also, the parents of the students usually work outside the home and return from work at about 9 at night. Thus the kids spend most of the day with little direction or discipline from their parents.

We have met twice with our contact in Lima and starting tomorrow will begin implementing the most pertinent projects needed by the school. Stay posted, we hope to blog again within a day or two.