With just under a month left in our trip to Peru we are excited to see the construction of a new school near completion. As of now, we have fully constructed two walls and part of a third, moved the current school to make room for the new one, and leveled off the ground which was a pretty huge task considering that we only had 2 wheelborrows and a handful of buckets to carry a hefty portion of dirt. We plan to finish the new school and organize the classroom in the next two weeks while the students are on a break to celebrate Peru´s independence.

The past few weeks we have also had the chance to celebrate this holiday with the students through various activities in the district of San Juan. We played a big futbol (soccer) game with students and mothers from other schools. Gabe and I played goal keeper and we did such a great job that after regular time we had a tie at 0 and were forced to go into a kick off. Gabe´s team won off a questionable call but we still had a fun day. We also celebrated with two parades; the first was a candle-lit walk through our community. Because it was late at night Gabe and I both ended with sleeping children in our arms. We know we are a part of this community because the parents don´t even offer anymore to take the children when they fall asleep :) For the second parade we traveled a half hour by bus and all of the children had on costumes. Comstumes ranged from soldiers to farmers.

As said before, the next few weeks will be dedicated to organizing the new school through the purchase of bookcases, tables and other things that will make learning a less daunting task for the children of San Juan de Lurigancho.

Thanks again for all of your help here in Lima.

Singing the ¨Days of the Week Song¨

The walls of the new school starting to take form.
Gabe ¨working¨ on the new school

The current school

Some Photos

Part of the group that helped carry 2000 bircks up to the site of the new school.

Some food at a celebration for Day of the Workers. They had food from all 3 regions of Peru, the Coast, Selva and Sierra.

Mothers and students at the Day of the Workers celebration

Some of our kids.

Gabe helping the kids learn the word dance in English.

One of the students helping carry bricks up to the school.
I was impressed to see this mother show up to help prep the land for construction while carrying her baby on her back.
The Train heading to a different school to celebrate the Day of the Worker.
The coast of Peru.
These colorful houses make up part of the community in which we are working. They are built on the side of a mountain which does not offer much space. Most houses only have one or two rooms.

it has begun

We have officially begun construction of the new school. Yesterday we bought the materials needed to start construction and this morning we carried concrete and fierras (metal rods) up before school so that work could begin. Also, we are beginning to take the students by fives to a dentist in Lima city. We were supposed to go on Saturday but the dentist rescheduled at the last minute... frustrating but we are getting free dental care so we can´t be too upset. The kids are excited to go which is very comical for Isaac and I. The students have never been to the dentist before and do not know quite yet that, although beneficial, the dentist can be a very painful process :).

Early Sunday morning at 5am Isaac, our contact Julissa and myself headed to Huapachima (another district of Peru) to pick up four thousand bricks. We actually only had to accompany the trucks and tell them where to go. Since the community we are working in does not have signs or addresses we needed to take a three hour trip to lead the trucks haha. The bricks were the only materials that were bought outside of the community. We did this because Julissa knew the owners of the company and we got a good deal on the bricks. Anyway, Sunday turned into a great day. We arrived at around 9am with the bricks but the trucks would not take the bricks up the hill because of steepness. We paid them additional twenty soles per thousand bricks to go higher and they took the deal. The trucks made it up the hill alright but one tipped at the top and an axl broke!!! Tensions rose between the truck drivers and the community and Isaac and I were freaking out. But in the end the axl was fixed at no cost to us or the community. The fun part of the day began with hauling the bricks up the rest of the way to the school. I knew I could carry about three thousand up myself but I feared for Isaacs much weaker frame haha (broma=joke). Actually, about sixty or more community members showed up and helped carry up the bricks. It was awesome!! Old women were carrying bricks with hand bags, little five year olds were carrying up bricks one at a time, men were putting them on their backs, pretty much every trick possible was used to carry a bunch of bricks up this mountain. The moms made breakfast for Isaac and myself and a special tea made from coco leaves that gives you energy. It was really hard work but so much fun.

Well, that´s where we stand. All of the financial help from the states and the hard work and desire from the community is making for some pretty awesome things down here. Isaac and myself are unbelievably blessed to have this opportunity. We are taking lots and lots of pictures and we are trying to get them online now but are having difficulty with the computers. Thus, stand by for visuals.

Peace and love from Peru

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the late update, but it has been very busy down here in Lima as we are working towards the construction of a new school. As said before, things often move slower in Latin America, and finally last night we had a chance to meet with a majority of the fathers and mothers in the community along with a contractor to discuss the final preparations before starting construction. We have had a few different meetings with the community where we have talked for hours about who will do the work, when the work will be done, how much we are willing to pay, and how long it will take to finish once we start. It has been a little frustrating for Gabe and me because we want to make sure everyone is comfortable with what is being done in their community but we also understand that we only have a month and a half left in Peru and know that we are the driving force behind this project. But last night we answered many of these questions and have decided that the new school will be built out of brick. It will be bigger than the current school with the potential to add on another classroom in the future. We have also decided to build a permanent bathroom to replace the current outhouse. We will be paying a few workers to build the school with the fathers helping out when they have the time, mostly on weekends. It was very cool to finally see men from the community doing their share to help their children.

We spent the entire day in the community and were invited to eat lunch with a family. Some of the other mothers heard that we were eating with one of the families and decided to bring part of their own food for us to share (maybe a little competition?), and by the end of lunch we had eaten a mountain of very delicious Peruvian food. All in all it was a really great day. Gabe and I are feeling very welcomed in this community and we are becoming more attached to its people.

We have also managed to find some moments to do sight seeing here in Peru, and last week, we took a two day trip to a desert oasis where we sandboarded the dunes that towered around the city where we were staying. For me the highlight of this trip was meeting a group of foreign volunteers who are teaching in a very similar situation than the one in which we are working. We shared ideas, a hostel, and a buggie ride with this group where we flew over sand dunes in a jacked up go-cart. It was a great time to relax but it felt good to get back to our home in Lima.