Matthew
Hey,
Today we went to the school where we're working on the service project. We are helping out a kindergarten class by giving them supplies such as bookshelves, chairs, and tables. We are also painting their classroom. When the kids went outside for recess they asked us to come outside and play with them. As soon as we got outside they started to dog-pile on Andrew for about 10 minutes straight. Once they got off of Andrew all 6 of the boys took about three kids each and they all climbed on us and we had chicken wars. Right after recess we went back into the classroom with the kids where the kids' teacher had set out these foam blocks that we had given them with the alphabet and animals on them. When the kids saw all of the blocks they were so excited. They kept on asking the teacher what all of the letters and the animals were and it was just really nice to see them that excited.
Stay Classy SMA
Grace
Hey, St. Mary's/family,
Today we visited the clinic called Anyi Wasi. It is a non-profit organization that helps educate people in lots of communities outside of the town of Ollantaytambo about health. All of the communities are still within the district of Ollantaytambo, but they can be far away and some are very isolated. Anyi Wasi is an organization that believes in educating people about health to prevent illness. They travel to 15 out of 32 communities in Ollantaytambo and their goal is to expand to all of the communities. Their staff is mostly volunteer based, and they train people from each community to know about first aid so they can help the people. They want the people to be able to get help without having to travel a long distance to a clinic to see a doctor. Typically, the volunteers/employees at Anyi Wasi visit the communities once a month. They have to ride in the back of a fruit truck for part of the journey, but the rest of the way, they have to hike. They visit each home in the community when they visit and check in on the people to see how they're doing. They use posters with pictures on them to show the people the correct way to do things. Many communities speak only Quechua (the language formerly spoken by the Incas). They have to have translators to tell them what the people say or ask.
I think this organization is doing lots of great things for these communities and I hope they continue to do so.
Grace Cox :)
McKenna
Hey guys,
Today was the 6th day of our journey in Peru. There are so many special experiences I wish I could share with all of you, but right now I thought I would share one of my favorites. Today, especially, was incredible. Earlier this morning we began our third day volunteering at the town school. This in general is such a humbling experience. While we were hard at work, we were pulled aside by the kindergarten teacher and were asked to join the class in a marching contest in the Agua Vida (Long Live the Water) parade in the town square. In that moment, I had no idea I would have so much fun. We began by gathering up all the kiddos in a line, holding hands and smiling big. Even though I am not a fluent Spanish speaker, I understood every word those kids said. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard. We began walking in the town square. It was such a beautiful day, not too hot, just perfect for a parade. I looked around and I saw kids dressed as raindrops, lakes, rivers, all kinds of different forms of water. The whole time I was wondering why America doesn't have a day that celebrates water. It was so eye-opening to see how practically the whole town showed up. I am so thankful I had the chance to experience such a special day that is celebrated in such an amazing culture. I can't wait for more experiences like this to come.
I'll keep ya'll updated. Love you guys,
McKenna
PS. The kindergarten class won the contest!
Anna Sophia
Hey! Today was a lot of fun. We did a lot of activities but I am going to talk about our activity called "Global Priorities." We separated into 3 groups and got some pieces of paper that said things like "Reduce biodiversity loss," or "Improve access to medical care for mothers before, during, and after they are pregnant," etc. We then had to organize the papers in order from which was most important to least important (of course they're all super important, so it was hard). As a group we had to work together, but then people started to disagree. We all had different ideas about which ones were the most important, but finally we came to an agreement. All the groups gathered and presented their lists. There was a whole lot of debating in that activity and we all tried to explain why we thought each item was the most important. I think Mr. Blair was proud of our debating skills. Bye! Miss you!
Anna Sophia
Cristina
Hey! These past few days we have been working at the local school. At the school there have been different jobs and one of the jobs is painting. In my opinion, painting is the most fun job because when the kids are out for recess they like to help us paint the blocks and just have conversations with us. The other fun thing about painting is that when the students do come and paint with us they get really excited to hear that the different shaped blocks and the toys are for them to play with. My favorite thing about painting is that when the kids get really excited we feel really happy as well, because we know that all of our hard work has paid off.
Cristina