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Published: March 10th 2007
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Cuenca, Schools, Orphanages and Beyond!
Well, we arrived in Cuenca at about 4.30-ish, and first impressions were, well, impressive. If I had to describe Cuenca in one word, I’d take the one from all the guide-books, colonial, which is why I guess they use it. The centre of Cuenca is made up of cobbled streets and one-way systems, incredibly confusing if you’re driving around, but really easy if you’re walking around as nearly the entire city is in a block format. The hardest part is remembering which roads run horizontally, and which run vertically! When you’re saying where you live in Ecuador, you don’t just say a number and a street name, due to the block system, you just give the two street names, which makes it a lot easier to find something as you will always know what block it is in.
Anyhow, I was promptly met by the people who I’d be staying with for the next few months, and after a short stop at the supermarket, was taken home. Home was quite far out of Cuenca, about 20-ish minutes by car, and was in the country side, which was fantastic. But was very
close to the orphanage and school where I would be working Monday-Fridays with Friday afternoons free. Much to my delight, the family had three dogs, two German Shepperds, who were guard dogs, and one poodle. Lovely dogs all three of them.
Miguel Diaz, now… where to start. On the next day, Charo (the GAP representative in Cuenca) came to collect me, and we drove around looking for at our different placements. First of all we went to Miguel Diaz, we drove up this steep hill, not really even a road, more like a dirt-track, surrounded by trees and dotted with the odd house. We soon came upon the school, all the kids standing in lines just finishing assembly. We waited for a few moments, and afterwards, all the kids came rushing up to meet us. All desperate to shake our hand, and yelling, some in English, and some in Spanish ‘Good-morning Senores!’ And things like this. The amount of times I was asked if I knew ‘Kate’ (The volunteer who worked there previously) was uncountable. But although Miguel Diaz was obviously a poor school, all of the kids had the biggest, most welcoming grins on their faces, and
they all looked so happy and, well it was impossible to describe. The other volunteers, Matt, Jack, Lou, Sophie and Sophie, all looked very jealous! I taught English on Monday’s and Wednesday’s, and the rest of the week, I was working with the equivalent of year one’s, just being a class-room assistant. Teaching wise, the year 4’s were by far my favourites, they were just so enthusiastic, and tried so hard. They absolutely loved to sing, and were always so active, and willing. I think their favourite song had to be ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ they always asked me for to sing that at the end of their lesson. Another game they loved, was when I was teaching random adjectives/directions, for instance, I would yell ‘big’ and they would all jump onto the desk and make themselves as big as possible. Or ‘quiet’ and they’d go as silent as mice, with the quietest getting a sticker. I found it a useful way of calming them down when they were getting too rowdy! I think one of the most awesome moments, was when I was revising the family with them, and had them write out Family trees, two of the
kids added me in as their ‘sister’ so touching! The classes were an average of probably about 25, and I taught by myself, all apart from the 4-5 year olds, who the teacher stayed with me to help keep control, and also, I suspect, to learn a bit of English as well!
The Ecuadorian school system is completely different from ours. It starts early, at 7.30, and finishes around 12.30-ish. Every morning they have an assembly, which on Mondays, they start of by singing the Ecuadorian National Anthem. The Deputy-Head, will then lead them in a set of exercises, jumping on the spot and stretching, that sort of thing. Then any notices are given out, and on a Monday, a group from each class come out and give a small presentation, whether it’s a poem, or what. My first morning, I was introduced to the Headmaster, dressed a lot more casually than any Headmaster you’d see in England, and then, without any warning, I was asked to come up and speak a bit about myself and England! I managed to do so, without making too much of a fool of myself, much to my relief, and was promptly
taken to my first class. The kids were absolutely wonderful, they were all wanting, and eager to learn, and although could be high-spirited at times, I definitely got on really well with all of them!
The orphanage, run by Nuns and situated in a windmill, was equally fantastic. It is split into two halves, ‘kunas’ (cots) for those under 2, and three ‘casas’ (houses) for those aged 2-6. When they’re 6 years old, they move onto another orphanage. I work in casas, and have to say I love it. The kids are absolutely amazing, exhausting, but amazing. There were about 30-ish when I first arrived, but some have since been adopted, which is really really awesome, but at the same time really sad. The kids all have such individual personalities, from Rosa (Rosita), who was like a Mum to everyone, and I mean that literally, if another kid was crying, she would go and ask them what was wrong, and was really good at sharing (she has since been adopted) to Alex, who ‘can be a right stinker’ but is also one of the most loving kids I know, who is absolutely addicted to watching Barney. The kids
watch TV every day, both morning and afternoon, although I’ve been aiming for future GAP volunteers to start not exactly classes, but just simple things like colours, as most of them don’t know their colours and things like that. Since I’ve arrived here, I’ve seen more episodes of Barney than I care to count. I think I can now sing-a-long, in Spanish, with every single Barney song! Highly amusing just sitting there, watching the kids, who will always start dancing, or jumping about, when a favourite song comes on. The orphanage itself has a little park as a sort of garden, with swings, a slide, a round-about, two see-saws and flying boats, which the kids get to play out in when the weather is good. The whole orphanage is in a roughly square shape, and although the ‘casas’ are somewhat like cages, they all seem happy enough, although its absolutely heart-breaking when the kids call you ‘mami’.
My first weekend in Cuenca was relatively quiet, as we all decided to stay with our families and get to know them a bit better, as well as Cuenca itself. My second, we decided to travel up to see the Inca
ruins at Ingapirca. This, needless to say, was absolutely amazing. We arrived late at night on Friday, after about a two hour trip, through some absolutely beautiful scenery, including a lovely town called Canar. We immediately found a hostel, and some food! Before settling down and playing cards, squeezing seven people onto one bed due to the cold, which was quite a feat I can tell you! Although it was certainly very cosy and warmed us all up quickly enough! The next morning, we got up reasonably early, and set out to view the ruins. Unfortunately, we managed to pick a day when a school was visiting, so the place, which apparently is normally nice and peaceful, was quite crowded and noisy, but still very enjoyable. There were signs informing you as to what was what, s well as a museum which had some awesome stuff in it. We had a quick look at the artisans stalls, and caught the one o’clock bus back to Cuenca, content with a good weekend.
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