necesito dinero !

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hello,

we are back in my favourite city Arequipa and it looks like we are set to stay for a while.

our beloved stefan left us a couple of days ago and so me and pete left cusco for arequipa with the intention of traveling onto chile. however being so tired we decided to stop a day or 2 in arequipa and meet up with our friend dennis who we met last time. we went to the supermarket the next morning and tried to draw out some money ... there was none, we have not been spending excessifly but we have done a lot of stuff, museums every day, nice coaches etc all add up it seems!

anywho so having sorted out dinero issues thanks to ma and pa we decided to stay in arequipa for the rest of our trip and try and do some good ... so begins

James & Pete´s Moral Cruisade

we were put in contact with an NGO called traveller not tourist, they have links with a new school, after school english centre and orphanage. we went in yesterday just to see what it was all about, 3 hours later we were in a slum 45 mins out of the city centre teaching 40 kids !
its crazy, there is a ´school´which is really just a 8ft by 10ft shed with some tables and lil stools, and a blackboard. its located in whats known here as a new town, its a slum with was built about 5 yrs ago, people arrange themselves and litterally over night invade a huge plot of land, the goverment does nothing about it and after 5 years the people can petition the goverment for water and electricty rights. the new town of Chacani where we are working is at this stage, they have water 2 hrs a day at one tap per block and the pylons for electricty but none supplied yet, there is one basic road leading through the settlement but thats pretty much it.
its really bleak, its not a nice place to live by any standards and to think that people came from the countryside and chose to live there makes you really think about how bad it must be back home. the town is dominated by huge hills of rock and gravel, this is where most of the local men and boys from 14/15 work, they get paid 2 soles per truck they fill up with rocks and gravel for the building industry thats about 40p , its really grim. one boy in our class is called Oscar he is 15 years old and cannot read or write in spanish yet is so keen to try and learn English. he has some learning difficultys and epilepsy which he was bullied for so badly at school that he left and now works at the quarry, its really heartbreaking to here some of the kids stories, its not just poverty in terms of money that the town suffers from. with poverty brings abuse, violence, lots of broken homes and alcoholic parents. i was really shocked to hear that Oscar had recently suffered a bad fit in class and when his mother found out she casually mentioned that she didnt give him his tablets that day.

it would be really easy to judge the parents and say they were neglectfull which to many they would seem, however everyday is a struggle living in chacani so little things that we noticed are probaly so insignificant compared to feeding yourself or finding work that they go unoticed.

anyway all the sadness of reality aside, what an amazing chance we have been given. we are working at the afterschool english centre and so for 3pm to 5pm we are in class trying our best to teach some basic english to these kids, they range from 3 to 15 yrs old so its hard work, then afterwards we go to the local football ground and play games for 1 hr, it doesnt sound like a lot but they run on rocket fuel ! they are so smilee and happy and always interested in what you say. how much english they learn is debatable but its enuf to spark and intrest in later life, the hope is they will be able to build upon what they learn and maybe one day be able to use their knowledge to their benifit.
even if they learn very little from us its 3 hrs a day, 5 days a week that they are offered unconditional attention and a safe environment to play and have fun and potentially learn lol away from the very harsh reality of home life.

we are currently working with 3 others, a guy from belgium called fabian and maggie and jozette from the states, everyone is really friendly and we had so much fun on our first day that we can´t wait to start again today.

hope everyone is well

love mother teresa x

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