!Itchy Feet!

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Hola

This week has been quite hectic because we had 2 new people arriving and Mathilde was leaving, so we had to make lots of different school arrangements. I went with Rosa on Monday to do the Pregnant Girls project which was quite successful actually! We went to another health clinic in the area to get another list of pregnant girls, and ended up speaking to the main doctor for about an hour. He was really supportive and enthusiastic about the project and said he wanted to be kept informed of any updates. He also offered some of his staff to come and give talks to the girls about caring for their baby and to have talks with the psychologist as well. It was my last day doing anything with Rosa for Pregnant Girls, and it´s a shame I wont get to see how it turns out, but I can´t stay here forever!

On Tuesday I went to Alto Trujillo as usual, but on Wednesday I went to Milagro with Mathilde so she could show me where the school was, because I had to take the new volunteer there on Thursday. Milagro is really small, there are only 11 students, and most of them are sets of 2 or 3 brothers or sisters. There´s a set of 3 brothers and sisters who go who are from a family of 11. They spend all night working in the dump looking for stuff to sell and then come to school in the morning, and they´re actually the best students. They´re so nice and really hard working, obviously because they have to work they are more responsible than others their age, but the girl is just 7 years old. It´s always raised in the meeting but there really isn´t anything we can do. There´s also a boy who´s 15 and just started coming to our school. He´s never been to school before, so he´s learing now how to read and write and do basic maths, but he´s so enthusiastic and dedicated I´m sure he´ll get to a good enough level.

We went for a quiet drink on Wednesday evening to say goodbye to Mathilde because she was leaving super early on Thursday morning. It´s been really strange without her in the house but she lives in Wimbledon so we´ll definitely see each other at home! Thursday night was my last English lesson which was quite sad, they all said I should be a teacher!! I really hope the ones who wanted to work on cruise ships do get contracts, it´s all they can think about. The pay is amazing for them and it´s a chance to get out of Peru, so almost everyone wants to do it. I´m getting more used to it but it feels so strange to say goodbye to people I know I´ll never see again.

On Thursday afternoon I spent an hour in the post office waiting to collect the parcel mum sent for me, which was worth it in the end because I had lots of pens and pencils to give to the kids which they loved. My last day was really nice actually, we did a bit of work then we coloured in the book mum sent, then we had breakfast and went to play outside with the footballs, so it was really lovely. These kids were able to understand the whole "never going to see you again" concept because they are older than the ones from Summer School so we had a few hugs and said goodbye. I wasn´t as emotional as I thought I´d be saying goodbye to the kids, maybe because I haven´t actually seen them that often. I will always remember them though, and I so hope they go to school next year.

The remaining volunteers and Isela came to lunch at this fish restaurant we always go to when people leave for lunch yesterday which was really nice, however my stomach was not so pleased with the food! So I´m feeling a bit rubbish on my last day, really hope it clears up for tomorrow. Today I will be doing lots of little errands etc, and maybe go to the beach if I have time.

So my last day has arrived! Although I haven´t been completely blown away and overwhelmed by my experience this has definitely been the most exciting and best thing I´ve ever done. I´ve always thought that education was the most important thing for development, and having had first hand experiences of it in a developing country my opinion hasn´t changed. Being here has made me re-think my university plans, so I´ve decided to take another gap year to study a Politics A Level so that I can re-apply to do Politics and Development Studies. No doubt I´ll be travelling some more next year as well!

I can´t wait to get going, and I´m really glad I chose to do 2 months here, not too short and not too long either. So its ciao for now but you´ll hear from Tom and I soon! Next stop Lima, then Huacahina, where we will be sandboarding!!

Lots of love x

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Comments

[Kayleigh]

Where do the itchy feet come in? Keep the blogs coming- I told Tom I want weekly updates!