The volunteer work begins. I meet Lourdes, the teacher I am assigned to work with for the month, and we hail a "combi", a nine passenger van retrofitted to seat twenty very uncomfortable passengers. We take the half hour combi ride to Milagro, the poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Trujillo where our elementary school, St. Martin de Porres, is located. When we arrive, we walk along the unpaved road lined with small, one story concrete houses, many with woven mats for roofs. The director has not yet arrived, the gate is locked, and Lourdes and I search for a bit of shade in which to wait. When the director arrives, we meet with her to discuss the use of a classroom for the Bruce Organization´s program to prepare six and seven year olds to enter the public school system. The schoolyard is a large dirt lot about half the size of a football field, with nothing more than a few cement planters with some sad looking trees thirsting for water. I wonder how many children will be anxious attend. After the meeting (also attended by a Bruce social worker) we bid her hasta luego and take the combi back to central Trujillo.
In the evening, I walk through the Plaza de Armas, where throngs of people gather to celebrate the Feast of the Three Kings. Bands play, dancers in costumes whirl, and the flashing lights and colors on the artificial Christmas trees make for a lively fiesta. What a contrast to the monochromatic Milagro!
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