January 8 - Down to Fourteen

Julianna and I take the combi to Milagro alone today - a bit intimidating the first time. And, of course we miss our stop, so the driver circles back for the extra gringo dropoff. (Imagine asking a bus driver to do that in Philly?!!) Lourdes has the children seated by the time we arrive and today we are combining consonents and vowels. Most of the children are catching on - with a few exceptions. With three teachers in the classroom, special attention is given to the little ones who need it. I wonder aloud why Brian and a few others aren´t in class, and I´m told that the children often work in the landfill nearby, sifting through the trash for discarded items that their parents can sell on the street. Brian and his other missing classmates may be working.

On the ride back to the Center, two women get on the combi. One is dressed in a cotton robe and gingerly steps up into the vehicle. The other woman holds a newborn , probably delivered just hours earlier and on his way home from the clinic. Welcome to the world!

This evening, I have six students in my English class, and they work very hard to understand our extremely difficult and exception-filled language. A meeting with a local priest follows. He wants to discuss a cooperative program with the Bruce Organization to provide English lessons to the students in his two parochial schools. A recently-passed law in Peru requires that those going on to the university be certified in English.

Note: A week´s worth of clean clothes from the laundry - washed, dried, and folded - is $4.50; a stamp for one postcard is $2. Labor, but not postage, is cheap in Peru.