Don't Throw Out Dead Dogs

There's the obvious that makes life in El Porvenir so shockingly different from what i know- the extreme poverty evident in the houses made of crumbling adobe brick, the trash heaps lining the unpaved roads, the little girls walking around in skirts and flipflops in the middle of winter while I wouldn't be able to survive without my NorthFace. But then there's the smaller, less evident things. For example, in one of the classrooms at the public school, the students were studying how to protect the environment. They had written on strips of posters (about 2 or 4 whole posters for the entire class to share, unlike back home where my Spanish teacher could pull out stacks of different colored papers and a carton of markers to draw with) advice such as "don't burn trash," "dont use persticides" etc. While there was nothing about wasting water or turning off the light when you don't use it (not things they have to worry about since most houses don't have those amenities) there were a few strips that read "don't throw dead dogs onto the street." At first I thought I had misread it, but upon consideration, I see how that can be a huge problem. Somedays I see as many dogs as little kids running around unattended. Once, we even had a dog walk right into the classroom that I was teaching in. Those kids ended up getting an extra lesson on animals that day, until I finally had to kick the poor animal out because it was becoming to much of a destraction.

In other SKIP news, Mythri, our amamzing Economic Development gal, brought four mothers to open savings accounts in a local bank- a huge first step. The bank requires 50 soles to open an account, and a minimum blalnce at all times of 10 soles (a little under $4) so we used SKIP money to help them open the accounts and then just took out whatever was not theirs. When Mythri first brought up the idea of savings accounts to the mothers at one of the Saturday charlas, many of them were intrigued by the idea. As one of the mothers explained, its very hard for them to keep moeny in their pockets, even though they have so little. What happens is that one of their kids begs and begs for a sweet so she relents, and then the 4 or 5 other kids she has come begging to, and there goes the sol or two she had saved. However, with the money in the bank, so won't be able to feel guilty and give in. So, we have high hopes that this will be a great new project and really help the mothers of El Porveir.