School Term Begins

The school term has eventually begun here in Peru. It was suppose to begn last week but nothing ever runs on time out here. Myself and another volunteer, Robert from Manchester, are teaching in two schools.

One school is called Indoamericano where we have approximately 90 SKIP kids and the other school is called Lizarzaburu where we have only 20 Kids approximately.

Our schedule is fairly demanding. Our first class is at 7.30am until 9.00am in Lizarzaburu. We are teaching English by ourselves to the 6th grade of Primary school. Our next class is from 10.30am to 12.30pm in Indoamericano. We then support the English teachers who teach 1st grade of Secondary school in both schools. These schedules have not been finalised yet but will last until around 6.30pm.

Last week was pretty sporadic. We had arranged a lot of meetings with the schools in order to organise schedules but meetings in Peru rarely happen and even rarer on time. This is very frustrating. Anyway at the moment, we have a fairly rigid schedule and I know what I will be doing for the remainderof my time.

I was suppose to return to Ireland on April the 8th but I have changed my ticket to June the 10th. I felt 3 months was not long enough here. I would have prefered to stay until July but my ticket didnt allow me. I will stay for a total of 5 months.

Of the money I raised before coming out here, I have given SKIP £1329 so far. I have given £610 through the CAF account available on the SKIP website. This has the extra huge advantage of claiming 28% extra known as Gift Aid. The rest I have handed over as cash in Soles (S.4100 = £719) for schools uniforms, shoes and materials such as books and pens.

Lat weekend I went to a traditional Peruvian event known as a Poyada. It is a fundraising event where friends and neighbours attend and buy chicken and beer. The proceeds then go to the cause whatever it may be. This particular one was where a Peruvian girl needed money raised for her child for some reason. Didnt find out exactly.

Bit of bad news also. Got my digital camera stolen about a weel ago. I had some real good photos on it. I will just have to borrow Roberts camera. I should be able to claim the camera back on my insurance.

Here is photo of our director Bee signing the new contact with the Lizarzaburu school:

Here is my first day teaching in Lizarzaburu:

Well that is all for now. As always, any potential volunteers want any information or have any queries, let me know and I will be glad to help. My e-mail is m1572202@qub.ac.uk

Adios

Joseph