School’s out for summer! That’s right, summer vacation started here in Peru…actually, it started right before Christmas, and it will last until March. (Very similar to summer vacation in the US, but…the southern hemisphere version.)
Aside: Actually, here in Oxapampa, it’s not super sunny and warm all the time because it’s also rainy season. So the days alternate between sunny and rainy – usually both sun and rain in one day, multiple times a day! But also some stretches of purely rainy days and purely sunny days.
Every summer the municipality here in Oxapampa hosts a program called Vacaciones Útiles (literally “useful vacation”) where the kids can take a class (or sometimes 2 classes) that meets every day of the week for seven weeks. This year, they are offering:
- Soccer (Futbol)
- Futsal
- Basketball (Basquet)
- Volleyball (Voley)
- Kung Fu (Kunfu)
- Swimming (Natación)
- Video Production (Audio y Video)
- Chess (Ajedrez)
- Arts and Crafts (Manualidades)
- Traditional Dances (Danza)
I am crashing the class on video production and editing to teach a program on clean water and hygiene. Yeah, it seems like an odd couple, but I think it will work out well.
What happened is that Peace Corps has developed a program of 10 lessons (called Mano a Mano) on the theme of water and hygiene, but with lessons about self-esteem and values thrown in, with the idea of developing community leaders who can share what they learn with their families and friends. (I’m super impressed with the training and materials we received from Peace Corps Peru!)
With only a few hours a week that I have available, I wanted to tag onto a class that wanted my help, and the one that seemed best was the video production class. Now I know it doesn’t seem like a natural fit at first, but the professor (who is about my age), is a really smart and creative guy, and he immediately came up with the plan that for their final video project, the kids could produce a video related to the themes that I will teach…Which, by the way, in case you’re interested the lessons will be:
- Values (Valores)
- Personal Development and Well-being (Elementos Fundamentales)
- Self Esteem (Autoestima)
- Stress Management (Manejo de Estrés)
- Teamwork (Trabajando en Equipo)
- Hygiene – Routes of Contamination (Rutas de Contaminación)
- Hand-washing (Lavado de Manos)
- Clean Water (Agua Segura)
- Solid waste and recycling (Residuos Sólidos)
- Giving a Speech (Oratoria)
Tomorrow is my first day of 10 classes over the course of 6 weeks…wish me luck!
Good luck, Angelina Ballerina! I know you’ll do great!
Update please on how the classes went!
The classes were great! We always had interesting discussions…even if it sometimes took them a while to step out of their comfort zones…and they were patient with me and my castellano – I had to ask many times for them to repeat themselves (teens don’t like to annunciate) and sometimes to define words for me, but in this way, we all learned from each other. I continued, throughout the weeks, to be super impressed with their emotional maturity (at least in terms of having really mature answers to how to deal with life’s tough situations like break-ups, loss of a friend or family member, bullying, etc.) And they also learned a little about where their water comes from and what makes water safe to drink.