May 20th: We have arrived!

Hola! We have arrived in Lima and it has been a whirlwind since we arrived. When we got here on Thursday we were given a warm welcome from our host family. Our host mom, Mariluz, gave us hugs and kisses when she greeted us. Our host brother, Jose, has been our translator and personal tour guide! He is very attentive to us and always wants to make sure that we are safe. When we arrived, the first thing I had to get used to was not putting toilet paper in the toilet. You just throw it away! It was also an adjustment to all the noise. There is lots of honking and dogs barking which makes it hard to fall asleep, however, I am hoping to get used to it within the next few days!

On Friday morning, we began with an orientation at the Jesuit University in Lima, Universidad Antonio Ruiz de Montoya. We were given a tour and a delicious lunch with Lauren our coordinator, Lenin our student leader and Milagros, the director of education at UARM. Everyone is very friendly and willing to help us to make sure that we are all doing well. We also took a walking tour where we got to know the Jesus Maria district. There are many little shops in the district as well as many churches and small parks. The parks are beautiful with many flowers and large plants.

We began our Saturday morning bright and early to head over to MLK Socio Deportivo School where we played Fútbol with kids ages 5-12. They were excited to see us and allowed us to play a game with them. This program focuses more on building community between the children and the parents in a positive way. The children do not win by scoring the most goals, however, they win by participating, respecting everyone and resolving conflicts during their game. We then had a couple presentations from people who work at MLK and learned about Education in the district of El Agustino which was in the hills of Lima. It was very pretty with all the colorful houses; however, they were very high on the hill which makes it hard to bring programs like MLK provides to bring community to the parents and children. We then had lunch at Chelito where we had ceviche, fried fish, and arroz con mariscos. It was all tasty, however, my favorite was the arroz con mariscos.

I am looking forward to the upcoming days and am ready to get started observing at Colegio Roosevelt. In our time walking around the city and the presentations that we have seen, I have noticed that there is lots of inequality surrounding the city and mainly the education system that they have in place here. I first noticed the educational inequality on Friday when Lauren gave a presentation on the schools that we are going to visit. The main school that we will be at Colegio Roosevelt, is a private school in Lima that costs $6,166 US dollars just as an entrance fee. They also must pay a large tuition each month to send their children to this school. Many of the children who go to this school have parents who work in the embassy. It is innovation driven and encourages students to reach their highest potential. On the other hand, there are also schools like MLK Socio Deportes in El Agustino where many of the founders were ex-gang members who focused more on community building in a low risk way. The focus is less on curriculum and rather more on building a safe and well-functioning community.

I also saw inequality in education on Friday when we had a panel of students from the Jesuit university come and tell us about their experience studying to be future teachers at UARM. There was one student who told us her story about coming to UARM from the mountains. In her town, they speak Quetcha and she talked about how this presented a challenge for her as she came to the big city of Lima where they speak Castellano. She said that for the first few months she cried every day and wanted to quit and go back home, however, she knew she wanted to keep going because it would be best for her future. She had to come to Lima to get her Education because she did not have that opportunity in her town. She received a BECA 18 scholarship from the government where she can attend UARM for her education and then will return to her town after she finishes to take action in her community and find ways to improve the education in her town. The inequality comes from where the schools are located and the price that they have to pay to get into the schools. Knowing that there are these scholarships for students to improve their towns, I wonder how many of them have gone back to the mountains and have made a difference. I will be interested to follow the inequality in schools around Lima as we continue our journey! Until next time...