Gender Equality Peru Project #19343

TEACHERS are the BACKBONE to EDUCATE GIRLS in Peru

by Chicuchas Wasi

TEACHERS are the BACKBONE to EDUCATE GIRLS in Peru

Project Report | May 26, 2020
Nothing is Lost, creativity leaps over obstacles

By Diana Rae Lewis | Founder & President

Joselyn is in her village-art and Quechua culture

We have LOVE, incredible solidarity and creative new ways to educate rural girls in Peru...

We are all caught up in the news swirling around us each day, fed by the CoVid global activity. No one has escaped hearing the awful stories. You must be feeling the heavy weight and constant stress of this crisis, we all do. I pray that you and your loved ones and friends are well and staying at home and masked as I, my family, CW girls and team are. People want to return to "NORMAL" and are too quick to throw caution to the wind. However, many are being cautious and going slow to protect their families and it seems to be helping to slow the spread.

I hope the stories I will share in this news update will lift your spirits a little as the virus is slowing down. You will be amazed at how our girls can make your heart sing. I am unable to put videos in this news update, but I am including still clips and some of the text to explain them - a link to the CW FaceBook videos is below. Please click on it - will make you smile - a lot.

Ruth told me that three of our girls needed to return to their distant family villages where their families are farmers and can provie food for them. We plan to make a road trip to these 3 villages with their teachers soon to see how the girls are doing on their assignments - until they can return. They have no electricity or any modern comforts in these villages.

Joselyn is one of these girls, in the 4th grade and has to travel to her community for social isolation. From the village she did her assignment on art and culture. She had to create a song, "I love you so much" for the period of stay home in Cusco. Here she is singing and dancing with her brother, her song in Quechua:

"Sister brother don't go out on the street,
The strong crown virus is walking there.", repeat and repeat..

Please visit our CW FaceBook page for more stories and great viseos too big to put in the news update.

https://www.facebook.com/chicuchaswasi/

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We are learning every day how to better teach the lessons with limited tools. Our more local CW girls are so enthusiastic about showing their teacher their completed assignments on the phone, that the teachers all joke they had to set some limits. A teacher's workday, using the phone, has become all day and each girl eagerly calls her beloved teacher for encouragement and to show off her work. Each teacher has 15 to 18 students per class and you can imagine that one-on-one telephone time is now a busy activity - teachers joke they had to put a cut off time of 10:00 pm, since teachers must sleep too. CW home visits will begin as soon as lock-down is lifted a bit.

Our teachers are quick to jump in to pack the emergency food supplies that many of our local families depend on, even while they tend to their own families too. Our parents are more united together and with the tachers than ever - they are helping (and learning) along with their daughters. The participation is incredible and has improved family relationships enormously. Our parents are ready to come to the school to harvest the remainder of the vegetables and plant the next crop as soon as they are allowed to leave home.

I cannot say it enough. CW has the most incredible and dedicated team of teachers, cooks and bus driver Simeon that is possible and rarely does a teaching staff unite to this degree. What a blessing and satisfaction for us all. This is humanity at its best.

Please BUY the CW STORY

"JUMP ON THE LOVE TRAIN"

a fundraiser to EDUCATE GIRLS

HTTP://www.chicuchaswasi.org/book/

100% of the proceeds go to the school

THANK YOU

Mother's Day in Peru is huge and special to honor Mothers. Our CW girls wrote poems, sang songs, and spoke lovinly to their mothers who sat in front of them to listen, then hugs were shared all around. These images are all clips from the sweet videos that I know you will enjoy and see a bit of the reality at home for our girls. Please click on the link below to see and listen to them all. One girl tells her mother:

"Today I dedicate a poem to my mamita

"Mamita you are very good, very affectionate to me
My Mamita is the moon, and the sun and all the stars around us
If I am not with my mamita, I am with my aunt.
Happy Day Mamita."

PLEASE DONATE TO HELP UP -if you can- THROUGH THIS TIME:

https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/educate-110-poor-girls-in-cusco-for-economic-survival/

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The CW Emergency Food Adventure

In the midst of Peru's CoVid lock-down, Ruth realized that to buy enough food for 30+ families many hands will be needed to buy and carry the food basics like: canned milk, lentils, beans, and pasta out of the market; driver Simeon, Ruth and one teacher all dressed in hazmat protective outfits entered the busy crowded open-market to shop. A quick trip back to school to sort out the food for each family package and once more the CW bus was loaded up with these emergency food packages to hand out to the parents waiting at the gate of the food market and somehow not noticed by the police. This is the new method - two classes at a time is manageable.

We still have more vegitables to harvest soon at the school. Just amazing!

In Closing:
*Our two pregnant teachers have both (a month apart) delivered healthy babies.
*CW school will continue with home school classes for the entire 2020 school year. Our teachers have no intention of letting our girls slide backwards – CW students will continue to learn lessons at their grade level, so they will not lose the year academically.
* The CW emergency food program is finding its rhythm, feeding developing minds and bodies during this Pandemic.

THANK YOU

for sticking with us to EDUCATE

and FEED HUNGRY GIRLS

Girls sing in Quechua for Mother's Day

Student in her village and honoring her Mamita

Student reciting her poem for her mother

Ruth ready for market for basic food for parents

Ruth, teachers and Simeon bag up emergency food

Simeon & Teacher in Hazmat on bus to deliver food

Ruth, Simeon and a teacher loaded to meet parents

Links:

Official ChicuchasWasi website

Permalink

Apr 27, 2020
Love, unity and creativity for new ways to lean

By Diana Rae Lewis | Founder and President

CW school newbie learning to home school

LOVE, incredible solidarity and creativity have opened new ways to educate rural girls in PeruLOVE, incredible solidarity and creativity have opened new ways to educate rural girls in Peru

Chicuchas Wasi girls and the entire CW team are just amazing, they refuse to let any obstacle interfere with the mission of CW. The 126 students, alumnae girls, the teachers and staff, and Administrator Ruth and assistant admin. Gloria are all well and safely hunkered down. Girls do their assignments at home as shown in these photos. The staff has come together via Zoom and telephone to create and establish a good plan. All immediately knew that food will be the urgent priority that the girls and their families face now due to their extreme poverty, no work and no social services.

Last month I reported that the school year opened on March 2 for 2020 and lasted just one week. Due to CoVid-19, the government of Peru placed the country in lock-down with a stay-at-home order to protect the people. Everyone has been staying home and honoring the curfew after 6pm - it is enforced. Ruth and I talk almost daily, she believes stay-at-home order will continue for another 2 weeks. Women are allowed to go to the market 2 times a week and this gave the team the opening to attack the most urgent need. Food first.

Please visit our CW Facebook page for more stories and some great videos too big to put in this news update. https://www.facebook.com/chicuchaswasi/

************

Please BUY the CW STORY
"JUMP ON THE LOVE TRAIN"
a fundraiser to EDUCATE GIRLS
WWW.chicuchaswasi.org/book/
100% of the proceeds go to the school
THANK YOU

While teachers taught classes and received the images of the girls' school work, staff living close to the school got busy. They took advantage of the allowed market day for parents to meet them outside the market and find the CW school bus. Simeon (bus driver, resident security for the school, handyman too) and Saida and Margarita (the 2 cooks who live near the school) prepared 36 packages of basic food from the school pantry, plus the CW harvest to give to the families with most urgent need. The bus was loaded up with these 36 packages and Simeon drove the bus to meet parents outside the market and to avoid the police. The supplies were received with much emotion and gratitude from the families. Just telling this story fills me with emotion and gratitude that we are able to save lives from severe malnutrition and make a difference for our CW families.

PLEASE DONATE TO HELP US THROUGH THIS TIME:

https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/send-disadvantaged-rural-girls-to-school-in-peru/

Leading up to the loading of the bus with food supplies, much more went on behind the scenes. Our amazing team understands that everyone is needed to get through this crisis. Their solidarity and passion is demonstrated as they volunteer to do almost anything that will help. Every inch of land around the school was planted at the end of last year with potatoes, peas and beets and was ready to harvest. Since the parents cannot come to the school to harvest this crop, Simeon (bus driver and all-round handyman) and the two cooks harvested the crop and prepared the 36 packages and loaded up the bus since they were the only ones close to the school. Now the CW pantry is empty, but Ruth plans to purchase the food basics like: canned milk, lentils, beans, and pasta for our other CW families. We still have more to harvest soon at the school also. Just amazing!

One of two or our pregnant teachers, Jessica, just delivered a baby girl in the hospital and both are healthy and safe. CW school will continue with home school classes for the entire 2020 school year. Our teachers have no intention of letting our girls slide backwards – CW students will continue to learn lessons at their grade level, so they will not lose the year academically.

THANK YOU
for sticking with us to EDUCATE GIRLS

Older girl used to school is adapting to lessons

Eager to please her teacher she holds up her work

a 4th or 5th grader knows the study ropes

CW bus is full of emergency food for our families

Mother receives needed food for her family

Mother prepares her blanket to carry food on back

Links:

Official Chicuchas Wasi website

Permalink

Mar 31, 2020
Love Still Drives CW-even in times of CoVid-19

By Diana Rae Lewis | Founder & President

LOVE is still the driving FORCE for us all at Chicuchas Wssi - even when Peru is drawn into the GLOBALPANDEMIC.

It is the first day of school March 2, 2020 and every girl is ready to get to work in her classroom with her teacher and ready for 2020. Ruth greets the girls in front of the homemade sign that says "Today I am happy because I am home." CW teachers are lined up smiling on the terrace responding to the eyes focused on them. Giggles and excitement are bursting in the air all week and the party atmosphere little girls love is full of hugs, hugs and more hugs.

Things can change so fast and the next week everything did. The Peru Government sent an order that because of the global pandemic, CoVid-19 virus, Peru is in lock down and all schools and business must close. Anyone on the street will be placed in jail. It is more like a Marshall law and nobody dares to complain or argue.

How did Chicuchas Wasi begin?

Read the entire story in the new

"JUMP ON THE LOVE TRAIN" book
www.chicuchaswasi.org/book/

Normally I send the Chicuchas Wasi update early each month throughout the school year. But this news put us all in instant overwhelm. The school team jumped in to prepare the parents and the girls to know what to do and why. All were instructed in how to prevent getting sick and spreading the virus: hand washing, coughing & sneezing into elbow, standing 6 feet away from friends and others, no hugging or sharing food or school supplies. At the parent meeting Ruth taught these prevention instruction and teachers delivered the same to the girls in their classrooms.

Preparing for home schooling, each teacher prepared a notebook for each student with daily assignments for the next month. Teachers will be in touch with the girls by cell phone that girls now have (set up by the psychologist for emergencies) and will be able to talk to their teachers regarding assignment issues.

Our girls have no internet connection, laptops or iPads at home, so the notebook will provide the ability to continue to study and receive any help they might need by phone. In a developing country like Peru, the best we can do is teach how to not get sick. The community we serve are high at risk for uncontrolled spread of the CoVid and death as we have already seen in the states. This Marshall Law type of shutting down all of Peru will save a lot of lives and is a no nonsense way to get the people to comply, since the police will take them to jail if found on the street.

All of the CW School team, Ruth and Gloria and the girls are well. No one is sick. Our bus driver-handyman, Simeon, is living and is security now for the school. Our CW staff depends on their CW paycheck to survive economically and CW continues to pay all permanent staff in their new role as home school teachers during this crisis.

PLEASE DONATE TO HELP US THROUGH THIS TIME:
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/educate-110-poor-girls-in-cusco-for-economic-survival/

In the few days before we closed the school the girls took the opportunity to thank their beloved EfrainValles who provided the swing set posts, some tourists to contribute to the school playground area, so the parents could finish the ground and final details of the playground equipment next to the primary school. The sign is thanking Efrain for always there to help the girls. He has been a member of Chicuchas Wasi for 33 years and the most active board member in CW Peru ever.
THANK YOU Efrain & CW Parents

THANK YOU LOYAL SUPPORTERS
OF GIRLS EDUCATION

*****************

**Please BUY the CW STORY**
  "JUMP ON THE LOVE TRAIN"
   a fundraiser to EDUCATE GIRLS
WWW.chicuchaswasi.org/book/
     100% of the proceeds go to the school

We are grateful for all you do for CW Girls

Links:

Official Chicuchas Wasi website

Permalink

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