Call me profe

I have not written for a while and probably to the surprise of many (considering my past articles) I am still in Cusco. But the main difference with July is that I switched from a traveler to a volunteer.

I had this idea for a while as many travelers have met do in general a volunteering at some point. After more than 18 months of continuously moving on I felt I was ready to give it a try and stay a bitm ore in one place. The irony is that it takes place in Cusco whereas I would have loved to stay in Colombia or I have even tried to go to help Chile when there was the earthquake last February.

Since late August I am an English teacher in the school of Maras. I teach twice a week to 6 classes (1h30 each class) of a primary school. I found this opportunity knowing the family of the restaurant Muña (see specific album). Maras lays one hour away from Cusco (which means to get up as early as 5h30!!!), close to the famous Moray, and is a country-side school. Here it is not about training the future generations of leaders for the country, it is about learning Spanish to the kids who all speak Quechau as a native language, the it is about learning them to brush their teeth, it is something really social for kids who help their family in the fields when they are not at school.

The site of Moray where Incas did some experinces for agriculture

Although Maras has Moray nearby the turistic boom has not spread over its population: there is water only 2 hours per day, really few people in the village have a car (all the kids go hme walking) and there is no internet, and none of the kids has a computer has a computer at home. I was also told that two years ago some Canadians made a study that showed that many kids suffer malnutrition which hinders their capacity to learn. Therefore although the kids are really happy to have classes of English, it is not a priority for them: almost no one does his homework and most of the time half the pupils do not bring its materials of the week before. English is then more having some good time and learning a bit.

On my side I learn a lot. I am not a teacher and having kids that young (the youngest are 6, the oldest 13), keeping them interested, making sure they ALL learn something is quite a challenge for me. Although sometimes I wonder what I do here when no one brings what I asked to bring I love doing it and will do it until the end of October.

I am also really grateful to the professors who have welcomed me in such a nice way. We have "breakfast" all together each day at the first break (10am); they cook what would be rather for me a lunch but I want once to have a French breakfast with croissant, baguette, yogurts, fruit juices and cakes.

I went to see the teachers in the "teachers Olympics" of the surroundings of Maras where competition does not only include sports but also reading out loud a text, traditional dance, sapo (a game where you throw tokens in holes to get points) etc... Unfortunately I was not allowed to participate due to the fact that 2 years ago a gringo won all the disciplines of athletics.

All in all this makes a wonderful new experience and a new step in my trip.