Abby, Bryan, Danielle, Frances, Maddie, Max: Serving in Cusco
November 10, 2014
Four of the six students who are doing service in the Cusco area are working at schools that serve deaf children: San Martin (public) and San Francisco (private).
Max plays a memory game with students at San Martin, a public school that serves deaf children in Cusco.
On the day that we visited St. Martin School for Special Education (Centro Educativo Básico Especial Don José de San Martin), Max was playing a memory game with several of the 11 children in the classroom. They are ages 5 to 11. The teacher in charge, Señora Gabriela (or Gabi), said of Max: “El sabe un montón de señas” (He knows many signs). Some of the children, on the other hand, may know fewer than 50 signs. The gap between what the children want to communicate and know how to communicate adds urgency to lesson planning.
Abby talks with students in her classroom at San Martin, a public school that serves deaf children in Cusco.
We found Abby in a class with deaf students ages 11 to 18. She showed us multiplication flash cards she had made for the teacher.
Abby serves as a teacher’s assistant — and on occasion as the teacher in charge — needing to remind students of the “palabras magicas,” or magic words, posted on the wall, including the universal permiso (may I) and gracias (thank you).
Bryan and Danielle interact with students after lunch at San Francisco school.
At San Francisco of Assisi Special Education Center (Centro Educativa Básico Especial San Francisco de Asís), we watched Bryan and Danielle assist children with their homework. San Francisco serves 26 deaf children, some of whom live at the school. Catholic nuns manage the school; three teachers take the lead in the classroom.
Frances quickly took to her role at World Vision, an international organization that focuses on the health and well-being of children. World Vision links sponsors from the U.S., Canada and other countries with children in the Cusco region. Frances, who is bilingual, helps to translate cards that are sent back and forth.
Frances at her desk in the Cusco office of World Vision, surrounded by gifts sponsors have sent to local children.
She also became a member of the team that travels into outlying communities to work directly with children. One day she served as a translator when World Vision took sponsors from Finland to meet with the children they had been supporting in Pitumarca (Frances was switching from English to Spanish to English, while another translator was switching from Finnish to English to Finnish). “One of the sponsors was crying her eyes out,” Frances said. “For the first time she was meeting a 9-year-old girl that she had sponsored for seven years.”
Meanwhile, Maddie is teaching at Promesa, a Mennonite school in San Jeronimo, a suburb of Cusco. The 10-year-old bilingual school is filled to capacity — planning is under way to build a new school on a nearby tract of land. We watched Maddie assisting in the kindergarten class, where the 5-year-olds are learning English (colors, sizes, occupations), among other subjects. She also assists with classes in History and Geography.
Maddie talks with a student in her classroom at Promesa school in San Jeronimo.
Maddie and Frances live next door to each other (actually, close enough that they can talk to each other from their bedrooms). We enjoyed a meal with their two families. Frances’s mother, Margarita, is a cook at Promesa. Midway through the service term, Max also moved to the neighborhood; his new host mother, Francisca, is a secretary at Promesa, and his host father works as a carpenter out of their home.
We enjoyed coca tea and bread with strawberry jam when we visited in Danielle’s home. Her sister, Ruth, who is 9, attends the San Martin school. Danielle reminded us of the challenges in trying to bridge signs from the U.S., Lima and Cusco. For example, Lima and the U.S. share the same sign for “life experience”; but in Cusco, that same sign means “dog.” Danielle also has a brother who, at 10 months of age, keeps her host mother very busy. Another brother, at 14, doesn’t talk much to Danielle, but accepts help with his English homework. He and her host dad, who drives a taxi, missed out on our family photo.
Duane and Karen pose with Danielle and three members of her host family.
Nearby, Bryan is serving as a host brother for Dante, a deaf boy. An American ethnomusicologist who lives in Cusco, Holly, is in the process of adopting Dante. Danielle and Max teamed up with Bryan to provide after-school tutoring support for Dante, in effect using their free time to spread the power of sign language.
Abby and Maddie also are volunteering in their free time. On Saturdays, they return to a peach farm owned by Margarita, a Mennonite woman from Lucre whom they stayed with for two days during our earlier visit in Cusco. They pull weeds and help out as needed, enjoying the beauty of the area and the chance to fellowship with Margarita and other family members.
View from Abby’s house (the bedroom she shares with her grandmother is in the little house on the right).
Abby’s home, which requires a significant walk up the mountainside at Cusco’s edge, wins the prize for best view. From the bedroom that she shares with her grandmother, Abby can see the much of the city and beyond in all of its Andean glory. “I also see Jesus from my window every day,” she said. Indeed, there on a facing hill is the statue of Jesus Christ known as Cristo Blanco, or White Christ, towering over the city. The statue was erected as a symbol of gratitude by a group of Christian Palestinians who sought refuge in Cusco in 1945. Cusqueños believe the statue serves as a reminder “that good deeds do not go unnoticed.”
Photos and editing by Karen Stoltzfus
Maddie meets her San Jeronimo host parents, Saturnino and Frida.Frances meets her San Jeronimo host father, Cesar.Max meets his first Cusco host mother, Danitza, following a week of group travel in the Sacred Valley.Abby meets her Cusco host mother, Clarisa, following group travels in the Sacred Valley.Bryan meets his first Cusco host mother, Mari, after a week of travels in the Sacred Valley.Danielle meets her Cusco host mother, Tania, after a week of travel in the Sacred Valley.Lovely roses blooming in Cusco.Bryan in his first Cusco host home. His mother, Mari, runs a small menu restaurant.Duane and Karen pose with Danielle and members of her host family.Danielle and her host mother, Tania, sister, Ruth, and 10-month old brother.The view from Danielle’s house as we leave at nightfall.Frances and her host family (mother, Margarita and father, Cesar).Maddie poses with her host family.On Sunday, we enjoyed lunch in the center of town with all six Cusco area students.One of many dogs we passed as we walked to Abby’s home.Abby poses for a photo as we walk toward her host home.Abby by the front door of her home.Abby’s host brother, Jiancayro, is deaf and attends school at San Martin.Looking out the window at the playground in front of Abby’s house.Abby with her host sister.Abby with her host sister, and mother, Clarisa.The view from Abby’s front door.View from Abby’s house (the bedroom she shares with her grandmother is in the little house on the right).Cusco’s main plaza at night.The view from our hostal in San Sabastian, not far from Bryan’s first host home.Señora Gabriela is the teacher in charge of the classroom where Max has been helping.Max with teachers in his classroom at San Martin.Max plays a memory game with students at San Martin, a public school that serves deaf children in Cusco.Max with students at San Martin.Ruth, Danielle’s host sister, is a student in the classroom where Max was helping.Rodrigo, Bryan’s host brother in his first host home in Cusco, showed us a picture he was coloring in Max’s class.The grounds of the San Martin school.Abby poses for a photo with her class at San Martin, and the teacher in charge.Abby talks with students in her classroom at San Martin, a public school that serves deaf children in Cusco.Abby talks with students in her class at San Martin.Abby talks with students in her classroom.Abby talks with students in her classroom at San Martin.A chart of students in Abby’s class at San Martin.A class schedule for Abby’s class at San Martin.Palabras Magicas, or Magic Words, posted in Abby’s classroom.A chart of responsibilities for the week in Abby’s class at San Martin.A plaza in Cusco.Sign on the front door of San Francisco school: Paz y Bien (roughly translated, Peace and Goodwill), a common Franciscan greeting.Quinoa laid out to dry on sheets in the courtyard of San Francisco school.El Padre Nuestro, posted in the courtyard at San Francisco school.Ave Maria in Peruvian Sign Language, posed in the courtyard at San Francisco school.National hymn posted in the courtyard of San Francisco school.Bryan and Danielle pose in the garden at San Francisco school.Bryan and Danielle interact with students after lunch at San Francisco school.Bryan and Danielle interact with students outside their classrooms at San Francisco school. Colors in Peruvian Sign Language.Sign by the curtains in the homework room at San Francisco.Danielle with one of the nuns and students working on homework.Bryan and Danielle in the homework room at San Francisco school.Bryan helps with homework at San Francisco school.Willy playing Peruvian Monopoly with two children at San Francisco school.View of the courtyard at San Francisco school from the homework room.The homework room at San Francisco school.Frances poses with Teofilo Silva Garcia and Patricia Pacheco of World Vision.A poster on the wall at World Vision: You and I have a role in the transformation of Peru. A poster on the wall at World Vision: See my potential beyond my need.Frances reads a letter written to a child served through World Vision.Frances at her desk in the Cusco office of World Vision, surrounded by gifts sponsors have sent to local children.Frances shares a photo from her World Vision trip to Pitumarca, a small town about 100 km outside Cusco.Frances shares a photo from her World Vision trip to Pitumarca, about 100 km outside Cusco.A sticker posted at the World Vision offices: stop the bullying.Duane and Frances pose in front of the World Vision offices.Duane and Willy by a church near the center of Cusco. Maddie working with students in the young children’s classroom at Promesa school.Maddie talking with a student at Promesa school.Maddie poses with a student in her classroom at Promesa school in San Jeronimo.Maddie with a student in her class at Promesa school.Maddie’s class poses for a group photo.Miss Maddie and Miss Kelly, the Kindergarten teacher pose with the children for a class photo.Maddie ouside the Kindergarten classroom.Maddie receives many hugs from her students.Duane and Willy pose at Promesa with Chris Raber a missionary serving in the Cusco area with his family.On the shelf at Promesa school.Maddie in the library at Promesa, folding fans with her students.Padre Nuestro (The Lord’s Prayer) posted on an office door at Promesa school.A view of Maddie’s classroom from the third floor of the school.A view of the courtyard at Promesa school from the third floor, the kitchen where Frances’s host mother works is on the right.A view from the third floor of Promesa school.Our daughter, Emily, holding one of the younger Promesa students. Emily is a volunteer at Promesa during her ‘gap’ year in Peru.Brooke, a recent GC grad, visits with a student. Brooke is in her first year as a teacher at Promesa.
