THE COMPUTER ROOM

When my dad suggested, and I agreed, that I will help with the computers, I had absolutely no idea that it would turn out the way it did. One might think that working with the younger ones, first and second graders will be easier- doing easy things. And anyway, why do first and second graders start dealing with computers? The whole thing is their size. They have to stretch their necks and still are barely able to see anything...

The 1st graders. Don't they look peaceful? Especially the girls? With their colourful ponchos, hats and skirts...




In real life, they are the most work.
They are just vicious.
The boys are a picnic compared to them. 

Everybody together. There are more computers on the left side of the room. 


The beginning of the lesson;
about 50 pairs of legs run at full speed into the room, crashing into ... everything.
They sit themselves in pair or triplets around one computer, their feet dangling while they stretch their heads to get a better look t the black screen.
As I switch the computers on, they make a loud BIP sound. Because there are many all in a row there are about 10 or 15 BIPS right after each other. Very often there are more, because the children like to press on that button with their knees again and again.
What the teachers of both the 1st and the 2nd graders always do with their students in the computer lesson is the program PAINT. Always the same. Draw a wasi- house. A maki- hand.
These children barely understand any Spanish so the whole lesson is in Quechua, which sounds like Japanese mixed with Arabic.

 So let me explain what the boys do;
The boys both speak and understand more Spanish than the girls, making them talk to me more. While I am still turning on the computers, one or two boys come up to me, their computer has already been put on, and say over and over again- Ayuda me! Ayuda me! - help me! help me!
I say, one moment, let me just put o the computer and then I will come.
I turn around to switch on the computer- five little voices scream Ayuda me! AYUDA me!
These boys are so small, when I try to move them aside I have to be careful not to step on them.

 The computers have all been put on, and now I have to go and open the PAINT program in all of them. I have no idea where the teacher went to ...
Both the computers and the program are on and working and I go and see if anyone needs help. The second the boys see me looking around the class, about one from each computer gets up, marches in my direction ayuda me! ayuda me!! One of them starts pulling my pants in the direction of his computer- they all start pulling some part of my clothes. Ayuda me! Necesito ayuda! Patting on my back. Ven Aka! - come here.
I go to one of them. What is the problem?
I don't know how to erase. 
But I have showed you last lesson.
I don't know how to move the mouse.
Cannot he next to you help you?       The one next to him looks blindly at me, not even listening to what I am saying.
When I try to show him he takes the mouse away, him hands are filled with mud and unwashed food-rests.
I go to the next computer. What is the problem?
Borrador- eraser.
Here look. Take the mouse up here...         The one from the computer I just helped starts pulling my clothes. Borrador! Borrador!

I wonder HOW these kids ever learn something. But to tell you the truth, SOME of them, can actually DRAW something. I don't know what difference they have in their brains, but there is at least one boy in each class who sits the WHOLE lesson on his chair and manages to draw a duck.

Now the girls...
Every time I come to help a computer where girls sit, I know that I will have to change something on that computer.
Let me give you an example.
Two girls are sitting in front of this computer. Both the computer and the program are on, working well. The girls just sit there. Don't take the mouse, or the keyboard. Just sit and stare at the whitens of the screen.
I ask them- do you not want to draw?
They look at me and start laughing their heads off, covering their faces with their skirts.
Do you not want to draw?
They laugh even louder.
I go to the next computer.

One girl is taking control of the moue, the other stares at her friend on the other side of the room.
The girl taking control of the mouse is holding it upside-down, not understanding why she cannot draw. I show her and ask her neighbor why she does not participate in drawing. The girl just looks at me. I ask again, do you not want to draw?
She just stares. I give her the mouse, she does not take it. I start drawing a house, she just looks at the screen. Just watching. Her friend has had enough, take the mouse and holds it upside-down again.
Not the next table.
These two girls, almost climbing on the table the computer is on, one is tapping like crazy on the keyboard while the other one is 'taking care' of the mouse. I look at the screen. Something is wrong.
Both of these girls have managed to close the pain program, open every OTHER program on the computer, including those ' an error has occurred' AND manged to switch the preference of the screen from being vertical to horizontal.
I have no idea how to do that...
I just look away, go to another computer and let the teacher deal with it- who has come back from the dead :) .

Sometimes girls get their own computer. But they do not USE this chance of being alone and work more. They work less. Does not matter what I say, I really do not think they understand, they blank blick. I go the teacher and ask her if she could maybe to this girl in Quechua, explain to her.
The teacher says, ho THAT girl. Yeah, she is a lost cause. She goes to her, says something in Quecha and smacks her butt. The girl just sits there.
A lost cause.

 

On Thurdsay, most of the children wore their traditional clothes and not their normal gray uniform because a large group of about 30 Dutch students has come to visit. The whole day the whole school got ready. Classes were stopped after less than one hour, and no one really knew when these 'gringos' will be coming. They picked flowers, put out chairs

 and even organized  play. 


Here you can see them, in front of the classrooms of the 5th and 6th graders.
Some children wear their traditional clothes on a regular bases, but that is only the minority.

                                                         The actors.

 And the play started...
I asked the teachers if they knew how old these students are, if they speak Spanish. They just said yes yes. But of course, it was a no no. They had no idea how old or how many they were. None of them spoke Spanish. Any of them barely spoke English.
This massive group of white white very tall young students, between the ages of 16 and 20 came up through the entrance-door of the school, more than an hour after the classes were finished. All the younger students from Chumpi Poques ran to them, with flowers in their hands. These Dutch students, mostly girls, looked very pale, cold and out of breath. Their hands were full of huge backpacks, and they did not look very happy, I can tell you that. The sun was shining and it was pretty warm, but they huddled together on the chairs put out to them, not really talking. Jessica welcomed them all in Spanish, only to realize that they understood absolutely NOTHING. They had about 2 or 3 Dutch guides with them, who also did not speak Spanish, 2 Peruvian guides and a huge staff, of about 7 people making their food. They were planning on spending two nights- what they brought with them, the local people could not even dream of having in the homes; gas stoves, pasta, jam, bread, potatoes, apples, things to make pancake and hot chocolate.
When Jessica realized they did not understand anything, she asked me to come and translate. When I did so, their puzzled face-expression did not change. Only when one of their guides translated into Dutch did they smile- but just a bit. 
The whole school was gather around these 'gringos', leaving a large space for the 'show'.

One of the girls looking out of the circle. In the middle of the show, the Dutch people decided to show us something and they did  little dance. They ALL had EXACTLY the same pants on- with variation of colour, gray, black, brown and green. 

Two first graders watching the show.

Their sandals. That is how they walk around, in rain, mud and sunshine.

One day about a month and a half ago, it was a very cold and wet week. The clouds were all down, covering the mountains almost totally. The farmers had a rough time because at that time they left their corn to fry so that it could be planted in this time. But with constant rain for a week, most of it got bad. Down in the valley it was warmer than up there. One day, it started raining harder than usual. It then turned to hail and then to snow. It has not snowed in Chumpi Poques in a period of more than 10 years. The students came to school in their regular clothes. Ooooo, that day, it was really very cold. I do not want to think how these children suffered- their feet frozen. Luckily the snow only stayed on during the morning, and later melted away.

On good sunny days, the children run up the small hill to the kitchen, with their red bowls, to get lunch. They sit and eat outside. Lunch is actually really tasty- rice with lentils and potatoes, sometimes soup  with potatoes, rice and a taste of fish. When it is raining and the weather is bad, they all huddle under the roofs or stay in the classrooms.
There is just one problem with lunch. The moms of the community have to come and cook for the whole school. One or two make these huge pots. However, what happened this week was that no mom wanted to come and cook, so the children did not get anything to eat all day. Some of them have to walk up to two hours to get to the school, and only get dinner late, when their parents come back with the sheep and llamas.
Somehow they survive. They have- and they will.