PAYING IT FORWARD WITH YANAPAY - Cusco, Peru Mar 2016

PAYING IT FORWARD WITH YANAPAY

Cusco, Peru  March 2016

It seemed like a good idea at the time: Volunteering for two weeks at an after-school program that worked with some of Cusco's poorest children. 

The head honchos

Our hippie hostel

Things were off to a rocky start when we were forced to stay at a B&B the first night. Our taxi driver got lost because of the outdated website address for our hostel. 

First the good stuff. We liked the fact that Aldea Yanapay was a social enterprise with a restaurant and a hostel, Villa Mágica,  that helped fund the program. This "hippie hostel," with outdoor hammocks, strumming of guitars and our private room with the "matrimonial bed" was a welcoming place.

We didn't even mind the shared bathroom, bonding quickly with the other volunteers, who were primarily European 20-somethings. Once they realized we would not be playing the role of parent figures, we soon became fast friends. It didn't hurt that one night be bought cookies and ice cream and taught them the fine art of pizookie making.

The computer teacher

It all looks good

But then there was the Yanapay program. We were grouped into familias, each of us wearing an ugly, weathered smock that corresponded to our group. Mike was partnered with Lorenzo, a handsome Italian in his early's 30's who spoke a number of different language. 

They taught the Internet class which, unfortunately, ended up being a babysitting service keeping young boys away from violent games on the Internet.

Youthful friends

We also tried to do our leadership program, but had to soon abandon the idea because the middle school-age youth were too young, had too short an attention span, and an inordinate need for attention.

Dress-up time

Unfortunately, the children were allowed free reign to do pretty much whatever they wanted including what sometimes amounted to physical abuse of the volunteers. 

Also, before we arrived we were told that Spanish wasn't needed. It quickly became clear that communicating in Spanish was critical to maintaining control in the classroom (which was chaos most of the time.)

One of the cutest

The result was a feeling of isolation and frustration as it became increasingly impossible to stop the students who knew they could push the limits with new volunteers.

Perhaps the nadir was when Papa Yuri (the founder and a self-proclaimed guru with a pierced tongue and an apparent fondness for seducing volunteers) came to the school for "circle time" and, under the guise of spiritual teaching, lit his fingers on fire. Children, do not try this at home!

Taking it to the streets

There were, however, a few sweet moments when we were able to make connections with a handful of the children, language notwithstanding. It was unfortunately that the worst behaved children got the most attention. 

And, oh, did we mention that we were the only two people, counting volunteers and staff, that had actually raised a child?

Environmental concerns

A highlight was when the entire school made posters and took to the streets, voicing concerns about water scarcity and pollution and shouting slogans loudly as they marched along.

Tourists lined the streets to get photos of our young activists. 
No agua, no vida! We couldn't have agreed more.