It is so hard to sum up the experience I’ve had over the past three months. When people ask me that question of, “So how was Peru?” it’s hard to sum it up in the few, lighthearted sentences that I know people want to hear.

It’s incredible how one day can be full of so many emotions… one second you’re having a great conversation with a mother about giving her child a scholarship to study English, and the next we meet their neighbor, a little girl who tells us she hasn’t been able to go to school for 5 years since her parents left her without the correct legal papers. I was constantly frustrated-- frustrated with the government for not providing more money to the schools and making it impossible for some children to study, with the teachers for the strike and for constantly asking for money from the parents, and with the people who did not seem to care or want to do anything about the right of education being denied in Peru.

People always surprise you. Some of the people I expected to be really passionate about the right of education being denied to these impoverished children claimed they could do nothing about it. And some who I expected to care less were willing to do whatever they could to help the kids out—such as the head of the municipal theater that gave us free tickets for every secondary school student so that they could learn more about culture through Mexican and Peruvian dances. It was so great to see their faces and hear them talking about their favorite dances and costumes, and just to take them on a little outing, since this was the first time some of them had even made the 10 minute trip to downtown Trujillo.

I learned that it’s so much easier to advocate when you really get to know the people. By knowing them, I mean not only seeing their living situations or hearing a little about their lives, but really understanding where they’re coming from and developing a relationship with them. Once I started developing relationships with the families and talking to them more often, I felt I not only better understood the problem with education, but our relationships also gave their stories and my work even more meaning and helped me involve them and explain my work more. In this way, I think that SKIP can be very successful in advocacy attempts in the future, because the volunteers really get a chance to know the families intimately and everyone is always ready with helping hands and new ideas. SKIP is starting to work with other local NGOs to collaborate on projects, so hopefully in the future they can tackle education advocacy efforts together.

Meeting with the NGOs of Alto Trujillo (the area where SKIP works)

I’m truly going to miss all the amazing families, SKIP staff and volunteers, and the other NGOs I got to know during my time in Peru. And after an experience that I gained so much out of, it’s the least I can do to continue to advocate on their behalf and fight for their right to a free education for everyone.

On Monday, I went to have my second meeting with the Defensoria del Pueblo, an organization created by the constitution in 1993 to protect fundamental and constitutional rights and ensure that the government was providing the necessary services to the population. I was very excited, since they had invited me to come along with them to see how they resolve complaints in their new campaign Educación sin Corrupción (Education without Corruption). In the pamphlet and electronic material I was given by their office, it clearly states that charging any fees from the students is illegal (whether it’s for the APAFA, for copies, or for classroom supplies, all of which our students currently pay). I was very curious and excited to see what they were doing to combat this problem.

After visiting three schools and hearing infinite excuses from the directors, teachers, and other administrators and staff on cases of physical abuse, grade withholding, and diplomas which had never been given to students, I still was curious about the fundamental flaw in the government’s execution of their educational charge—that the education was not free as stated in the constitution. I asked the lawyer we were with if she saw many cases dealing with money, and she said that she has never had one. We talked about the fundamental right that these students had and that ultimately it was up to the government to pay for the children’s education, but since they don’t provide enough money to the schools it’s no wonder that the teachers have to charge in order to provide materials to their students. When I asked the lawyer what she thought would happen if parents were to submit complaints about money, she said that there probably wasn’t much their office could do to recoup the money from the government.

SKIP wants to move towards the direction of advocating for quality education for the students, instead of just providing the money and supplies for a limited number of children to attend school. In brainstorming the best way to do this, it’s necessary (but difficult) to understand the politics and the established way of doing things in the Peruvian system, and how to use this information to best to affect change from the government.

The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article about the government’s failures in Peru, especially in the provision of water and education. They talked about private schools as sometimes being the best option, even for the poorest families. In our area of Trujillo, the private schools cost about the same price as the public schools after you factor in all the money the parents pay out of pocket to the teachers and APAFA over the year. Some of SKIP is under the impression that we could make a bigger difference on these kids if we did open our own school. For the same cost per child, we could provide higher quality facilities and education. However, if we exit the public school system is it like giving up on public education and the rest of the children that we can’t accommodate in SKIP?

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There are a lot of things in Peru that have taken me some time to get used to. The way the government treats education, the incredible bureaucracy behind doing even the simplest of procedures, the openly “machisto” or prejudiced attitudes of some of the upper class… But I think one of the hardest things for me to deal with is the response of the people to all of this.

Parents are forced to pay more money every week to the teachers for supplies and copies. The children have missed school more times than they’ve been over the past month with all the strikes and vacations. The response to all of this is usually “Asi es”… That’s how it is.

How do societies and norms change? In my opinion, it usually takes a mass movement from the people themselves, coming together to call attention to the fact that things are unjust and demanding a change. However, after talking to the families SKIP works with in El Porvenir, I’ve realized that most of them don’t even know that free education is a basic right or that the constitution mandates it be provided. If you were used to living life with just having enough money to scrape by, never able to stop working or escape for a day, how else would you know what else is out there?

Most of our SKIP parents did not have the chance to go to school when they were young. I wonder, as a new generation comes of age-- will they be able to change things? When asking the parents why they think education is important, many give the answers that they want their child to be able to earn more money, to find a steady career, and in that way make a better life for themselves. When I look at the potential of these children with an education, I also see the bigger picture— and I hope they can make a better life not just for themselves, but for other disadvantaged people and children by fighting against the injustice. That’s why I think a quality education is so important, one where they’re not just copying meaningless numbers or words from the board but actually learning how to critically think for themselves and apply their knowledge.

The poorest people are always the ones most hurt by the injustices in society. I never fully realized this until I started working with the families in SKIP. Sure, the fact that education isn’t free is an annoyance to upper middle class families, but an extra 5 soles (not quite $2) that the teacher requests for copies one week is no big deal. To our families, who sometimes have no more than 11 soles to their name, this sometimes means choosing between education and food for their children. Often times, the laws and programs from the government are solutions that will help the upper classes, but not the poorest who can’t help themselves. It’s only natural that this happens—not only is the upper class society the one most of these people were raised in and understand, but it is also due to the fact that placating this group of people is important for raising funds and staying in power.

My goal in advocacy with SKIP is to provide these severely impoverished families with the tools to help themselves into more comfortable and stable living. In this country, as well as in the rest of the developing and developed world as well, the poor always start with strikes against them in the access to quality education, ability to find well paying or stable jobs, and their political pull. If we can provide them with the tools and education to realize the injustices and help them find their voices to speak out about them, they definitely have the manpower to incite change and make the government listen.

It’s easy to share when you have extra resources.

We volunteer because we can— we have the extra time and money, and sharing these things with people who don’t have them gives us more pleasure than spending it ourselves at home.

But what about those who don’t have extra? Is sharing and community the best way to go, or are you better off looking out for only yourself?

Community is one example of an ideal that volunteers come in with, but cannot be forced. In working with the mothers of SKIP, their natural reaction is to protect what little they have, and do what is best for themselves and their children. They are skeptical of working with others, and with reason, after the loan sharks, men, and even schools take seemingly endless amounts of money from them.

Jessica and I decided to give evaluations to each of the mothers to fill out in order to find out their feelings about the education system and SKIP. The main thing that stuck in my head after helping several mothers fill these out and reading the rest was the complete feeling of helplessness that they had. In recounting how much they pay to get their children to school on a monthly basis, most of them couldn’t come up with a specific number. Each month, each child is required to pay something different—and if they don’t have the money the children cannot take the tests or are not allowed to come to class. When you’re already on a small budget and then have variable expenses from month to month, for each of your 7 children, it’s no wonder these families are struggling.

SKIP’s Economic Development group quickly learned that you can’t force community. The coordinator tried to give loans to people in groups of two so that they could work together on certain handicraft projects and share materials, and also tried to give one mother who wanted to raise chickens the name of another who was looking to buy some to cook. Each person was resistant to entering into such a partnership and preferred to spend the extra money in order to be independent.

However, as time has gone on, these mothers have started teaching their own handicraft workshops at SKIP, which now have been increased to three days a week with different mothers sharing their unique skills. Not only is it great to watch their progress in their handicrafts, but it is incredible to see these independent women start to trust each other and seek each other’s help. One of the other volunteers overheard a conversation the other day where a few of the women were counseling another that she didn’t need to put up with her husband anymore, who would frequently spend their money on getting drunk. A few chimed in with stories about how they thought they needed their husband in the past, but it turns out all he contributed to their lives was unhappiness and money, and they could figure out how to make some and take care of their families themselves.

You can’t force community on people. And it sometimes doesn’t come in the ways you think it will. But when it comes from the people themselves, it can be a very important and powerful bond that helps them economically and socially.

This blog is in response to a post on the blog, “Educational Equity, Politics & Policy in Texas.” As a part of my AP fellow position, I feel that it is important to express my views and what I have seen firsthand in working with SKIP. Hopefully, I can spread awareness of this issue beyond Peru, because education is truly a universal right that is due to these children.

From the perspective of someone currently working in Peru with an education-focused NGO, I do not think this reaction by the teachers is understandable.

In the past 15 years, teacher strikes have caused students to miss 167 days. Since the entirety of public school is 10 grade levels, this amounts to almost two-thirds of a school year missed over those 10 years.

This strike isn’t the first time the teachers have responded in a negative way to attempts to elevate the quality of teachers. For example, after it was announced last year that they would be required to take an exam, the teachers union got a hold of a copy and posted it on their website. Once a new one was created, they demanded teachers boycott the test. Four out of five teachers still took it, but half of these teachers failed the elementary-level math questions and a third failed reading comprehension.

It’s no wonder the students in Peru do so badly in comparison to other nations. In the 2000 PISA test of 15-year old students from 43 countries, Peru children had the worst average score in all three tests of reading, math, and science literacy. To put this into perspective, in mathematic literacy the United States ranked 20th out of the 43 countries. Peru’s average score was lower than the scores of 95% of the children in the US, with similar results on the other three exams. Throughout my education classes in college, I constantly lamented about the state of education in the US, especially for those students who were perpetually stuck in the lowest-performing schools. Imagine an entire country where the norm is those schools.

During this most recent strike, some of the teachers have been involved in violent protests— blocking roads and airports, fighting with police, and even killing a child who got caught in the middle of a rock-throwing fight between teachers and police. Now that the law has successfully been passed that forces teachers to pass an exam, they have changed their position in order to continue the strike. They are now demanding more government spending for education before going back to work.

It’s understandable that these teachers are worried about losing their jobs, judging by the results of the last exam. However, why not demand more teacher training or support for these exams instead of refusing to be held to any standards? It is also understandable that these teachers want more money from the government for education, and I completely agree. But it’s hard to justify that by striking they are really helping the children when these kids are kept out of the schools and not able to learn.

Anticipating a long strike, the teachers gave the children stacks of worksheets as “homework” to do during the strikes, and sent them home to somehow learn this material on their own. With parents who often did not attend school, a lack of educational resources, and a weak foundation of basic skills and education, how do they expect these children to understand new material on their own?

The children enrolled in our program have been coming to SKIP every day, some in both the morning and afternoon. When some of the older children beg me to teach them more English, or another asks for help with learning fractions (starting from what a fraction even is and going all the way through to adding, subtracting, etc), how can I say no?

Peru has solved one of the first major problems in education, in having 90% of the school-aged children enrolled in school and getting these children excited to learn. I see it every day, when our kids line up at the SKIP offices before we even get there or fight over what new vocabulary they want to learn in English. The government and the teachers both need to do their parts to make sure it is worth it for these children, and that they are getting the education they desire and deserve.

Now, the trouble is getting that message through to both groups…

Sixth grade girls Maria and Vanessa practicing their new vocabulary (and correcting each other)

I wouldn't normally update my blog so soon, but I find myself with unexpected free time since school was canceled for today, tomorrow, and indefinitely beyond that...

The teachers union has declared a "Huelga Indefinida", an indefinite strike to protest a law that would require all teachers to pass examinations. The current teachers who failed the basic skills test three times would also be fired. One of the union leaders was quoted as saying, "It's like telling a student that doesn't pass exams, just go home." Right, the only difference is that children depend on these teachers to teach the material on these exams, not just learn it... which would give a better explanation for students currently failing tests as well.

The subdirector at the colegio (vice principal by American school structure) told us the news this morning, and said it could be a few months or more if they could not come to an agreement with the legislature. When we remarked, "The poor students", his concern was seemed minimal, and he said maybe they would make the days up in January, during their summer break.

At the same time, in reading news articles and blogs on the topic, it seems that the teachers are trying to stop passage of this law at least partially because they want to include a larger budget for education and teacher training for every teacher. Both of these things are necessities for Peru to improve their education, and they are correct in that the government isn't doing this on their own. It seems that both sides are fighting each other, but which side really is fighting with the best interests of the children and their education in mind?

In light of the strike, we will be meeting with SKIP staff and volunteers to discuss how SKIP will react, including possible extra classes or different activities for the children. Also, we need to discuss how we will use this strike, the newest attack on education for the children of Peru, to go forward with the advocacy project.

Meanwhile, I thought I'd post a report done on SKIP by news here. Even if you don't understand Spanish, you can see some of the SKIP children, families, and volunteers in action!

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The two most important new words I’ve learned in Spanish here: feriado and huelga, implying national holiday and strike, respectively. Last week, the public schools were closed 3 out of 5 days for a combination of a strike and two days feriados, a Saint holiday and extra day mandated by the president to encourage tourism.

I was able to start visiting the schools and interact with the children through teaching a few of their English classes. Besides the strikes and holidays, I’m quickly learning more about the Peruvian public education, and I can’t help but contrast it with my own experiences. For example, when a teacher doesn’t show in Peru, the whole class goes home. Of the six classes I’ve tried to teach in the past two weeks, this has happened to two of them (on top of all the days those children already weren’t going to school).

Jessica and I are starting to look more into the issues of advocating for a free, quality education for all children in Peru. It turns out that the government basically only provides enough money to pay teacher salaries. On top of paying for their school supplies and uniforms, each child must pay money to the APAFA, the parent association, which in turn is supposed to supply the money for improvements and maintenance of the school. When I watch the kids at recess kicking around pieces of trash to play soccer or using a big hole in the ground as a mini- jungle gym, I wonder what all the money is going. The APAFAs are not required to report their spending, and are seen as a large part of the corruption of the education system of Peru.

When a country only spends 3.3% of its GDP on education (Economist, link in the blog post from 5/22/07), and household contributions to education are 50% of the government’s expense per student (Saavedra, 2001), it’s no surprise that they come in towards the bottom in international testing. Add that to the problem of teachers striking or failing tests of basic primary skills, and it’s a miracle that students still even show up at all.

Meanwhile, the government wants to spend more money from it’s already inadequate budget—approximately $43,750,000 on the One Laptop Per Child Program (link is to a blog translated to English, since most of the news on this subject is in Spanish). The blog expresses some of the same concerns I have— are the parents going to continue to pay so much for the supposedly “free” education? With a teacher force that has already been so widely criticized for their lack of basic knowledge, how do they expect the students will be better equipped to learn with these laptops?

One thing that doesn’t change from country to country — free food always attracts a crowd.

We went to a fair in Huanchaco, a beach town very close to Trujillo last week. Tables were set up for a competition and judging of seafood dishes. One of SKIP’s volunteers heard about it and thought it would be a great place to tell local people more about SKIP, so the organizer gave us special permission to set up our own table. We commissioned the mothers to make us special snacks, in order to give them the extra income rather than buying it from the stores.

As soon as we set up our table we had people coming up to us, curious about either the food or what SKIP was. We only asked for donations if people wanted to try the food, and people contributed much more than they would pay for these snacks on the street or in stores.

We had more than 5 people express serious interest in volunteering with us, and we actually made more money than we spent on the goodies. Also, it seemed that since they were donating money, everyone took more interest in really caring about what SKIP does for the kids in El Porvenir, and I think the biggest accomplishment of the day was getting our name, mission, and brochures out to so many people.

Recently, SKIP wrote a “Volunteer Mission,” describing why SKIP uses a volunteer based model. Of course, a large part of the need for volunteers is that as a small NGO, it is not practical to have a largely paid staff. But the SKIP volunteer model provides an opportunity for the kids to interact with people from all over the world, with different cultures, ideas, and perspectives on life.

The volunteers also all work together, since the job descriptions are not rigid and they are free to take on other projects that interest them or match with their previous experience. Most importantly, there is constantly a fresh perspective and creative ideas, brought by people who clearly have a large passion for this sort of work with children, families, and the community. The volunteers have the freedom to suggest new ideas like the Huanchaco Fair, new community newsletters, or new ideas for advocacy—just to name a few of the current projects.

It is exciting to be a part of a small NGO that is trying to expand its outreach and support efforts. As soon as Jessica, the other AP Fellow with SKIP, got to Trujillo, the three of us more clearly defined our advocacy project for SKIP as both helping SKIP improve it's efforts in Trujillo and in pressuring for a higher quality education for the children in Peru.

Hopefully, this advocacy project will put SKIP in contact with many other organizations with similar goals and create a new, more global project for interns. Jessica and I will start with finding organizations at a local, national, and international level that share SKIP's goal of quality education and helping underprivileged children, so if anyone has any organizations or ideas in mind, please feel free to post them!

After a long month of waiting to depart and a long air travel complete with lost tickets and unexpected stops, I finally arrived in Trujillo on Thursday. And moments after arriving in my new home, I sat down with Larry, the director of SKIP, and had a candid discussion about advocacy and what it means to advocate for SKIP and the children they support.

It’s not an easy topic for many reasons. There’s not even an equivalent translation in Spanish, and I’ve gotten used to explaining advocacy in Spanish with many words, at least as how we’ve defined it. Our vision for this advocacy project with SKIP involves treating quality education as a right for all of these children. Even though public education is provided, it’s often not free, as the children have to buy uniforms or specific supplies for the classroom in order to attend. Also, the education is not of a high quality, as the teachers often are not competent in their subject matter and are only in the profession for the steady salary.

SKIP has been an advocate for the education of Trujillo over the past few years and increasingly provided more support to them and their families. Now other groups in the area are expressing interest as well, including other educational organizations, religious groups, health groups, and the mayor’s office. In planning our advocacy project, we hope to organize this new group to help put pressure on and change the current education system.

In addition, SKIP will be evaluating whether it is better to open their own school as competition and an alternative for the public schools, or whether they should continue to work with these schools to change. It seems that all the volunteers and staff are excited about the advocacy project, and they are constantly full of new ideas to help these students obtain a better education.

On my way to the SKIP educational complex on my first day (offices, classrooms, and a recreational area), I was told more about El Porvenir, the area in where it is located and where the kids live. One of the volunteers said that earlier that morning, two taxis refused to take her to the area because the roads aren’t paved and not many people are waiting for taxis to return to the main city. And another volunteer said that earlier, she saw a stray dog with a human femur in its mouth from the graveyard. I began to feel a little nervous— not because I was worried for my safety, but just how hard it would be to understand these children’s lives and if they would care at all about an education. There was no need to worry, however— from the moment I arrived, I was greeted by smiling faces, kisses on the cheek, and questions about my name, age, family, favorite food, etc. When they realized I was from the US, they immediately started practicing their English with me and asking me how to say certain words.

One of the girls showed me her notebook, where she would ask different questions to members of her class, like “How many siblings do you have?” or “Have you ever kissed anyone?” One of them said, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Everyone named a profession—doctor, lawyer, professor, and working in business, to name a few. Even though I came here because of my belief in the right of education for all, it became clear to me just how important it is that the education system works for these students to help them attain their goals. And even their dreams change, their education will help them to continue to be content, curious, and knowledgeable of their options and the world around them.

As I sit in the airplane on my way to training, I can’t help but imagine the next time I’ll be traveling—on my way to Trujillo, Peru. Ever since I found out about SKIP and the Fellow for Peace position, not a day has passed where I have not excitedly talked and thought about the upcoming summer (as my friends and family can attest to!)

I’ve always been a list person, and preparing for this trip is no exception. Even now, a month away from departure, multiple post-its are stashed around the house—things to ask the director of SKIP, documents to supply to The Advocacy Project, things to buy and pack, things my traveled friends say are necessities in South America, people to notify of my plans… pretty soon there will be a list of all the lists I’m keeping! While the little preparations keep me occupied, I worry about the bigger plan as well—how I can best help these children and advocate for their education. But no matter how much I prepare or read about the children of Peru or the state of education there, I can’t quite picture exactly what this summer will be like.

In the early stages of my preparation, I was slightly envious of the fellows who are going to work with organizations who have previously hosted AP interns. As the first two AP fellows to work with SKIP, Jessica and I have no previous plan or recommendations from AP. Talking to Peruvians and reading reports like those in the Economist make me wonder what the kids in Trujillo are up against—dilapidated schools, unqualified teachers, underfunded programs, and not to mention problems with poverty and violence in their communities... I feel slightly overwhelmed. But Jessica and I have the unique opportunity to truly be trailblazers, and make our own evaluation and recommendation to best advocate for the education of the children in Peru. While I still may not have a clear picture of what my summer will be like, I’m surprisingly okay with that. And while my experiences with American education and human rights might not always provide me with an exact plan for SKIP, I’m excited about the process of learning and planning it as I go.