I want to share with you all my first outing to Amantani. Another little activity I am taking part in :) The proyect, unofficially titles "Por y Para los Wawas" (For the Children) is a volunteer program focused on developing literacy in rural island communities. Our team is made up of Peruvians living in Puno with mixed talents (teachers, doctors, nutritionists, sociologists). The travel agency, All Ways Travel, is coordinating our travels and contacts in the community.

Being considered the expert on motivating children (thank you Concordia Language Villages), I am making the first trips with Señor Victor from the agency to meet the kids and present the project to the parents. There are 9 communities on the island of Amantani. Yesterday we visited Sancayuni Alto. This comes out of my journal writing while I was on the island:

I feel like I am living in a scene from Little House on the Prarie. In the small, adobe house, I sit by candlelight writing my journal. Today I have witnessed the marvelous challenge presented by the difficult realities the Amantani community faces.

This morning the tour boat departed at 8am with 20 tourists in tow--4 Americans, 2 Spaniards, 2 Chinese, and a dozen Dutch, Señor Victor and me. I felt completely apart from the tourist pack. The first stop was on the floating island of the Uros. While the tourists listened to a presentation by their guide and an Aymara leader from the community, I sat with a group of kids on the other side of the island. They took turns reading from the only book they could find on in their houses. For about 45 minutes we had a lot of fun reading and playing games. It was obvioulsy very productive interacting with these kids while we work our way to our island destination.

The tourists were curious about my relatively abnormal behavior and a few of us began to chat. I am quickly realizing how knowledgable I have become about Puno culture and realities that are difficult to pick up without having been around the region for a while (p.s.- today marks month #2!!!!)

Three hours later, our boat arrived to the dock of Sancayuni Alto. Señor Victor was immediately flustered because no one was present to meet us. The leaders were very busy delegating the tourists to their homestays and had an additional burden with and NGO whose representatives wanted to do house surveys of homes serving to tourists. Jonatan, a little 7 year old boy took us to the school where supposedly 100 kids were waiting for us. We found no one in the school house. This, of course, set Señor Victor off a bit. I convinced him that we should find housing and eat lunch before we continued.

We found housing with Silvanio, one of the community leaders. As our visit was unexpected, his daughter, Alicia, quickly made a lunch of soup and a plate of rice, fried egg, and potatoes. While we ate, Martinez, another community leader gathered 20 children (ages 5-13) to meet us at the school. This was a perfect group as we had purchased 20 books (stories like Pinnochio, the 3 Little Pigs). Each book cost 2 soles, and the purchases came out of Señor Victor and my pockets.

I led a couple of warm up games like we do at camp. The purpose was to let the kids get to know me a bit more. Luckily, they were EXTREMELY responsive and participated...giggling the whole time. Sometimes I had to wait while the older children translated what I was saying in Spanish to their younger siblings in Quechua. Spanish is only a second language they speak in school. Next, we shared the books with the children and performed two skits (The Cat in Boots and Snow White). The kids were very excited to act...especially the 7 dwarfs.

The bigger challenge came, though, once we tried to read in the classroom. One boy participated in the reading, and actually did relatively well. Unfortunately, the others had little interest in listening. To regain their attention and make sure they were comprehending the story, I stopped every paragraph or so to act out the scene or draw on the chalkboard. Fortunately they understood my drawing of the whale that swallows Pinnochio. The approach proved extremely effective.

After the kids ran home with their new gifts, we again struggled to hunt down the parents and community leaders. I don't believe it was a lack of interest on their part as much as being uninformed. On our part, we also lacked an understanding of the schedule of the community for properly sequencing our activities with them. Once we got the parents (manly the men) together, Victor began to give a speech about our work. The women had to return home to cook for the tourist who were returning from their hike to the island's peak.

Being a foreigner and young woman, I never spoke directly or forcefully. I left this to Señor Victor. It is definitely not my place to challenge the community leaders. I presented myself and then took pictures at the permission of the meeting participants. Afterwards, I went to sit down, and realized I had sat in the row of the men. I quickly got up and walked over to where the women and children sat. This gesture was evidently appreciated, especially by the women.

Señor Victor was very firm in his presentation of our project. I worry, though, that he went a bit over the top. I will NEVER discount him for his passion and determination in the work, but I am concerned that he is speaking down to the community a bit too harshly. I was then asked to add a few comments. Trying to counter Señor Victor's intense comments, I spoke more meekly and thanked the parents for allowing me to spend time with their kids.

The meeting was productive. The parents were animated about me returning this coming Saturday to work with both the kids as well as a group of parents. The primary idea is to create a puppet show with the characters from the books. Additionally, with the parents, we will discuss how to incorporate reading in the home. I hope that I will have 1 or 2 other volunteers with me next week. Señor Victor is helpful with the transportation issues, but is a bit rough with both the kids and the adults. Another positive from the meeting was our new community coordinator. Flavio, the elementary school teacher wants to help us coordinate and plan activities.

So, I will return to the island next Saturday with my toilet paper, flashlight, handwash, 4 layers of clothes, sunscreen, toothpaste, and deoderant. For the family I will bring fruit as a present to thank them for their hospitality and a book for their daughter.

P.s...There is NOTHING more amazing than walking on the island with nothing more than the moonlight from the sky and the lake's reflection guiding you as clearly as in the daytime.