Sports Day - otherwise known as complete mayhem!

The weeks are passing quickly here, and I am getting more and more attached to the kids in my class. They have quite tough shells, so the longer I stay the more they open up - when I first arrived it was actually quite hard to feel as connected to what I was doing (in comparison with Peru). Everyday I learn something new about these kids lives that makes me feel even stronger about the work that we do here, so with this in mind the last day of school before Easter became Sports Day. The idea being that we just do something fun - I want to cram in as much as I can before I have to leave. It is also a great way to just be friends with kids when you do things like this - instead of just always trying to teach them facts!

We were prepared - very prepared. We estimated the amount of kids we would be working with (30 - at the most), picked team colours, bought face-paints, boiled eggs for egg and spoon race, had medals for the winners and prizes for the best team, plus all kinds of other equipment for the different races we would do. We also bought lots of food to share out at the end.  

It was a boiling hot day and the sun was beating down on us as we headed to Oasis. We had 20 children arrive for sports day, so we divided them up and gave them a colour each - they could paint their faces and tie ribbons round them in their team colour. Each team was about five or six kids. When we were finally ready we walked down the street to the campo - less than a three minute walk. Somehow, in this short space of time, the children multiplied. The green team suddenly had twelve little green faces instead of six. The reds were growing by the second, and throughout the afternoon more and more kids appeared, asking to play. It was for the Oasis school kids - but when a little child comes up and asks you if they can play, I defy anyone to say no and make them watch! 

This meant that we didn't have enough prizes, or food for that matter. The relay races couldn't work as no team was equal and nobody could keep track of who had or hadn't run. When we gave them water they sprayed it everywhere so some people were soaked, and we didn't have enough medals to give to any one team! We decided to just pick a 'best team player' from each team and give them a medal, which I think worked quite well. We gave a few sweets out, but the absolute crazy begging, pushing and shoving that takes place when you do this on the street is so horrible that we kept the fruit and juice for another, calmer day.

It's kind of an example of how things never really go how you want them to here. You can plan and plan and plan but it won't turn out how you imagined it - sometimes it is better and sometimes it is worse! I guess the main thing is that you have had fun with the children - way more important than it being precisely executed! All in all, I was happy with the sports day - they all were smiling and had good team spirit. I think the end result may have sent many running for the hills, but all of us painted and sweaty volunteers went home with smiles on our faces, as did the kids.

A welcome break... Minca

Each morning here in Santa Marta I wake up to the sound of loud traffic, conversations shouted across the street and vendors selling AGUACATE AGUACATE AGUACATE!! That is if the heat hasn't beaten their daily wake-up calls. So when I woke this morning to the sounds of birds and insects, and I was actually using a blanket, I felt a deep sense of relaxation. Welcome to Minca.

About fifty minutes drive outside Santa Marta lies the small town of Minca. Nestled on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada it is a green little haven from the relentless heat of the Santa Marta sun, and a treasure trove of trees, flowers and all kinds of birds and insects. We decided it was time for a small break, and got up early Sunday to make our way there. 

There are no buses to Minca as such, just an option of a four wheel drive which you hop in and wait to fill up, or a ride on a moto-taxi (back of a motorbike, no thank you!) or maybe a taxi. As we were four we didn't have to wait for our car to fill and climbed into the boot of what can only be described as an old banger! A bumpy ride later (in which the metal floor of the car heated up so much that our feet were burning through our shoes) and we arrived over a rickety little bridge into the town of Minca.

Apparently until 2006, Minca was under the control of paramilitaries - the Sierra Nevada is notorious for paramilitary activity - but, for us at least, there was no sign of any of this. It consists of a dirt road, with a pool hall, a few shops and some vendors selling typical Colombian street fare. The main thing I noticed was just how nice the people are. I have always been told about the wonderful Colombian people, and I got to see it at full wattage in Minca - everyone wants to help!

We walked to a waterfall (about an hour away) through lots of huge bamboo trees. If you stood still you could hear them creaking slowly - kind of spooky! They looked beautiful though, huge canopies framing the path, towering over us. There are lots of birds flitting between the trees - bright, colourful birds that I have never seen before, and butterflies land on your path and in the bushes, making everything seem like it is moving and alive.

My bed!

The best part though came when we arrived at our hostel for the night . After swimming in the waterfall, a picnic, walking back to town and a steep hike, we arrived at Casa Loma. Owned by an English couple who quit everything at home to make a go of it in Colombia, it is just so peaceful! It is an open structure, and we opted for hammocks as our beds for the evening. They face outwards over the wonderful view, where Santa Marta is just a few lights twinkling in the distance. I fell asleep with a nice cool breeze swaying the hammock... 

Morning coffee from a local farm 

Even when I woke up at daybreak with the sounds of the birds, it felt lovely to lie and look at the scenery, having been in the centre of Santa Marta or the barrio for the past month or so. Having got to the stage now where I am even dreaming about the school and teaching it was such a nice break, and I have to say that I am looking forwards to the upcoming Semana Santa and the week off it gives us!

Geography!

Yesterday's class involved learning about Colombia - how many people live there, what mountains there and what they export etc. We painted a flag which today we used as the background for all the pictures the kids drew. Here are a few pictures!

Sergio

Smiling is not allowed. Not when you are the two "cool" boys from Oasis's oldest class and are cultivating some kind of street image! Meet Sergio (in red) and Miguel (on the right), who are, if I am honest, two of my favourite kids in the class. These two come to school everyday without fail and have been there since my first day. When I take the camera out Sergio poses like some kind of gangster, and Miguel refuses to smile no matter what I say.

Each child in the class has such a strong personality, and there is no way that anything I write will convey each quirk and detail of who these children are. But, I am going to try - starting with Sergio.


The teacher who had this class before me sent a long email before I took over, giving me advice on the children and what she had been teaching. Her words of warning: Sergio is one you'll have to keep an eye on. And she wasn't exaggerating! He pulls girls hair, he squirts water everywhere, he calls one girl "Fiona" when her name is Maria Alejandra (as in Fiona, the green monster married to Shrek). But he is so smart. Within seconds he soaks up new information, and can throw it back out. All of the kids respond amazingly well to praise, but get so frustrated by their inability to grasp things. This isn't a problem for Sergio, and when you tell him he has got something right, his whole face lights up. 

Sergio doing paper mache (he is very artistic)

The wonderful thing for me, about Sergio, is that his naughtiness is what you would expect from a young boy. Yes, he is rougher than he should be, and often breaks into dance when I am trying to explain something difficult, but at the end of the day he is just acting how you expect a child to act (a child that hasn't been house-broken!) He can wind the little girls up no end, and I remember how upset boys like him used to make me with their constant teasing, but you can tell he means no harm by it all. I suppose all this must mean that he comes from a less troubled background, but who knows.

Small things about Sergio break my heart. Today we played a game, and I offered the winner the prize of going to the shop at the end of class to pick something for me to buy them. Sergio won the game (all to do with listing nouns if you are interested!) and he was so very excited! The shop is pretty basic. It sits on the corner before we get to school, and sells a little bit of everything (food, drinks, pens) but nothing too exciting. We go in, and Sergio, the most outgoing boy in the class, gets an attack of shyness at what to pick. I said to him: "anything!" thinking he was going to go for one of the sickly sweet offerings that line the counter. He shyly points, and says por favor, esta; not at chocolate, lollipops, Coca-Cola or anything similar. He wanted an apple. Fruit! I bought him a little bag of orange juice to go with his apple (honestly about 40p spent in total) and he looked like he had won the lottery. I could have cried - what child in England would be that excited over an apple? He danced off down the street with his loot, yelling Hasta manana Seno! firmly cementing his position of favourite...

One of those days...

...One of those days when it all gets too much, and you feel useless and tired and like what you are doing is not really going to help anyone. Or maybe it could, if only things were just organised a bit better, or if there was more money, or if the parents of some of the kids taught them how to behave better... 

The front door of the school - it is far too hot and dark to close it. Lots of kids hang around the door, even if they don't attend.

But things are how they are: the children are poor, can be violent, naughty, they can't read very well (and those who can are held back by those who can't), it is hot, dirty and loud. There are three tiny classrooms in Oasis' school; there are no doors so you can hear it (and see it) when the class next door kicks off, or a fight breaks out. Even when the classes next door are having a great time it means the volume goes up and making yourself heard is hard. It also means the kids are distracted a lot. Add in to the mix the days when the young teenagers next door to the school bring out their gigantic speakers and blast music while school is going - in retaliation for the noise of the kids - and some days it really feels like it is descending into chaos.


Some days are great, and I should stress that before I start moaning about today (which is the worst day I have had here, and probably in a long time). For example yesterday we did maths, the kids sat through the whole lesson, and the other classes behaved and it all went smoothly. Could be something to do with the fact that for some reason Mondays are a lot quieter than the rest of the week - I only had about six or seven kids and the other classes were smaller too. The other reason is that we had enough people - the ideal is two people per class (although I think more wouldn't hurt). There is one teacher, and one assistant. So yesterday I had an assistant. Today I didn't and either did Martin, the teacher for the class beside me.

In the background you can see Maria peering in from her classroom - everything is open so the kids are easily distracted.

An assistant helps for a number of reasons. All the kids are different levels and so having an extra person means I can divide the class roughly into two groups according to ability and have one person per group. No assistant means that you have about twelve children who all need your help, and all for different reasons. As I mentioned before the school is pretty open, so we have a problem with random kids running in from outside and trying to steal things, annoy the students and teachers, and generally cause problems. When there are enough people, you can usually kick these guys out easily without disrupting the class too much. But today we were a small group, a lot of students, and a gang of boys from the street decided their mission for the day was to ruin classes.


The boys are young - so they are not threatening to look at - but when they start throwing rocks through the window, you realise how much trouble they can cause. There is no glass in the school (a good thing I think) but it means the rocks can hit the kids or teachers - which is horrible. Today they were throwing rocks at me all afternoon from outside. Or when that got boring they were chucking handfuls of dirt through the window onto the students heads. They would then run into the school, dancing around, smacking kids and trying to rob things. I try so hard to not lose my temper with them, as I think that is what they are hoping for. Also, I try not to touch them more than gently steering them towards the door (which is impossible when they are climbing on tables and chairs and running at you). Today though they were so violent (one punched me in the face, another used a shutter door to try and smack me) that I found it really hard to keep a cool head. It is too hard to put into words how stressful the whole thing was. I felt like crying most of the afternoon, while Martin said to me at the end that the whole experience made him practically suicidal.


The only comfort is that it isn't like this everyday, and the kids I teach are just too lovely to get too disheartened by the circumstances we teach in. When I arrived today two little girls were waiting for me by where the taxis drop us off, with a little flower pot in their hands, as a present for me - when they are that sweet it makes me even more determined not to let a few rough boys ruin it for them.