April 4, 2005
Connecting With Kids From Colegio Sagrada Corazon
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Students in Illinois wrote letters for us to give to new friends in Peru. We hunted around Iquitos for a school that might like some new penpals. When we were let into the Colegio Sagrada Corazon (Sacred Heart School), a secretary told us the Principal was out having lunch and would be back soon if we wanted to wait. The school was a large building that was very secure-it was like a compound with all the classrooms around the outside and the inside was a big open square where children could play and have gym class. Classes changed while we were out in the main square waiting and a group of girls passed near us, many waving and smiling. They stopped at a water faucet to wash their hands and some of them were playfully splashing water on each other. A lot of them said "Hello" to us in English. The principal came back from lunch carrying a little cup of jell-o for his dessert. He was very smiley and got us all chairs to sit in his office. Dave had brought a pile of letters from students in the US - we were hoping a class at this school would respond to the letters. We could pick them up on our way back through town next month. There was an English teacher from California working at this school on exchange and she said she would work with students to get the letters answered. We will come back to the school after our trip and pick them up. The Sagrada Corazon school is surrounded by busy streets. The classroom where children are learning English with the American teacher is extremely noisy. The sound of motorcycles, mototaxis and cars zooming by outside the window makes it very difficult for the children to hear. They want to learn very much so their teacher has tried hard to try to get help making it quieter, but it has not worked. She has to speak very loudly so the children can understand. The school doesn't have any computers, so the children do not learn computers at school and are not able to follow our trip online. There are lots of Internet cafes in Iquitos. Sometimes kids to go Internet cafes and chat with their friends, but they have to pay to use those computers. All of the school children we have seen wear uniforms. It is not required
for all children to attend school, like it is in the United States. Many
poor families need their children to work to help support the family,
so these children don't go to school. Most of the children that go to
school are middle to upper class. After finishing school through the age
of 17, some students attend college or technical schools. Jennifer |
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