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| San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas |
The highlight was a private piano concert by the artist in residence of Na Bolom, the one-time home of a Danish archeologist and his Swiss journalist wife who trekked into the mountains and became friends with the indigenous. They are both deceased and their one-time home is now a combination museum, hotel, cultural center and place of study.
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| Richard Pierce Milner |
Today it was back to reality and all that six active children bring with it. For the
most part the school year in Guatemala starts in January when the coffee
picking season is over. One exception is the international schools that keep a
schedule corresponding to that of the developed world from where they draw many
of their teachers. Thus, Astrid started her school year in September. She is repeating the sixth grade having
survived a year of learning English and dealing with a huge cultural divide and
an imprisoned father. She has, quite
obviously, decided to make it work. The
first edition of the school newsletter for the year touted Astrid as a star
student. She has friends, her grades are
good, she is gaining fluency in English and she is not letting the cultural
divide get in her way. For Christmas I
saw that she got a recycled first generation iPad which puts her on equal
footing with her fellow, far more affluent, students. She asked me to install
the "Pages" app so she could use it for homework. During the
Christmas school break Astrid volunteered at one of the Antigua veterinary
clinics where she was on hand when a circus owner brought in a baby (17 pounds)
female African lion with a broken leg.
Astrid continues to go to the clinic on Saturdays and the vet has been so
impressed with her interest and dedication that he has let her assist him with
surgeries. Astrid at 13 is likely on her
way to beating poverty.
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| Astrid and the lion. |
Sadly,
Denis had to say "adios" to his one-time math teacher who returned to
Canada in December. Alex (not to be
confused with Denis father) had spent most of his afternoons for the previous
several months tutoring Denis in math, English and life. Denis experienced a father figure, someone
who actually cared that he succeed.
Gladly, the two talk regularly on Skype and I have promised Denis a trip
to visit Alex when he graduates from "basico" (9th grade). So, between that bribery, ongoing work with
both Alex and an educational psychologist and the arrival of the perfect home
schooling tutor Denis is tackling his return to formal education with increased
confidence and interest. His fears of
being stupid and failing are rapidly subsiding.
He smiles and says "thank you very much" a lot.
For now
the challenge is Jackie who, at 17, has been the most affected by her father's
behavior and imprisonment. Once a good
student she recently flunked her second to last year of
"diversificado" (high school).
I fault the less than stellar bi-lingual secretarial program rather than
Jackie but, nonetheless, flunking out of school isn't much of a confidence
builder. Fairly quickly, Jackie was
signed up for home schooling along with her brother. During her school vacation she volunteered at
the vacation program at the Montessori school that Cris and Mishelle attend. As a result (and with a bit of conversation)
she is, for the moment, setting her sites on becoming a teacher. With the start
of home schooling it became apparent that Jackie was lagging, perhaps even
ailing. The good Dr. Oscar was called
and he came by the house a couple of hours later. Lab work showed that Jackie is suffering from
anemia, likely the result of living on tortillas and bread. Dr. Oscar who declined payment for his house
call prescribed something to settle her stomach and a decent diet which I can
now see to at least two times a day.
As luck
would have it a few days before home schooling was to get underway Victoria
showed up. She was introduced by a
neighbor. Victoria is a Guatemalan who
was supporting her younger siblings by selling fruit in Antigua's Central Park
at age six some 48 years ago. She was
befriended by an American couple who were able to adopt her after her father
was imprisoned for molesting her and her mother tossed her out. She was then raised in the US by two
professors and only returned to Guatemala after raising two American children. She is now married to a Guatemalan and they
have a 12-year old son. Victoria's
passion is teaching, she has home schooled her youngest son in the past and was
looking for work. She found it. I don't have a clue as to what I would have
done if she had not turned up but I do know that I couldn't find a more perfect
candidate. A one-time child fruit vendor
with a deadbeat dad and the same color skin who has succeeded in spite of it
all. School takes place in my living
room or in my garden. School lunches
(and snacks and breakfast when necessary) are wholesome and nourishing. I hear laughter and lots of
conversation. I watch Denis writing
enthusiastically in his notebooks, using the Khan Academy website and I hear
him asking lots of questions. What a
change! Hopefully, with a few weeks of
Tia Joan's school meal program Jackie will perk up and share Denis's interest
and enthusiasm.
And
lastly there was Diego, bright, polite, deserving, fatherless. Marielos has had him in a (cheap) private school
since pre-school. He loves school and
learning and likes to read and practice the little English that he has
learned. His mother felt that his school
had failed him over the past two years and was unsure of what to do for this
school year. Enter Victoria who gained
Diego a chance to take the entrance exam at the same private, bi-lingual school
that her son attends. I collected Diego
after his 3-hour entrance exam. He was
staring hopelessly at a written English test.
After determining that he didn't
speak much English the director announced that he could not come to the
school. Much to my surprise Diego the
"old soul" who takes amazing care of his younger siblings started
sobbing and ran out of the room. Only
then did I realize that, at age ten, Diego realized that he had just lost a
real chance to succeed. Feeling that I
had nothing to lose I challenged the director (who coincidentally doesn't speak
a word of English). I told her that his father was dead, his step-father in
prison, that he felt responsible for his whole family and that she had just
kicked him in the teeth. And just how was he going to learn English if a
bi-lingual school wouldn't take a bright, determined kid? So, Diego started last week as a
"temporary" student with no particular standing for this school
year. I told the director that I didn't
care, that she just needed to give the kid a chance. So, he floats between third grade English
classes and fifth grades classes in Spanish and I am quite certain that he will
succeed. He is happy and he tells me
that his favorite classes are English and science. One of the bi-lingual teachers took me aside
that first day and assured me that she would keep an eye on Diego as will
Victoria. At 2pm Victoria picks Diego up
with her son and delivers him to the school that his younger siblings attend
where he gets an hour of homework assistance and and another hour of English.
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| Chris, Diego and Mishelle |
And the
littlest two, Cris and Mishelle, once just another couple of kids growing up in
the market are starting to read and write along with becoming iPad and iPhone
experts. Along with Diego (who by the
way is now sporting retainers as an initial step in sorting out his dental
issues) Cris and Mishelle are remarkably secure thanks, I think, to their
adoring mother and extended family.
And, if
six kids and one dog weren't enough I came home one day and found
"Latte" tied to the table in the garden. An 18 pound probable poodle mix of a café latte color he was sorely in need of veterinary care. I had seen him a few days earlier at a nearby
shelter and had offered to take him on a trial basis. Riddled with mange and infected eyes and ears
but otherwise spunky and puppy like. He
spent a few days in the vet clinic where it was determined that he is almost
blind from "juvenile cataracts" (which might dissolve). He is still
on the mend but all of the kids (if not my other dog) adore him. He is just the right size yet can outrun
Denis, the star soccer player. Just what
Denis needs right now.
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| Diego, 10 and Mishelle, 4 |
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| Perfect dog for a bunch of kids. |
