School meets children’s home
Debora Centner reports.
- Klaus: heißt sie Center oder Centner? Bitte bei Dir oder bei mir ändern – danke!
Cachora, where the path to the old Inca ruins of Choquequirao starts, has five thousand inhabitants. Everyone knows everyone else and calls each other “auntie” and “uncle”. Its main square provides one with an amazing view of the eternal glaciers of the Vilcabamba Andes. The village boasts four Hostals (cheap accommodation), two bakeries, two Christian churches, a radio, a health centre, three schools and a children’s home.
Beginning of September this serene mountain idyll was suddenly shaken. A lorry from the Diospi Suyana School arrived on the compound of the children’s home “Children´s Village Cachora”, located on the outskirts of the village, full of camping utensils.
After one day of building and thanks to our janitor, Matthias Kügler, two large yurts, a provisional tarpaulin for a kitchen and eating tent and two DIY showers made from blue plastic adorned the landscape.
For two weeks 24 children of the home of varying ages shared their sports ground, their playground, their electricity, their water and their toilets with us.
The school’s pastor couple, Lipa and Kelly Bartolo, headed the team made up also of Simon Ewald (a future teacher) and Debora Centner (a social worker).
The topics we dealt with were transition phases, family, sexuality and identity. Every two days a new class came to the camp: water- and team-games awaited them. Divided into small groups, which competed against each other, we could on the one hand challenge the children’s fighting spirit, but also on the other hand further their personal interaction.
Furthermore each class organised an event in the village. The 8th grade for example invited some elder residents to the main village square and danced the Tinkus (a folklore dance) for them, performed a play in Quechua and handed out tea and biscuits.
The 9th and 10th grades dealt with the topics of addiction prevention and being sensitised to people with disabilities. The 5th grade, however, impressed the most: they performed an Andean version of the Story of the Prodigal Son.
Meeting the children of the home, however, left the deepest impression on our pupils. They were made aware again of just how privileged they are to have their parents and to be able to go to such a good school. Two classes had collected clothes which they distributed during the fun and games to the “brothers and sisters”.
