Hello dears!
I'm sending you greetings from Rincon school due to the beginning of the school year. We started today by raising the Bolivian flag and singing their really strange National anthem. I really admire the fact that they can sing SUCH melody without accompaniment. Maybe you can find it on Youtube and listen to it :D Impressive piece of music! It slightly reminded me of late Purvs' compositions we once had to sing in Jelgava baptist church choir :)
All 3 dormitories are full of students from grades 1 -12. Some of them are 20 and 22... My neighbors - girls are here too. And it seems like there's a constant buzz. I had to do something interesting on Monday. Since the locals are of the habit of throwing their belongings on the ground and not picking them up there was a strong rule to put one's initials on their personal belongings so the owner can be easily found. So Velta and I sat by the door of the dorms and checked if there are initials written on. At first we just asked them if they have done it. ALL the girls confirmed. Then we asked them to show their belongings. And many times only one shirt from all the bag had the owner's initials on it. So we examined all personal belongings of all 40 girls, ALL personal belongings... and the view wasn't very pleasant. Most of the girls come from families who live in the middle of jungle in clay or dirt homes with palm leaf roofs. Parents sometimes visit cities and buy the necessary things but it seemed like they rarely do it. Some girls seemed to have all the contents of their closet with them. Others had nothing but a pair of socks, underwear and a skirt with them... their underwear looked like it's been worn 100 times - worn out and dirty... it was a bit sad to see that and put their initials on these things... but that's how they live here. And for many of the students this school and the dorms is the fanciest and coolest place they've ever lived at. And when you look at the pictures of the dorms you'll see that this is a very very simple place. Most kids live completely without electricity. Here they have it for 2 or more hours so they feel like they're in a completely different world here. Ms. Velta told me there have been girls who could wonder about tap water for hours. They could just stare and think, and wonder how's that possible that water comes out of a tap. Girls have a lot to learn about tidiness, hygiene, helpfulness, caring, diligence, honesty... That's why they're here and that's why all the staff is here to help them. One of the greatest challenges is to talk them out of the idea of starting to have babies as soon as they're 12 or 13 and keep having them for the rest of their lives from several different men. A Latvian man used to lived here, now he's in Brazil because of health issues. Once one of the students approached him with these words: I want a child from you! And this man was 75 at the time... These girls have seen only their moms' and neighbors' example - they all give birth and stay in their dirt houses without any will to achieve or change something. When I ask the girls if they have any brothers or sisters I always hear numbers like 6, 7 or 8... no one is the only child here :) I don't even know if it's good or bad, it's just different...
It's interesting that it's the 2nd day for the girls with me but they still stare at me like at a miracle! The youngest girls are even a little bit afraid of such a white person :D There are some younger kids who stare at me for 5 minutes... I guess they're staring and wondering 'What kind of soap this girl is using that she's so white?' :D When I ask them what's their name, some of them run into their rooms. But the older girls gladly talk to me and help me with my Spanish, correct my mistakes and help me find the right words. But they wonder anyway. I wonder what will happen during English classes where I'll have to meet the boys... they have seen me for a little bit. I guess the new vocabulary for first week will be 'different', 'accept', 'foreign' and so on :) It's going to be exciting!
Everything is good otherwise. I'm alive and well as always. The bugs still bite me every night. We have to get up at 5:40 every morning... And if you ever have a feeling that everything is done then know that it's not true. And I'm glad that there's something to do all the time :)
I see Latvia in my dreams lately. But it's totally different Latvia. There is a huge observation tower in Sigulda and you can see whole Latvia from there :D My work office is turned into a jungle room :D And there are many other colorful dreams. I guess it's normal if you live in a jungle village.
Please pray for superwoman Velta. Her legs really hurt. She needs a leg surgery but she doesn't have either time and money for that... she has to take expensive medicine to be able to endure every day. And she is on her feet ALL day long. Except when she eats or goes to bathroom. But I will definitely write more about her :)
It's time to go now. Hasta luego!
I'm sending you greetings from Rincon school due to the beginning of the school year. We started today by raising the Bolivian flag and singing their really strange National anthem. I really admire the fact that they can sing SUCH melody without accompaniment. Maybe you can find it on Youtube and listen to it :D Impressive piece of music! It slightly reminded me of late Purvs' compositions we once had to sing in Jelgava baptist church choir :)
All 3 dormitories are full of students from grades 1 -12. Some of them are 20 and 22... My neighbors - girls are here too. And it seems like there's a constant buzz. I had to do something interesting on Monday. Since the locals are of the habit of throwing their belongings on the ground and not picking them up there was a strong rule to put one's initials on their personal belongings so the owner can be easily found. So Velta and I sat by the door of the dorms and checked if there are initials written on. At first we just asked them if they have done it. ALL the girls confirmed. Then we asked them to show their belongings. And many times only one shirt from all the bag had the owner's initials on it. So we examined all personal belongings of all 40 girls, ALL personal belongings... and the view wasn't very pleasant. Most of the girls come from families who live in the middle of jungle in clay or dirt homes with palm leaf roofs. Parents sometimes visit cities and buy the necessary things but it seemed like they rarely do it. Some girls seemed to have all the contents of their closet with them. Others had nothing but a pair of socks, underwear and a skirt with them... their underwear looked like it's been worn 100 times - worn out and dirty... it was a bit sad to see that and put their initials on these things... but that's how they live here. And for many of the students this school and the dorms is the fanciest and coolest place they've ever lived at. And when you look at the pictures of the dorms you'll see that this is a very very simple place. Most kids live completely without electricity. Here they have it for 2 or more hours so they feel like they're in a completely different world here. Ms. Velta told me there have been girls who could wonder about tap water for hours. They could just stare and think, and wonder how's that possible that water comes out of a tap. Girls have a lot to learn about tidiness, hygiene, helpfulness, caring, diligence, honesty... That's why they're here and that's why all the staff is here to help them. One of the greatest challenges is to talk them out of the idea of starting to have babies as soon as they're 12 or 13 and keep having them for the rest of their lives from several different men. A Latvian man used to lived here, now he's in Brazil because of health issues. Once one of the students approached him with these words: I want a child from you! And this man was 75 at the time... These girls have seen only their moms' and neighbors' example - they all give birth and stay in their dirt houses without any will to achieve or change something. When I ask the girls if they have any brothers or sisters I always hear numbers like 6, 7 or 8... no one is the only child here :) I don't even know if it's good or bad, it's just different...
It's interesting that it's the 2nd day for the girls with me but they still stare at me like at a miracle! The youngest girls are even a little bit afraid of such a white person :D There are some younger kids who stare at me for 5 minutes... I guess they're staring and wondering 'What kind of soap this girl is using that she's so white?' :D When I ask them what's their name, some of them run into their rooms. But the older girls gladly talk to me and help me with my Spanish, correct my mistakes and help me find the right words. But they wonder anyway. I wonder what will happen during English classes where I'll have to meet the boys... they have seen me for a little bit. I guess the new vocabulary for first week will be 'different', 'accept', 'foreign' and so on :) It's going to be exciting!
Everything is good otherwise. I'm alive and well as always. The bugs still bite me every night. We have to get up at 5:40 every morning... And if you ever have a feeling that everything is done then know that it's not true. And I'm glad that there's something to do all the time :)
I see Latvia in my dreams lately. But it's totally different Latvia. There is a huge observation tower in Sigulda and you can see whole Latvia from there :D My work office is turned into a jungle room :D And there are many other colorful dreams. I guess it's normal if you live in a jungle village.
Please pray for superwoman Velta. Her legs really hurt. She needs a leg surgery but she doesn't have either time and money for that... she has to take expensive medicine to be able to endure every day. And she is on her feet ALL day long. Except when she eats or goes to bathroom. But I will definitely write more about her :)
It's time to go now. Hasta luego!
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