Wednesday, May 21, 2014

From "Alleluia" to Alpaca, it was a good day.

I woke up today to the sound of hymns coming from the church across the street. A pleasant way to wake up, but I discovered I was the only one to sleep until 9:30 (oops). After a quick shower and breakfast, the group decided to get together to practice and plan for this afternoon. Clara gave us the morning off so we could rehearse and she would rather not have us interrupt class. We sang, played our instruments, and practiced the recorder (which at this altitude came with a lot of breaks).

After practicing, we decided to grab a quick lunch, then make our way to Huch 'uy Runa for the afternoon. Again, we ate at our favorite restaurant located just below our hotel, but nobody ordered pizza this time. Then we set out for Huch 'uy Runa.

Arriving at Huch 'uy Runa we were welcomed in once again, and we had a HUGE surprise awaiting us. We turned the corner and they had hung up all of the sheets we had given them of Normandale members. During Sunday school, we had members of Normandale Lutheran Church fill out sheets of paper about their lives such as how old they were, their favorite color and food, etc. Yesterday we gave them to Clara and told her to show them to the kids at some point so they could get to know some kids and adults in our congregation. We were welcomed with this:
Overnight, Clara had posted all of them on a huge board for all of the children to read. The children who were just returning from lunch were so excited looking at the profiles and asking if we knew these people. The top of the board reads "How beautiful to know you!"
We were so happy to see the children reading the profiles from Normandale, and amazed that Clara had organized the board so quickly.

Now it was time to begin the workshops. We were to go around to each workshop and teach. Today's focus was on teaching the kids about rounds. We had some rounds prepared and the kids absolutely loved learning every single one. First, we visited the sewing workshop. Thank goodness for Annie who jumped right in and started talking to the kids in Spanish telling them about how we were going to sing and how they were going to sing along with us. In every workshop we split the kids into two groups, and taught them rounds such as "Viva la Musica" or "Long live music" and "Alleluia". Here is a YouTube video Lorna took (while playing the bells and singing) of "Alleluia".
The smaller grades took some movements and clapping to get motivated, but overall everybody had a smile in their face by the time we left. We always ended with the kid's new favorite song that Pastor Dale had taught at lunch yesterday, "Ale Ale Aleluia" complete with clapping, motions, and even a "chuka chuka chuka" (an addition Pastor Dale picked up in India). The best part was seeing Clara's face when she walked by the windows of the classrooms and saw the kids singing and dancing.

Sadly, the end of our last workshop had come to an end. As Annie and I left with Clara, we were standing outside wondering what was taking the others so long. We went back to the classroom and saw all of the kids gathered around Lorna and Deb wanting to try the bells and the flute.

Good thing we have instrument lessons planned for later this week!

After the teachers shooed the kids away and back to their workshops, we went down to have a meeting with Clara and debrief the day. The meeting was very informative and productive. We spoke with Clara about the current state of Huch 'uy Runa and the future. We spoke about the launch of a website, and she spoke about the ELCA and the children. Clara had many insights into how the world works now, and how Huch 'uy Runa is affected. She spoke about how it is hard to get support because most foundations require for monetary support that something is "produced" by their efforts. Clara pointed out that at Huch 'uy Runa they are producing people, which is the most important thing of all. She pointed out that they value the health, nourishment, and education of the children, which is and always will be their first priority, not producing crafts or goods to sell. She also spoke to the rising cost of living in Peru and how that as a country, exports are increasing, therefore increasing their costs. She used an example with potatoes. She said that in Cusco, there are 1,000s of potatoes farms, but the potato farmers sell first to the fancy hotels that pay a high rate for tourists, then they export the rest at a high price. She noted that it is too expensive to buy a crop that they can grow in their backyard! Durning the meeting, we enjoyed some fresh pastries made by the children that morning and they were fantastic! Clara also shared with us the amount of joy we had brought her just by seeing the kids singing and dancing. She said that music is so important to her and the kids, but that it is unfortunately more important to buy food and medicine than it is to hire a music teacher with their pinched funds. She even invited Annie to stay for the rest of the year! We concluded our meeting with plans for tomorrow, said our goodbyes, and headed back to town.

The evening was dedicated to debriefing, relaxing, and catching up on some blogging (oops again!) before dinner. We ate dinner at another favorite place I remember from my first trip. All of us ordered Alpaca except for Annie (who didn't spare me from the judging looks) and Deb. 

It was unbelievably delicious and we finished with dessert.

 On the way back to the hotel the plaza was lit up and you could see the big Jesus statue overlooking the city on top of a hill. A sight to take your breath away.

With a long day behind, and a long day ahead, it's time for bed for Ben Beyond the Bubble.

Buenas Noches








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