Feel My Happiness

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I am the Phys. Ed. teacher at the school for children with disabilities where Emily and I live. This is the highlight of all my ministries. I always look forward to it and I believe the children do too! The slogan for the school is “Siente mi Alegría,” Feel my Happiness. At times, I catch a glimpse of the children’s’ innocence and pure happiness. They get so excited when we do even the smallest activities.

My goal for the children in the classes is to have fun, learn games like basketball and swimming, develop motor skills, and improve their quality of life. For the last couple of months, eight children have been preparing for the Special Olympics here in Trujillo, Peru. We practiced a couple of hours every day, and their efforts proved very successful. The children participated in speed walking, racing in the 50 meter dash, 100 meter dash and 200 meter dash, long jump, and relay races. The Special Olympics took place over a period of two days. The children were thrilled to go on a fieldtrip to the city and compete against the other special education schools. They were so happy to be participating that they truly could not contain their excitement. Throughout both days of the Olympics the children kept asking me if they could race “now.” I had to keep telling them that their turn was coming. While their teammates were racing, they would stand on the sidelines cheering them on. They naturally have great team building skills and encourage one another with great enthusiasm. Emily and I were at the finish line to greet the children after each race. No matter what place they took, they were always so happy. They seemed to be in a dreamlike state of happiness those two days.

In the end, all eight students received medals, six received gold metals, three silver, and four bronze. They were each individually recognized and applauded. They were so content standing on the pedestal receiving their awards that it didn’t matter to them if they had won first place or third. After receiving their medals, the children spontaneously began to run around in circles on the field, running and hugging each other. Their happiness that day was so palpable, it was contagious. One couldn’t help but watch them with a huge smile. Wow, I thought to myself, the school could not have a better slogan, “Feel my Happiness.” Being around them you can’t help but feel and be infected with their happiness and joy.

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-Rafael

My Life in Peru, Part 2: “Santa Rosa” Special Education Center

Hello friends! Last time I wrote a bit about the setting of the neighborhood in which we live. This time I’d like to introduce you to the place which is both our home and our main ministry site here in Perú, the Santa Rosa Parochial Special Education Center. The school’s name is in honor of the Patron Saint of Perú, St. Rose of Lima. This school exists solely to educate and train children and young people with disabilities to develop their skills, abilities, and independence. There are 30 students here, ages 3 to 30, and their disabilities range from mental retardation, autism, and Down’s Syndrome, to significant physical, vision, and auditory impairment.

The Santa Rosa Special Education Center was founded in 1990 by a group of Irish missionary priests who were concerned that there was no educational institution in this neighborhood for children with developmental disabilities. The Irish priests unfortunately left the neighborhood in the late 1990s due to an increase in violence in the area and direct threats that were made against them. The school continued to operate and in 2002 the Comboni Missionaries came to work in the parish of Señor de los Milagros in El Porvenir, and thus became the involved with this parochial school.

The school is located a block off of a street bustling with traffic and small businesses, and directly off of the Plaza de Armas de Gran Chimu, which is basically a small plaza or park. The school is next door to a small chapel, where the Comboni Fathers currently work. The first floor of the Santa Rosa school has three classrooms; one for children ages 3-5, one for children ages 5-10, and one more children ages 10 and over. There are also two workshop spaces, where the teens and young adults ages 18 and over learn different skills and trades. One of the workshops is a small bakery where children learn bread making three days a week, and where I also continue to host the women’s baking workshops each week in the afternoon, for the community and parents of the children. The other workshop space is where the teens and young adults study jewelry making.

The first floor of the school also has a small kitchen/lunch room, where the mother’s of the students take turns preparing lunch for the students most days of the week. They cook with rice and oil which are donated to the school, as nearly all of the families here live in extreme poverty. The women then manage to bring in a small amount of meat, lentils, or eggs to accompany the rice. Somehow they manage to feed all of the students on an amount of food that looks as if it should feed no more than a family of five. The meals typically consist of about 85% rice and carbohydrates and 15% protein, with little to no fruit or vegetables, depending on what the mother who is cooking can afford. This is the reality of the families and of the school, as the school does not charge a tuition fee and operates exclusively on donations.

The school also has a small patio where the children play at recess. This is one of my favorite times of the day. From 10am – 11am nearly every day, Rafael and I spend time just playing and being with the children. The girls have taught me to teach jacks, and they beat me every single time. It gives them a good laugh. Sometimes I go for a walk around the neighborhood with the teenage girls, or have a “spa hour” with them where we paint or nails and listen to music. Other times I play catch or tag with the boys, or read stories to the kids.

The reality of many of the students with disabilities here is that they are often not included into society. They and their families are shamed by society because of their child’s disability. It is a very unfortunate reality that these children and their families face. The school and the families here make great efforts to advocate for the rights of children with different abilities, such as participating in “pasacalles” or marches to raise awareness of the importance of integrating people with disabilities into society.

There are three teachers and two aids that work here at the school. Most of them have been here since the school’s beginning, and collectively they have over seven decades of experience teaching at this school. They have been very warm and welcoming to us here and are very collaborative colleagues as well as good friends to us.

In future blogs I hope to share a bit more with you about the specific stories of some of the children and families here at the Santa Rosa Special Education Center. I think the very best way to share about the school and children is through pictures, as words cannot fully describe this school and the amazing students here.  I will leave you with the following slideshow of images.

-Emily

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