Vikki's Peruvian Adventure: Thursday, 18th March - Day 12

Millie, Karen and I out on the town! [...not]

A village boy

Just a few random pictures to keep you going until Monday.

Today, I went to the prison for a change of scenery and to get the experience of working with little children the same age as the ones I will be working with in the cow shed next week. There is a small classroom for any of the children who want to go, set up and run by CCS. It is essential for these little children to get some idea of how to sit still and learn in a classroom environment so that when they leave the prison at the age of 4 or sometimes 5, they will have some idea of what school is like. It was totally exhausting and the only thing that made them really laugh was when I hurled myself on the floor every time they threw a bean bag at me! Their attention span is very short so we have to think of different things for them to do every ten minutes or so. Alexandria, a young American girl, is in charge of things and amazing. She speaks good Spanish so was able to keep them amused for most of the time. Playdo was a great success - I made it the other day at the house and brought it in today but it is a bit sticky so gets absolutely everywhere. It's a steep learning curve. The mother of one of the little boys is 32yrs old and has 10 children, the first one at 15. She was put inside for drugs and her husband is looking after the other 9 children! Another young girl is inside because her husband was sentenced for armed robbery but threatened her if she didn't bring drugs to him and she got caught. She only has another 7 months to go and when released is going to collect her two children from different foster homes and then wants to disappear because she is frightened of her husband. Her son who is now 10 tried to commit suicide at 5. The prison is still quite spooky and hearing the great iron doors clonking behind you and being locked in is quite unnerving. We return to lunch with ink entry and exit stamps all up and down our arms.