Teaching Children At A Small School In San Juan de Miraflores

The boy in the picture is Victor, one of the young chidren that we are teaching English to in our current Impacts project. We are currently working with a small school in one of the poorer areas of Lima to provide free English lessons on Saturday mornings to about 12 kids. All these kids come from very poor families, and most of them have to work in the streets at a tender age to help supplement the family income.

At first sight, Victor strikes you as a rather rough guy - his tone of voice and his mannerisms. However, if we examine beyond the surface, he is one of our best students in regards to his attitude in learning. He also shows a lot of enthusiasm in learning and is a very helpful chap. He shows a maturity beyond his age due to the harsh realities of life that he has to deal with at his young age.

Here in Peru, most people judge by appearances. If a person is dressed shabbily, or has a darker skin color, or does not speak with cultured eloquence, such a person would often be bypassed in society. In our projects in Peru, we try to teach them grooming and lifeskills to give these people a better chance in life. However we focus a lot more on the grooming of internal character rather than the grooming of external appearance. Ultimately, it is not the outward adornments that will bring the brightest sparkle to a person's beauty, which will fade with time, but the internal adornment of his character and values.

An example of "values grooming" could be seen in a small incident that happened after our English class with the kids at the school this morning. After they completed their work, Aili gave out sweets to them as an incentive. However, two young girls were so excited about their rewards that they tore out the wrappers immediately and dumped them onto the floor. Their faces looked most angelic even after dumping the wrappers onto the ground, as if it was the most innocent thing to do in the world. It would have been easy to overlook the offense. However, Aili spotted the transgression almost immediately, and told them firmly to pick up the wrappers and throw them into the wastepaper bin.

We may not be around in Peru by the time these kids grow up to be adults one day in the future, but we believe that the small seeds of good values that we sow today will reap a harvest of blessings for them when they reach adulthood one day in the future.