Our First Day

Today we met nearly all 70 students, their parents, and some extended family. They travelled (some for hours) from their small aldeas in the campo to drop off their daughter(s). Some came by bus, others by bike, and still others by foot.

The four of us spent a good part of the morning tracking down the students and making sure that they all had name tags. Later Sister Teresa gave a bit of an introduction to the center and said a few prayers. Then the families said their goodbyes and left their daughters in our hands. Then came the fun part: all of the rules and regulations. This ranged from respecting each other’s things to no makeup or nail polish. The sisters really try to make sure that academics are the students’ main focus.

Each girl will have received a medical evaluation before they start classes. This includes collecting some general information (parents’ names, birthday, etc.) but also what their living conditions are like. The girls reported what their houses were made of, if they had dirt or cement floors, and whether or not they had things like electricity, potable water, or a latrine. As Tori and I went around helping the girls fill out the forms, we noticed that the answers varied. Some had brick houses and cement floors while others didn’t have potable water or electricity. It’s easy to forget the conditions of home life (at least regarding physical comforts) while the girls are at the school. I’ve been getting a lot of flashbacks to my days of recess and lunches in the cafeteria with my friends. Yet instances like filling out this medical evaluation keep me grounded and make sure that I’m in check.

After a few questions about their general health, they got checked for lice-sometimes followed by a chemical shampoo. Tori and I spent the afternoon supervising the students while they tried not to get their clothes wet washing their hair in the shower. Quite a feat if you ask me.

It’s typical for women to have two first names and two last names. For someone like me who can’t remember my own name, it is a challenge to remember 70 of these double names… On top of that, they’re different than what we’re used to. For example, one of the girls is named Blanca Rosa and it seems that they call her Blanca for short.

I’m still really looking forward to getting to know the students (even if it means remembering all of their double names). They seem like a great bunch so far!

Tomorrow starts our first real day of classes. We’ll have our normal schedule so I’ll be starting off with Spanish with the 10^th grade class. Wish me luck!