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December, 2006 Education News
Dear Friends of Q’ewar,
We are happy to announce the arrival of Senora Nidia U. to the Q’ewar Project! Sra. Nidia is a certified primary school teacher from Andahuaylillias. Sra. Nidia, 31 years old, is at Wawa Munakuy all day, taking care of the small babies and very young children in the morning, then supervising the primary school children in the afternoon.
Two other Q’ewar mothers help out in the afternoon with all the school age children who come to Q’ewar with their mothers after the lunch break at 2:20pm. The school year ends just before Christmas, then there is a “vacation” period during January, February and part of March. For the poor, this means there are no activities and many children miss school, being inside with friends and scheduled activities. In the cities, the children have to work with their parents or just roam the streets and play with whatever comes their way.
But in the highlands, with torrential rains each day, this means that the 18 or so Q’ewar children at least have a place to be during the day while their Moms are working – a dry clean place where there is guidance, play activities and supervision. No more are the Q’ewar mothers afraid of their children playing in the muddy streets of the pueblo, alone and without care.
November saw the inaugural firing up of the new horno (a large baking oven made of adobe bricks). It was used for the first time by the Wawa Munakuy children to make whole grain bread for the week of “school”. (In the same rotunda are two small adobe open fires used by the Q’ewar ladies to make the special natural dyes.) The children will be using the horno each Monday as part of their routine to make bread for the week’s playgroup sessions.
In July and August of this year, Co-Director Lucy took the second of three special Waldorf Kindergarten courses in Columbia. In January, Lucy will have time to work with Sra. Nidia in introducing more Waldorf kindergarten/playgroup ideas into her routine. Little by little, Wawa Munakuy is being formed truly into a place where new patterns and new designs are being woven into the living fabric of the children’s lives. A living fabric which will and does uplift these little ones – to ensure a brighter future, a future that is filled with hope and promise.
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