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On Friday, we said goodbye to the bustling streets of Lima and took a plane up into the Peruvian Andes for the last leg of our trip. We will be spending three days in a small town up in the mountains called Andahuaylillas. Then, we will transfer to the town Aguas Calientes in order to see the famous Machu Picchu. The last part of our week will be spent in Cusco, a town which was the capital of the Inca civilization before the Spanish conquered the land. The Andes are vastly different from polluted, fast-paced Lima. First off, although many speak Spanish, the main language of this area is Quechua. This was one of the languages spoken by the Inca peoples. Second, these communities are mainly agricultural communities. They raise/grow llamas, cows, cuy (guinea pig,) corn, artichoke, pigs, and more. The streets are made of cobble stone and calm, and the air is fresh. In a word, it is lovely.
I have to say, the scenery I have been surrounded by the past two days is the most beautiful I have ever seen. The Andes are breathtaking, and Andahuaylillas is a picture-esque town that feels like living back in time. We are staying in a charming Jesuit retreat house while we are here, which is conveniently located near the town plaza and market. On Saturday, we took a tour of the Baroque Route, which is a set of three Andean-Baroque style churches in the area (one of which is in the Andahuaylillas plaza.) These churches were built by the Spanish when they first came to conquer the Incas in the early 17th century, and they were used to convert the indigenous Andean people to Christianity. The churches are absolutely spectacular, covered in beautiful murals and decorated with ornate gold and silver pieces; however, these churches are also reminders of the domination and cultural assimilation that occurred when the Spanish came to Latin America. The most spectacular of all of the churches, San Pedro, is built upon a layer of Inca stone, which is visible part of the church’s foundation. When the Spanish built the church, the site was already a sacred Inca site. They destroyed whatever was at that site, and used the stone foundation to build their own church. The church, therefore, is a physical example of one culture dominating, destroying, and building on top of the other. As we explore the Andes further, I am curious about how this mixture of the cultures, and the domination of Spanish over indigenous culture, will show itself not only in architecture, but in other aspects of life here.
Pictures Churches Along the Baroque Route
We have visited one school in Andahuaylillas, and it is a Fe y Alegria school. Fe y Alegria schools are Jesuit schools that are public, basically free, and are set up so that lower income students can receive a quality education. There are over 100 Fe y Alegria schools in Peru, and we visited two while in Lima. My impression was that these schools provided great opportunities for students and had close-knit school communities. Before visiting, I was interested to see how the Fe y Alegria school here in Andahuaylillas would compare to the ones we saw in Lima. I was curious how they would incorporate indigenous culture into the curriculum, and when Quechua would be spoken in the classroom, if at all. We learned earlier in the trip about the inequalities of education in Peru, both between urban and rural areas, as well as between genders. Before coming to the Andes, I was wondering as to whether I would see these inequalities played out during my stay in Andahuaylillas, and how deeply those inequities would manifest themselves. I was also curious as to how far most people go in school here, and if that level differs between the genders. I wondered what the end-goal, or purpose, of schooling in communities like Andahuaylillas was, as compared to Lima.
After visiting the Fe y Alegria school here, many of my questions were answered. During our visit, we learned that many Fe y Alegria schools in the Andes have students speaking both Quechua and Spanish equally by third grade. We learned that the two main goals or desires of Fe y Alegria schools in the Andes region are to 1) promote a bilingual and intercultural education and 2) protect and teach human rights and gender equality. The director of the school who spoke to use made it clear that the educators at the school wished to “open the students to the world” while still celebrating their culture. She told us that there is a huge disparity in education between the genders. Most girls do not move on to secondary education. Even the boys who make it to secondary come to a dead end after that; the children, both male and female, sometimes feel trapped. Even those who would like to receive higher education do not because it means leaving their families and communities. Part of Fe y Alegria’s mission is to promote secondary education for all genders and to close the disparity between boys and girls in education. The school’s focus on human rights was also particularly striking to me. The school wishes to teach the children about their own rights and to protect these rights. The director mentioned that, in this community, play time is viewed as a waste of time which takes away from working time. She stressed that the right to play and to learn are emphasized as human rights to the children through their schooling.
In seminar, we have been talking about equity and justice in education. I saw these attended to just in the short time we toured Fe y Alegria. Simply teaching children about their rights as human beings is incorporating justice into the classroom. Providing them with a nurturing environment that helps them to play, learn, and flourish accomplishes this as well. Attempting to close the gender gap in education, as well guiding students to aspire to go to secondary school also promotes equity. Teaching the children that their backgrounds, their cultures, and their native language have significance and should be celebrated is another way in which I saw Fe y Alegria promoting justice in its classrooms. School, I believe, should be guided by equity and justice. If schools don’t promote these two values, what other entities in a child’s life will? Schooling should be about what’s best for students and their present/future lives. Teachers who wish to bring justice to their students are the ones who empower their students, and to me the empowerment of students is the point of schooling in general. It is personally why I wish to become not only a teacher, but a teacher who fights for my students and their rights every day.
For the next couple of days, we will be touring the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu! So, there won’t be a whole lot of blogging going on then. On Thursday, we will be visiting schools in the Cusco area. Until then, adios!