Concert at School

Juan José Chuquisengo, internationally renowned Peruvian pianist, spent the past week in Quispicanchi. He did a concert at the Compañía in Cusco to benefit the parish programs run by the Jesuits in Quispicanchi. He also gave a number of free concerts throughout the week at various towns and communities in the area. We were lucky enough to get a private concert at Padre Calilo's house on Monday night.

On Wednesday, he came to Fe y Alegría. There's no auditorium, so the kids brought chairs from their classrooms onto the cancha (soccer court). He played pieces by Bach, Beethoven, and others. He did a good job of keeping the attention of the kids, though of course he lost them at points. At one point he even had 8 kids up helping him play. (That part took a long time to organize. I think he learned from that because he only brought up 6 kids in the concert he did at the high school later that afternoon).

It was nice to see how the kids responded to Chuquisenko. Those kind of enrichment activities cut into classroom time, but they are worth it. It expands the children's sense of possibilities and makes the day a little more exciting and special.

As a side note, you'll notice that the kids have a strict uniform at Fe y Alegría. Based on what I've heard, the uniform policy was implemented because there was a noticeable difference in how children from Andahuaylillas and children from the rural communities dressed. The poorer children from rural communities were likely to get teased and picked on for wearing the same worn out clothes everyday. The uniform makes a lot of those economic distinctions less noticeable.

They have a different uniform for days when they have phys-ed. It's basically a track suit. The kids in the bottom of this picture are dressed for phys-ed. You might also see that the standard uniform includes a sun hat. The sun is super strong here. I put sunscreen on twice a day (morning and at lunch) and still I make an effort to avoid direct sunlight as much as possible. I probably don't have to worry at all about vitamin D deficiencies these two years.The sun hats help protect the kids's skin, but even so many have very dry cheeks from too much sun exposure. The roof (green cloths) above the cancha serves to protect the kids from the sun during Monday morning formación, when the national anthem is sung, prayers are said, and weekly announcements are made. In the past children have fainted because of the sun exposure, and also because not all the kids have breakfast before they come to school.