30 Mayo 2012

There is a Peruvian children’s tale.

A man and his son decide to go to town to sell their donkey.

They clean the donkey up so he is attractive for sale.

To not get the donkey dirty or tired the two are walking by the donkey’s side into town and they pass a farmer, he laughs at them for walking when they have a perfectly capable donkey to ride.

So, the man tells his son to hop on.

A few kilometers later they pass an elderly woman pasturing her sheep.

She scolds the boy for riding the donkey and making his older father walk.

So, the son hops off, and invites the father to ride.

The father rides for a while with the son walking along side.

They pass a young man irrigating his field. He scolds the father for having his boy walk, the boy will be tired and unable to work the fields tomorrow for walking so far today.

So the father invites the son onto the donkey with him.

It is too much weight for the donkey…

Sometimes the story ends with the donkey falling off a bridge due to the weight and being carried away by the river.

Sometimes, the donkey falls from the weight and gets too dirty to sell once they reach town.

The library and after school program space is in the back of the municipal hostel. When we first moved in there was never anyone in the hostel. So, we weren’t bothering anyone when we played games, and the mayor allowed us to use the hostel bathrooms, that was part of the charm of the space he gave us. Now, there are more guests in the hostel (teachers and project engineers rent a room for months at a time). And, the bathroom is pretty much never attended. It always smells like urine, has a disgusting overflowing trash bin, and is caked with dirt. However, it is better than what the kids have at home, and I always have toilet paper for them to use. Sometimes, I think some of the kids only come to the library to use the bathroom on a daily, which is fine with me.

Admittedly, they like to play in the halls. We have a rule that they can’t go upstairs to the bathroom without permission, and there is no playing in the halls, ever. However, with 30-40 kids in the library every day I can’t exactly be monitoring the halls outside the library. Usually, I can hear them, and I stand at the library door and give a polite holler, “There better not be any VALE kids playing upstairs ‘cause that is not allowed.” And they slink back down timidly.

Today, the kid who “manages” the hostel came in to the library, “You have to control the kids better, I had to clean up feces from the bathroom floor yesterday.”

“Wow, I am sorry, how do you know it was a VALE kid? It is a public space?”

“Because they are the only ones who go up there.” Not true.

“Honestly, I am dong everything I can. I put a sign up, I tell the kids to stay down here, what else can I do? I can’t leave all these kids in here by themselves.”

I was honestly asking for a recommendation. What else can I do?

Can you imagine, a parent sends their kid to the library. The kid vandalizes the library bathroom, and the neighbors say it is the librarian’s fault? Weird right?

He took my asking as a me saying, ‘no’, and stormed out.

It was then I came up with the idea that the kids clean the bathroom everyday like they clean the library, but he was long gone before that popped into my head to confirm with him.

So, this guy, wants me to be more strict with the kids.

One girl was being particularly rambunctious today. When the kids aren’t doing art, or reading nicely I send them home. I have probably had to send less than 5 kids home the entire year the library has been open. The library is a privilege, I can’t help kids learn if it is a mad playhouse.

Well, little Fatima came back.

I sent her home.

She came back.

I sent her home.

She came back.

I sent her home.

It was ridiculous. Meanwhile, each time she came back she is being loud and obnoxious. I try every method I know from sweet but firm to strict with deep voice. Finally, she comes back with her mother. You have got to be kidding me.

“You see, I have to go to the parent meeting,” the mother says, “and her sister is here doing her homework, and we can’t leave her home alone or she will cry.”

My mind:

1)    I am not a babysitter.

2)    What would you do if the library wasn’t here? I haven’t seen you at any of the sustainability meetings.

3)    How will she learn if she gets to stay here? She is safe in the house. Perhaps she needs to be home alone and cry. Or maybe you need to set it up for someone to watch her.

My words:

“What would you like me to do? I can’t have her here running around yelling and playing with dogs. People are trying to do homework.”

Her mother, “I will talk to her, but I need her to stay here.”

I can see the girl is a little startled with the situation, “Fatima, if you promise to sit quietly you can stay, but you have to be quiet or you will have to leave no matter your mom being home or not.”

She nods and repeats to me what she is going to do.

This woman, wants me to be more lenient with the kids.

PCVs literally exist to provide the community with what they want/need and cannot provide for themselves. How can one do that when the community doesn’t agree within themselves? Where does that leave the PCV?

A drowning donkey?