The following is a newsletter article I wrote for Peace Corps Ecuador Volunteers about my life since the Peace Corps. I thought you might be interested:
Life Since Peace Corps
I was a Rural Public Health Peace Corps volunteer in the province of Chimborazo in the years 2004-2006. I lived high up in the Andes in a little village called Pulucate. Most of my work was with women and children, so I became pretty good with Quichua. Every day I wore the clothing of the women of Pulucate. Long anakus wrapped with a chumbi, lots of brightly colored shawls, gold necklaces and of course the fedora hat. I taught family planning courses in the health clinic, invited women over for cooking classes in my home (banana bread was a huge hit), started a peluqueria with a SPA grant for the young people of the town, volunteered my time in the health clinic for patient intake and such.
But what really changed my life was teaching the children and teenagers in the schools and high schools. Even though I was not an “English Teacher” volunteer as such, I still taught English and this was what allowed me to also teach health-the importance of hand washing, eating a balanced diet, taking care of yourself, recognizing abuse, how to say no, and even more serious issues.
As a child, whenever anyone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I never pictured myself as a teacher. I think I wanted to be a social worker, but honestly, I really, really come alive working with children. Teaching is my life’s calling and I’m lucky to have found it. Especially the younger kids, they really appreciated my lessons, begged me to come again, loved my energy (I got it from them) and having so many young people depending on me filled what could have been long, lonely afternoons and evenings. (And, of course, working with children is the best way to break into a community and get to know parents too).
After two years of teaching, I had formed many relationships with the children of my village and had seen how education can really make a difference. Most of them who were serious students would leave Pulucate and study in Riobamba ( where the schools are much better). This was discouraging to me because only the kids whose families had a little more money could afford to send their kids away to school. So, I formed a life goal one early morning towards the end of my Peace Corps service. My life goal is to start a high quality school in the rural countryside so that children and young people can receive an outstanding education in their own village. Now that I had my goal in mind, it was very exciting because I could see the exact steps I needed to take to reach it.
After my Peace Corps service I enrolled in a program sponsored by Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland. I took evening classes to obtain my teaching certificate and Master’s Degree while working as a paid teacher’s aid in a 5th grade classroom. After those two years I was ready to conquer my own classroom and began teaching 2nd grade. The school where I worked was wonderfully diverse, filled with children from all over the world, mostly Central America but also Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East. It was wonderfully challenging to teach children for whom English is not the maternal language, but rather the common language for instruction. (I loved the children who would translate literally from Spanish and say, “Ms. Howard, can I broom the floor?) Or one boy who wanted to complement me on my fashion as I was wearing a big belt and said, “Oh, Ms. Howard, I just love your new seatbelt.) Because our school serves children in poverty, we received federal funding to reduce class sizes, hire extra teachers for academic interventions and give all the kids free breakfast (many received free lunch too).
My Peace Corps experiences were so valuable working with kids in poverty and kids from other countries as well as their parents. I understood exactly why sometimes parents didn’t feel comfortable coming to after school or evening meetings because they felt embarrassed by their own lack of schooling or were working two, three jobs trying to hold it all together. I also understood that I was the teacher and many parents saw their jobs not to help with homework, but rather to provide their kids a safe place to sleep, food to eat and clothing to wear. (Not to mention, the Spanish language was invaluable working with ESL kids and parents).
Every summer since my Peace Corps service ended, I continued to travel every summer to Ecuador to visit my godchildren, my friends and just to soak up the sun. So, I maintained close contacts with Ecuadorians. Just last summer, August of 2010, when I was visiting I dropped my resume and portfolio off at Academia Cotopaxi, an International American school in Quito. It was something I had been thinking of for awhile and in February of this year (2011), after many long Skype interviews, I was hired to teach 2nd grade. This placement is ideal for me because it allows me to teach at a high quality school, have a standard of living that I’m used to (no more latrienes, dirt floors and fleas!), yet still be in a country where I can travel just a few hours and be in a completely different world. I’m so thrilled to be back in Ecuador, although in a very different experience than my Peace Corps experiences, I know this one will be equally challenging and rewarding as well. I wish you all the best of luck with your service.
If you’d like to ask me other questions, please feel free to email me at: rachelhoward82@yahoo.com And you can follow my blog at rachelsecuadoradventures@blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment