Newsletter March 2003

Issue 79 March 2003

News from Peru

In January we received the first full report from Margarita since her successful visit. Since returning she and the staff have been busy with the end of school year activities, leading up to the matriculation of some pupils in December. Then the children have their three month summer break while the teachers use most of that time to prepare for the next school year.

At the end of the school year there were a total of 303 children attending the two Nurseries - 118 at Dos Cientas Millas and 185 at Bocanegra. These were in 4 classes at Dos Cientas Millas and 5 at Bocanegra.

The teaching staff number 20 plus a caretaker for each site.

As usual, in addition to working on the curriculum with the children, the staff organize a large number of extra-curricular activities, usually outside of the core school hours. Thus in September they celebrated the coming of Spring with each class making hats and parents participating in a sports championship. In October, there was a Festival of food with each class aided by parents preparing special regional dishes. There was a panel of judges including the Headteacher of another local Nursery and the 3 year old class was pronounced the winner with a dish from the jungle region.

All schools in the district of Callao joined together to celebrate the Rights of the Child during October. This is a matter that the Primary schools have been giving particular attention and working together to promote over the last year.

In November, the annual days out for children and families took place at a location about one hour away from central Lima. The first outing, for 200 Millas was attended by 98 children together with their parents; The second, a week later, for Bocanegra was attended by 154 children plus parents. The staff must have been exhausted after giving up two consecutive weekends to organize and participate in these events. They are valued highly by all who take part and are aimed at promoting solidarity and the idea of family leisure/play time,

In December, there was a raft of pre- Christmas activities, from the decorating of the tree, the traditional 'chocolatada' and the giving of a small present to each child. The end of year graduation ceremonies also take place in this month. This year 74 pupils graduated from Bocanegra and 28 from 200 Millas who will go on to Primary school in April.

Margarita spoke in her report of the immense use they are making of the recently completed upstairs hall for all the annual events for both Nurseries. It is also put to use by various Community groups including the Education Department of Callao for meetings and workshops, the Bocanegra Association of small businesses and the 'Vaso de Leche' Club who provide milk for young pupils in Callao. This provides more evidence of the integration of the Nurseries in their local Community and the way that Margarita and her staff promote this.

Case Histories

Margarita included in her report a number of family histories which give a flavour of some of the children attending Westnell - while sad in many ways, they also contain hope in the respect that despite their circumstances the children's desire to learn remains strong.

Gerson is a little boy of 4 years old who has been attending for 2 years. His father died of Aids and his mother is also infected. Gerson continues to undergo tests on a regular basis at the hospital. Sadly his mother in her bitterness abandoned Gerson and his siblings and turned to prostitution. The children are now cared for by their Grandparents and Gerson is a bright pupil who will soon move on to Primary School.

Jesus, 5 years old, comes from a very poor family of 6 children. The mother suffers from arthritis and the father is a recovering alcoholic. Jesus is the youngest child and the second to attend Westnell. The older children are now able to help a little in earning money but there is still insufficient. There would have been no possibility of Nursery education other than Westnell as no money would have been available. Despite their circumstances the parents make a great effort to participate in all the Nursery activities and to support their children in learning.

Lesly, 5 years old, lost her mother in December 2001 when she was killed by a stray bullet passing through the wooden wall of her house in Bocanegra. Since that time she has virtually lost her father to drug addiction and violence. The Grandparents from both sides have striven hard to pull together and take care of Lesly and her little sister who is 2 years old.

Fundraising

Margarita's visit was paid for from the fund-raising events she attended and a surplus of £345 was generated. However the expenses of £957 were covered and we usually find that fund-raising is boosted by her visit over the next year.

The final total for sales of Greetings Cards was over £4000, a slight increase on last year. However, profit was down to around £3000 after expenses for the printing. Still, a great effort by all involved and thanks to all of you who bought and sold!

Changes

This is a time of potential change for the Westnell organization.We have asked Margarita and her team to look at applying for funding to replace the big grants from the Community Fund and MRDF which will end over the next 18 months or so. A smaller change is that after 13 years I am ceasing to produce the Newsletter and there may be changes to its schedule and function . We will certainly continue to keep you informed of what is happening in Peru and the UK and would welcome any suggestions for change/improvement.

Mark Patchett - Chair
Ede Fehrenbach - Treasurer
Christine Bond - Secretary