Horrible Day

The community I work in is very small, remote and poor.  GVI - the organization I am volunteering with - provides oats for breakfast and other food for lunches for the kids at the school.  In return, the  mothers take turns preparing the food.

Today was the day for one family who has less than the others and is undergoing a pretty bad time. Often an older sister (about 15 yrs old) who goes to school in Otavalo during the weekends, cooks when it is the family's turn, while the mother works in the field (at least I think that iswhere she is).  We had to bring a tank of gas for cooking up with us this morning and when we have to do this, the mother usually makes the "calada" from the oats right away and the kids can have a hot breakfast about 1/2 an hour after we arrive.  Well, this morning when I took the food into the kitchen, the door was open, but no mother was there.  I asked what was going on, and (of course) didn't quite understand the answer, although the teacher made it clear that there would be no calada that morning.  I asked my student, "Susie"  from this family where her mother was, but she said she didn't know. 

I made an emergency run to the bathroom which is in the kitchen building about 15 minutes later, and Susie's two younger sisters were at the cupboard with the oats, salt and sugar, eating the oats raw.  These children are not well kept at all with dirty, matted hair, dirty faces and clothes (the youngest is often not wearing pants, but just a long t-shirt).  Each day at lunch Susie always asks for another helping and then runs to her house with the dish -- feeding the younger children.  (There are three younger children, but the youngest is usually on her mother's back.)  Anyway, I had to tell them to leave and when I came out of the bathroom, they were hiding around the corner, so I had to tell them to go on home.  It was the most horrible feeling and thing to do: two kids left to themselves, uncared for and hungry and I had to send them away because the food was not cooked and is for the school children. 

About an hour into the day, Susie asked to go to the kitchen and she came back and told me her mother still was not there.  I waited another 1/2 hour and then we went together and checked again, and still no one in the kitchen making lunch.  Her older sister came in though and said something that I couldn't understand, so Susie and I went and got the teacher.  When asked why no one was making lunch, the response from the sister was that they had no matches!  The teacher then sent a few students to the closest house and they came back with matches in no time.

The mother then appeared and made the soup for the lunch, although she did not use all of the vegetables or cut the ones she did use up very small.  She also made the calada (which has quite a bit of sugar in it!).  So, I told the kids they had to eat the soup first and then if they were still hungary, they could have the calada.  I made sure every last drop of  that soup was served and that Susie got a few bowls full for the younger kids.  The thing is, is that Susie is 6 years old and has two older brothers in the school, but it is very apparent that she is responsible for the younger siblings. 

This whole situation just broke my heart and then to top it off, when I went to serve the fruit at the end of the day, there was not enough for all of the students, which meant someone had taken a few pieces from the kitchen earlier.  I had a few pieces of fruit in my backpack from my lunches from the last few days, so I went and got that and made sure everyone had a piece of fruit.  When I hand out the fruit at the end of the day, a couple days a week, I must also give beans or dried peas to the students whose mother will cook the next day.  They are then cooked the night before at home and brought into school.  I did this and then locked the padlock on the kitchen door on my way out. 

Well, guess what?  It turns out the kids whose mother is scheduled to cook tomorrow, hadn't been given the kitchen key by today's mother!  The kids went and got Susie's mother, who wasn't sure where she had put the key, but thought it was inside the kitchen!  This is the only key to the kitchen as the others have been lost by the families previously.  The kids opened a window and used a stick to move things on the counter, but we didn't see the key anywhere.  The padlock will have to be cut off and a new one bought.  This was just a bad way to end an already horrid day.

The situation with this family is a difficult one.  The father apparently left a while ago and the family has no food, or source of income.  As an organization, GVI does not single out a family to assist, rather they assist all families with children in school by providing volunteers (me in this case) in the schools to reduce the teacher-student ratio and provide additional food that the government does not provide, and provides more food when the supply from the government runs out.  They also work closely with the community, but do not get involved in the community "politics" or take responsibility for the school facilites, etc. Anything that is done in/for the community is done in consultation with and the request of the community and it's leaders.
 
I feel a bit better writing about this and will try to think of the difference I can make, and not what I can not do.  There is no school tomorrow, but on Monday I will show up with a smile on my face and encouragment for the five kids I work with.