El Padre and the Politician

Just warning you...this isn't a typical self indulgent post and it may be boring to some people.

Anyways...after a terrible nights sleep, Felix and I woke up and did some last minute maintenance on a school in Ica. We were getting ready to go when I noticed a larger than normal crowd around el Padre. I asked the person next to me what was going on and they replied that a Peruvian congressmen had made the trip to inspect the school and the project all together. I saw the Padre and the politician conversing outside of the school with a huge group of reporters and journalists recording what they say and taking pictures. It never occured to me that he was more than a preacher with good intentions, but Padre Miguel is indeed a political figure down here.

As I said before, the Peruvian politician was visiting the site to check the status of the school and the project. However, what I soon learned was that COPRODELI was urging the Peruvian government to pay the teachers so they could continue working. In fact, the teachers have already protested on three different occasions in front of the state capital. Hopefully, the government representative will be convinced that the school is legitimate and the teachers are worthy of their wages. Anyways, all of us piled into the small van and drove to Chincha to eat lunch.

So there I was, sitting with a Peruvian congressmen, his entourage and el Padre, devouring 'pollo a la brasa' and discussing what the country needs to do in order to improve. Obviously, this was all being said in spanish, so I didn't say much, but it was still interesting to be a part of the conversation. El Padre talked about how kids are being born into a terrible situation in Peru and how there are not a sufficient number of positive outlets or paths for them to follow. He gave the example of a single mother, María, that was forced to sell small trinkets on the street, while her two sons were led to live a life as petty thieves. Now María's daughter is getting older and is torn between being poor and good, or not-so-poor and bad. In lamest terms, its like Ray Leotta in the beggining of 'Goodfellas'. My understanding is that the key to turning the country around is education and helping the future children get off the street.

In other news, Coprodeli is involved in a slightly controversial situation. One of the students (or his parents) has acused one of the teachers with the charge of assault. The story is in the papers and Coprodeli is standing behind the teacher. I read one of the articles in the paper and it really blows things out of proportion, shit's ridiculous. Padre Miguel has been pretty frustrated with the situation and has been instructing the teachers what they can and cannot do to the students. I think the parents are trying to take advantage of the situation and squeeze money out of a charity organization, as bad as that sounds. Honestly, the teachers are not doing their job for the money (they are barely paid, if anything), they are doing their job to help needy kids learn basic arthimitic and grammer. It will be interesting to watch the future unfold.