El Ovido – New School

This afternoon, Chepe, Manuel, Edel and I piled into the truck and travelled to El Ovido, a community a number of kilometres up and away from the main road. The number of kilometres varies, likely with whether you are climbing up to the community or jogging down to the main road.

Several weeks ago, a delegation from the community came to talk about setting up a computer there for their children to continue studying. We ended up taking one laptop, a gift from a High School in Canada, and an older desktop model, also a gift from Canadians.

We were met by about fourteen students all ready to begin learning with our program. We set up the computers on the two available tables and they set to work to learn how to turn the computer on, how to find their files and so forth. For most of them, it was their first time to touch a computer. Mothers and the community education committee members were on hand to make sure that the transition went smoothly.

There are a few young adults coming to Santa Cruz for an evening or Saturday class and they told of the cost of that. One mother is spending $25.00 a week just on transport for her children. When most families earn less than $100.00 a month you can appreciate the strain she is under.

These two computers will be used in shifts. Students will work in pairs so that more can have a chance. Four students will study in the morning, four in the afternoon, four in the evening and another eight on Saturday and, possibly, Sunday. For a small village tucked up in the hills this is an incredible opportunity. It was exciting to be a part of it.

Another hot day ... despite a forecast to the contrary. Santiago is working on painting a piece of roofing to start a solar food dryer idea for drying Stevia leaves. We will try and get that going on Wednesday.

Two funny things happened last week. On Thursdays, I generally cook a meal for the workers. Last week it was Santiago’s turn to help with the food prep. This was his first time in a kitchen (he is, after all, only nineteen) and he was bug eyed. Onions, surprisingly, made him cry. We were making Nairobi Guest House curry (for a recipe, send me an email) and one of the ingredients in the dish was a can of coconut milk. I grabbed the can opener and worked on the can. Well, that was worth Santiago’s price of admission. His first time to see a can opener. Another thing that I have added to his list of “needs”. Sigh.

Another day last week, I was in my house as Julia, my house keeper was working. I grabbed the metre long shoe horn that was lying on a table and went to hang it up. Julia asked what it was. I showed her and she was highly amused. It had been so confusing what I might possibly be using the thing for. It seemed such an absurd type of cane but what else could it be?

TTYL

BB