Bethany Jayne Kisser on location in Cusco, Peru. The ruins of Machu Picchu are in the background.
I spent three months in Cusco, Peru studying Spanish and learning about the culture of Peru.
Through my P-GLOBAL project, I was able to spend four weeks working as a teacher’s assistant in PRONOEI, a preschool for poor children on the outskirts of Cusco. Many of the materials for the class were donated or purchased by the teacher, and the building in which the class was held had no running water and had rice bags tacked to the rafters to make a ceiling.
In the class, there were forty kids between the ages of three and five, one teacher, and me. Every day, I was able to see the effects of the poverty that these kids live with on a daily basis, as well as the effects of the violence that they observe between their parents and in the streets.
El Desfile de los Ninos or the parade of children.
Open-air market in Chinchero, Peru.
I have many amazing memories of my time in Peru, but I think that the main thing that I gained from my experience working with these children was an understanding that other people in the world are confronted daily by challenges that we cannot even imagine. I am constantly reminded of those forty kids and their dedicated Profesora Gladys, living their lives in Cusco, confronting the challenges of a life of poverty.
