EORM (Escuela Oficial Rural Mixta) Paiz is becoming one of my favorite schools. This is my smallest school with only three teachers where the kindergarteners are in a shack and first, second, and sixth grades share a teacher and a classroom. On one of my visits I found the kids practicing a dance. It turns out that the next day the school was having a big celebration because they were getting electricity! Yay! So naturally I came back the next day to watch the festivities. Of course the healthy schools volunteer in me was thinking "come on... really? Another day when there are no classes?" But I did enjoy this cultural event where the kids danced and sang. It was really a nice event. There were not that many people in attendance. It was mostly mothers. Afterwords everyone was served tea, a tamale, and a piece of bread. It was good.
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| Maize dance |
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| Carrying in the flag of Guatemala |
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| Kids getting ready for their performances in the kindergarten shack |
Many babies and small children in Guatemala drink soda and coffee. I have even seen these two items put into baby bottles and given to children.Guatemalans are in general a very short people. This is partially genetic but also partially from stunting as a result of malnutrition and growing up on caffeine. If you need a reference point I am tall for both Guatemalan men and women!
A Guatemalan celebration wouldn't be complete without cohetes (rockets) more like little firecrackers the produce smoke and very loud popping sounds. It is a tradition here that on someone's birthday you wake them up very very early in the morning with these little bombas. This also means that you wake up all of your neighbors. I didn't get this on my birthday because I arrived in my site a week before and my host family didn't know me that well, but my old family told me that if I had stayed there another week they definitely would have given me this birthday awakening. Maybe next year.
And one more because she is THE cutest. Most areas in Guatemala have different trajes (this traditional outfit). The one that this girl is wearing is a traditional Xela traje. You can see how this skirt is more puffed out almost like a small hoop skirt whereas the skirts on her friends in the picture above and in the top picture are just pieces of cloth wrapped around.
Is the kindergarten shack also going to have electricity?
ReplyDeleteWonderful photos of the kids. They certainly look happy, even though they've been without power in their school.
Sad about thei feeding sodas and especially coffee to the small kids. Do you think they are unaware of the negative health effects?
The kindergarden shack did have one lightbulb in each room. Not a lot of light.
DeleteI think that feeding soda to kids is partially due to the fact that they are unaware of the negative health effects and partially because it is a part of the culture (at least the giving coffee to children and soda as an extension of that).
EORM has also become my favorite school. These photos are wonderful. I especially love the one of the three girls, holding hands and the look the one in the middle is giving to the girl next to her. The trajes are so beautiful. I've also seen soda in baby bottles here in the US. Is that something Healthy Schools tries to discourage when working with parents and kids? Thanks for sharing. Mom
ReplyDeleteI love this post! I think it's awesome they are dancing for electricity -- definitely reminds me of how lucky I was as a child!
ReplyDeleteOf course the healthy schools volunteer in me was thinking "come on... really? Another day when there are no classes?"
Haha :D