First of all, if you are a
first time visitor to our blog, (and we get them everyday, thanks to “Volunteer
South America”, a web site that lists free and almost free places to
volunteer), you are introduced to Katitawa School. Later you read about the
library, the nursery, Lachlan’s Farm, Pachamama, the community center,
and there may be a few more in the future.Volunteers, when they arrive are also
sometimes surprised to find out that these different areas are sometimes
separated by one to three kilometers. So let’s start with a map.
(map being worked on)
Katitawa School
Katitawa School was, and
still is the primary reason we are here. It is located about three
kilometers from Salasaka Centro, in the foothills above the town.The school was
started in 1997 by a small group of concerned individuals from Salasaka, who
wanted a different kind of education for their familes. That is why the
school continues today, and is why parents continue to send their children
here….Because Katitawa School is “different”.The school offers classes from
kindergarten through the seventh grade and it is our goal, when the children
finish the seventh grade we send them on to the Colegio or High School, with
equal or better qualifications equal or above the children coming from the
government schools in the community. The jury is still out regarding how
close we are to reaching our goal, but I am encouraged by the comments I hear
from local educators in the higher levels of education as to the quality of our
students.
Here at Katitawa we
believe that the three most important subjects that the children need to
understand and excel in are:
1. Ethics, that part of
philosophy that deals with trustworthiness. respect, responsibility, fairness,
caring, and citizenship.
2. The language of their
country which is Spanish.
3. Basic math.
Therefore we believe if the
children leave this school with core values that are almost universally
accepted as necessary to coexist in this world, are able to “Read, Write, Speak
and Comprehend” of their own language and have the basic understanding of
mathematics, they will be a success in whatever they decide to make of their
lives.The other subjects are also important, but in this age of the Internet,
if they have the communication skills, they can catch up on any subject where
they may need some extra help by spending a few hours in front of a
computer.Here in Salasaka, reading books is not one of their favorite
pastimes. But I believe it is because they do not read well. If you
can not read well, reading is a chore. But if you read well, it is a
pleasure and you will want to read more.
We have many opportunities at
Katitawa School for volunteers who would like to help in various areas. A
key area is teaching math and English. There has been some criticism,
that because the volunteers come and go, that this in some way
is detrimental for the kids. In my opinion, the benefits
outweigh any negative argument. What they may miss in not having the same
teacher for the entire year, they gain in learning about other countries and
cultures in a very personal way. This is a whole lot better than reading
a few paragraphs in a textbook.We also have plenty of opportunities for
volunteers in areas like, maintenance, gardening, construction and a whole lot
more. Ninty-nine percent of everything here at Katitawa has been
constructed by volunteer labor….From the community and from visiting
volunteers. We thank you all.
The Rosa Maria Library
The library was named after
Rosa Maria Masaquiza who was one of the founders of Katitawa School and has
donated a lot of books to help get the library started. It is presently located
in the community of Manguiwa which is approximately three kilometers from
centro Salasaka on the highway to the town of Rosario…and about three
kilometers from the Katitawa School. The library was started in
2006 in Central Salasaka and it was also home to our small English school that
had no name. In that same location we housed the first volunteers.
The name of our little organization
was Sumak Kawsay Yachay which in Kichwa means, “Beautiful, Life,
Edudation”. The three words make a beautiful acronym, SKY. The name
in Kichwa describes in English what we are working for and the acronym in
English defines the limits. It was not long before we ran
out of space in Salasaka Central so in 2008 we moved everything to
Manguiwa where we were offered space at the Manguiwa Cochapamba Community
Center. The building was not being used at the time and the directors of
the community liked what we were doing at Katitawa School, which was also
located in Manguiwa. The building had two levels. The street leval
area was turned into the library and the second floor was where the volunteers
lived. We had four dormitory rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. After
a year we were running out of space for the volunteers to live because we
needed more room for classes.
In 2009 we moved the
volunteers to Pachamama, a hostel that was available just a 10 minute walk down
the road. In 2008 we received four
computers from a man named Paul, who had been following our progress through
this blog since 2007. With these computers we connected to the Internet,
giving the community and all of Salasaka access to all the worlds knowledge
that help with their homework.
As the years passed the
library complex has become the learning center for the community and is now
functioning as the headquarters for all of the projects SKY is doing in
Salasaka. We will eventully come up with a name for the complex
which continues to grow. In addition to the Rosa Maria Library and
Internet services we offer classes in English and other subjects depending on
the demand. In 2010 we moved the Vacation
School Classes from Katitawa School to the library complex. This has been
a huge success. The library is open Monday through Friday, from 8 to 8.
Community Meeting Center
A year ago we demolished the
old meeting room and began construction on the new center, which is located in
frond and to the left of the library. We finished the first floor a month ago
and as I write, we are starting on the second story. When this is
finished it will be the new volunteer quarters. This construction is a
combined effort between the community and SKY.
The Plant Nursery
In 2012 we rented some property
in Salasaka Central and started work on our first project that we feel will
help sustain the school. We should be open by the end of May. It
will be a place where we will offer plants as well as some local weavings that
the Salasakans are famous for. It will be a beautiful place and the
closer it is to being finished the more excited everyone is getting.
Why a plant nursery?....You may wonder. When I was a young man, just out of the Navy, an old man gave me some advice, "If you want to make some money in this world, start a nursery. It's the only business that I know of where, if you don't sell your inventory this week it's worth more the next". So here I am, 60 years later, out to prove the old man right.
Pachamama
Beautiful Pachamama…This one time hostel sits on a cliff overlooking the community of Wasalata. It is a beautiful place where the volunteers have been living since 2009. At times some of the volunteers will be asked to do light maintenance work to keep the place in order. It will be hard to leave. but hopefully by Christmas of this year, the volunteers will return to Manguiwa. This move will be sad in many ways but will save us considerable money as we will not be paying rent any longer.
Beautiful Pachamama…This one time hostel sits on a cliff overlooking the community of Wasalata. It is a beautiful place where the volunteers have been living since 2009. At times some of the volunteers will be asked to do light maintenance work to keep the place in order. It will be hard to leave. but hopefully by Christmas of this year, the volunteers will return to Manguiwa. This move will be sad in many ways but will save us considerable money as we will not be paying rent any longer.
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