Hannah Kelley’s Blog

If you have been in touch with me other than through my blog, you may already know about a project I have developed with three other Rotary Scholars in Valparaíso called Scholars for Schools. In a nutshell, this project is helping to bridge the gap between public and private education in central Chile by renovating free space in local schools to create multi-media libraries.

Education and children at risk are some of the main focuses of Rotary International and certainly also some of the most pressing social needs in Chile. After two months of designing and organizing the structure of the project, we are finally ready to receive donations and we encourage any humanitarian minded person to get involved. Most questions about the project can be found at http://scholarsforschools.org.

The Saturday before last we had an inaugural activity in the first of what we hope to be a succession of elementary schools. Over 40 people came to help us dust, sweep sand and paint the room which is to become the future library of Escuela David Ben Gurión in cerro (hill) Las Cañas.

This school is in a barely accessible location, which means they need our help more than ever. Many of the schools in the cerros are completely forgotten about by people carrying on their daily life in the lower part of the city (referred to as the “plan”), neighboring Viña del Mar or wealthier cerros. The school has nearly 200 students and two school schedules (day and night) to accommodate space constraints. The majority of the children (pre-kinder to 8th grade) are on a government meal program called Puente and based on information gleaned from schools officials, these meals may be all students eat for the entire day.

Take a moment to look at the pictures from our cleaning day on May 31st and share this post with others by using the share tool at the bottom.

1. 2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

1.) Rotary Scholar Nathan Gill and volunteer Fernanda hard at work scraping dirty windows 2.) Rotaract Valparaíso volunteers get their hands dirty with some paint 3.) Rotary Scholar Susan Owen taking a moment to read with a student who came to visit us 4.) Cataloging old books! 5.) Some of the volunteers coming together for a group photo 6.) Scholars for Schools!

ShareThis

–The official wake-Hannah-up-on-days-she-gets-to-sleep-in-street.

Perhaps it is in retaliation to the student protests, maybe they felt left out of the limelight, but whatever the motive a slew of military people went blasting down the street this morning, starting at 8:30 (today is Sunday…). Nothing was left out: horns, loud drum lines, people stomping around, peanuts, stray dogs barking at the parade.

I thought after the first 15 minute round I would be able to get some rest again. Not so. These wonderful marchers had about 4 more rounds in them, at least. I think we are at N˚4 right now.  I can only guess that they are celebrating the national holiday this upcoming Wednesday. I forget at the moment which one it is. I’m still rather groggy!

waker-uppers

(in the background, imagine round 5 sounding away)

ShareThis

In light of all of the extreme events that have been happening here in Valparaíso, I thought I would make a partial time line for those of you on the outside. Start by reading my first post on the paro.

Four universities have been collaborating with one another to make the impact of the paro stronger than ever:

• Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV)
• Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María (USM) (Casa Central and Sede J.M.C)
• Universidad de Playa Ancha
• Universidad de Valparaíso

Similar protests took place in September of 2007, resulting at one point in an overtake of the Intendencia Municipal (City Council building).

The police have been illegally entering into school buildings in Valparaiso; police aren’t allowed to enter a school building unless the director of the school calls and gives the precinct permission.

Wednesday April 16th –Students at the University Federico Santa Maria vote to start a paro.

Friday April 18th — Students are detained by carabineros (police officers) who entered illegally into the Isabel Brown Caces building of the PUCV and took them charge. (El Mercurio)

Thursday April 24th — Students (presumably from the PUCV) take over the metro for 10-15 minutes in the middle of the day. The students stormed past the turnstiles and raced onto the metro car at Francia Station, where they began to shout cheers in support of the education protests.

Monday April 28th — Students at the University Federico Santa Maria (USM) are tear gassed for education related protests. Students burn paper figures painted to look like Reinaldo Sanchez (Don Choco), board member of Transporte Metro Valparaíso, among others. Avenida España is blocked on several occasions by students and burning objects. The Gimpert and Ruben Castro buildings of the PUCV are taken over in a toma*.

Wednesday April 30th – The Geography Department at the PUCV is tear gassed while full of students.

Tuesday May 5th & 6th — more protests and tear gassing at PUCV and USM. The PUCV shut their main doors for the second time since the 30th of April. The police close down the USM on the 6th because of the extremity of the protests on the 5th, involving molotov cocktails, burning posters and other objects, rock and object throwing on behalf of the students and gas and water retaliation on the part of the police. Avenida España is blocked by the ruckus for nearly an hour.

See some pictures here.

*toma is literally a takeover. Students sleep in the faculty/dept. they are taking over, they lock the main exits and endure weeks without electricity and water. Friends and fellow students bring them food.

More information (Spanish):

http://www.cordonpucv.tk

http://unaprensadiferente.blogspot.com

http://www.fotolog.com/princesskariko/40930324

http://www.mercuriovalpo.cl (”Microbuseros subirán pasaje escolar en $20″, April 18th)

ShareThis