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.

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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!

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What is Group Study Exchange (GSE)?
The Group Study Exchange program is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for business and professional men and women in the initial years of their careers. The program is designed to develop professional and leadership skills among young people to better prepare them to address the needs of their communities and an increasingly global workplace.

What constitutes a GSE team?

• 1 Rotarian team leader who is not the current DG, immediate PDG, or the DGE and
• 4 non-Rotarian team members who are:
  • Between the ages of 25-40
  • Currently employed, with 2 years of experience in their chosen profession
  • Not lineal descendants or spouses of Rotarians

Continuing…

We spent a day in Cerro San Cristobal, which is a municipal park organized around a hill. Around the hill there is a zoo, a wine museum, millions of places to picnic and a lot of joggers and bikers. On the top of the hill is a large statue of the Virgen de la Inmaculada, a gift from France (I guess that the French just love making huge statues to give away). Given that this hill is home to the second highest point in the city, we had an amazing view of Santiago and the Andes despite it being a foggy day. We took a cable car half way up the hill and walked the rest of the way.

Left to Right: Maggie, Dora, Maurice, Susan, Marina, Me, Dana, Paul

At night we spent some time eating sushi inside Patio Bellavista in the Bellavista neighborhood right outside of the park.

The next day was Día del Patrimonio (National Heritage Day), which meant all of the museums and national historic sites were open free to the public. We went to the Museo de Bellas Artes and then spent some time nearby in the famous Plaza de Armas, where all other points in Chile are measured from. The last thing we saw was the ‘presidential palace’ Palacio de La Moneda, which is in fact not where the president lives. She lives in another district near the military headquarters.

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1., 2.) Inside of the Museo de Bellas Artes 3.) Plaza de Armas 4.) Flower and sand art celebrating National Heritage Day 5.) The Santiago Stock Exchange 6.) Me in front of the presidential palace La Moneda

For more pictures click here.

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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)

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The event took place on a small parcela (ranch house), in the outskirts of Quilpué. On the menú was a feast of seafood stew called curanto. I filmed the whole process! It consisted of 5 or 6 delicacies tied inside of plastic nets, layered in an enormous pot with onions, garlic, lettuce leaves, white wine and potatoes. The potatoes go on top, and once they are soft, the stew is done.

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1.) Smoked pork ribs, chorizo, chicken, clams and mussels put into plastic nets 2.) Stuffing the nets 3.) Layered pot with knotted nets and garlic, onion, white wine, lettuce leaves and potatoes 4.) Rotarian John enjoying curanto 5.) Closeup of the final product

The parcela turned out to be the beekeeping workshop of Sergio, one of the Rotary members.

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1, 2, 3.) Bee boxes behind the ranch house 4.) Old honeycombs after being centrifuged 5.) Me talking to Marruja, one of my favorite Damas Rotarias! 6.) Happy 20th anniversary, Bellavista

¡See even more pictures!

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Students from various universities marched down Calle Condell, I suppose to Parque Italia or Parque O’Higgins*, dressed in black. There were also elementary school children and high school aged youth marching in the protest. They woke me out of bed, I went to the balcony of our apartment to watch hundreds of students chanting cheers and banging drums while they waved flags like “Business on Strike!”, “Nursing on Strike!” and …”Physical Therapy!”, “Psychology!”, until nearly all of the majors of whichever given university were represented. My roommate Gustav also awoke because of the noise and came to see the commotion. I soon realized that the black outfits represented the “death of education”. There was for awhile in the central building for PUCV a huge coffin with a Spanish equivalent of R.I.P. underneath the words Educación.

It wasn’t the first time that I have seen protesters block Condell, an important street and thoroughfare used to reach the even bigger and longer Calle Pedro Montt, Avenida Colon, and others.

Click on the below image to see more pictures of this and other events related to the recent student protests in Valparaíso.

*These parks are located along Calle Pedro Montt, a main avenue in Valparaíso, and are used for concerts, assemblies and social activities in addition to housing several well known street markets.

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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)

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Buses are the main means of transportation in Valparaíso.

Some departments were on strike up until this past Friday, others are on strike indefinitely until the situation is resolved.

Students are not going to class, and incidentally I have been under the weather, so I was able to miss class without there actually being class to miss.

Update: The paro will continue into Thursday, when there will be a national student strike. 4/23

Update: The paro continues and will probably go until at least tomorrow, Monday April 28th. The Universidad Federico Santa Maria has declared they are on strike until May 4th. The Playa Ancha campus of the PUCV is in a toma–the students are sleeping at the school and the faculty no longer have access to the school. Bus fares are set to raise tomorrow. 4/27

Poster protesting raise in prices

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