Esperanza de Cuernavaca is a primary school that is located in the outskirts of Cuernavaca. It is a very small school (two classrooms, maybe four/five rooms total) that isn't even located on a real road. One classroom has grades 1, 2, 3 and the other class has grades 4, 5, 6. The students at Esperanza are indigenous and speak Spanish and the indigenous language, Nahuat. We go in the mornings and help teach the students some English because these students help their families sell different artesian goods on the nights and weekends.
The first time we went to Esperanza, our director, Brienne, sent us this email and tried to explain to us where the school was...it was quite comical.
"Basically, the school is not on a road. You will get dropped off where the entrance to the caves used to be, the caves were covered over a few years ago, but you can still see the entrance. Look around and you will see a grafittied up garage door, and some stairs that go steeply down. Go down the stairs. There is a railing at the top part. When the railing ends, keep going down and looking to your right. You will see a "street" and right after the street is a green door. Knock and they will open it, you will have arrived!"
She was spot on about the whole journey! We arrived safely and were welcomed with open arms by the students and the teacher, Esmeralda.
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| The stairs! Definitely a workout! |
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| Looking out 4/5/6 classroom window |
The first few Fridays, we have taught numbers in English so they can use it to sell their artesian goods to tourists.
It is really refreshing to have this change of pace after a week at the colegio. This school is in a low income neighborhood with a large indigenous population. It is so fun working with the students and learning from them as well! I am hoping to learn some words in Nahuat- one of the indigenous languages that very few people speak nowadays.
It is a very cool experience and the students there are so appreciative and welcoming! I need to take some more pictures of the school so those will be posted later!
