At this time, I would like to take a moment to thank The Wiggles for the unauthorized use of their song "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" in my class yesterday.  I would have asked permission, but I walked into a room with 25 Peruvian kids between the ages of 3 and 13 waiting expectantly for me to entertain them (and teach them English).   Walking back after a full morning of improvised lessons, I starting wondering again what I was doing with my time.  I asked the teacher I'm "assisting" (and by "assisting" I mean I teach the class while he goes to another room and reads a novel) if he knew what, exactly, we were trying to accomplish.  He's worked for Corazones Para Peru for 6 years now, but he couldn't quite remember what the mission was.  Something about helping kids and teaching them skills for the future... 

But I guess that's what happens when a middle-aged German man visits a third world country and feels sad for all the poor children without shoes.  He goes back to his country with some touching photos, starts accumulated money, calls together a few locals willing to sign on for a low salary and a good deed and *voi-la!* thus are born the myriad of NGOs in Urubamba.  The only problem is the lack of economic and contextual understanding of the true needs of a community.  Dr. Deiter visits Urubamba twice a year for ten days and when he comes, the entire organization is smiles, and lunches, and kisses.  So he goes back to Germany all warm-fuzzies wondering why the teachers and volunteers are always emailing him about the problems with Corazones.  The stars in his eyes blind him from seeing the reality of the perpetuating cycles of dependence and frustration the organization is causing.   

I've abandoned the idea of ever gaining a complete understanding of the factors required to make a real difference in this country, but in the short time that I've been here, I've learned enough to know that I don't understand.  I don't understand how children can possibly learn from people who are not passionate about teaching them.  And I don't understand how someone can become empassioned to work to free children from poverty through education when they themselves are barely getting by on the S/800 a month salary. I don't understand how the lower class can aspire to pursue professional careers when all they see are non-professional volunteers fulfilling those vocations (teacher, house-builder, medic, etc).   

I heard a parable that I feel explains the problem quite well (this is the abridged version):A wise teacher takes his pupil to the poorest family in the town in order to teach him a lesson which the pupil does not yet know.  The family has eight children and the all live in one old house that is about to collapse on their heads.  The only possession they have is a mangey cow which provides them with enough milk to live on.  Their entire lives revolve around the cow: feeding it, milking it, tying it up, etc.  One night when it was very late, the teacher wakes up the pupil and takes him outside.  He pulls a dagger from his belt and slits the throat of the cow.  While they are running away the pupil cries, "Why have you taught me to kill and rob from those who have nothing at all?"  But the teacher says nothing.  A year later, the pupil returns to the same place where the old house once was, but finds that it is no longer there.  Instead, there is a beautiful mansion and a man wearing expensive clothes at the door.  The pupil asks, "Sir, whatever happened to the poor family that once lived on this land with their cow?"  The man replied, "That was my family.  One night, someone killed our cow which was our only possession.  In desperation, we had to scrounge the ground for seeds and small plants.  From there we learned that we could plant and harvest enough plants to live on, and had even more to sell in the market.  Before, we had conformed to the life of poverty, but little by little we learned that we could work to live in abundance."  And at last the pupil understood what the wise teacher had tried to show him.  The fault was of the cow.   

...So as for the moral of the story, what does that mean I should do about Dr. Dieter?   

Just kidding.  But sometimes I wonder what would happen if I waved a magic wand and made all the NGOs of Peru dissapear.  (In the meantime I work for them for free.  Actually I pay to work for them. Ironic?  A little tragic...)