A Tale of Two Schools

We left Cuenca with Dr. Marco Alvarado and his wife, Mercedes, for the outskirts of town to an area known as Las Cajas. The scenery suddenly changes from neighborhoods to rolling hills, pastures and farm animals grazing alongside the roads. We dodged a cow creeping into the street making its way to greener pastures.

Our first school visit was to Colegio Victoria Portente 6th through 8th grad which is a Federally Funded Public School. This rural school set into a hillside overlooking the main road serves 93 students. They have only a handful of teachers and a two story building with 12 classrooms. There are also two very tired bathrooms one for girls and one for boys but the students have to bring their own toilet paper and the stalls do not have privacy doors. A long sink and four faucets are available for hand washing and for drinking. Supposedly the water in Cuenca is treated and clean for drinking. A computer lab houses 4 working computers. There is a definite need for more computers as there are desks available for computer stations, but no computers…lack of funds to purchase them and other needs to be met.

The interesting aspect about this rural school is an operational dairy farm for processing milk into yogurt where students get hands on training for this operation and study the process as part of their school day. Another special program which exists is a pig raising program where students learn the husbandry aspects of caring for “chancos” (pigs). This helps make schooling very practical. Unfortunately the electrical power outages affect the school´s yogurt processing program. We found a large container of spoiled milk in the yogurt area which had gone bad as a result of the lack of electricity. The school´s greatest need is a generator to keep this yogurt program operational. Some computers for the students would also be nice to have. Teacher salaries here are way different than what we are use to. A teacher of 26 years experience was earning $750 per month and insurance.


Second school visit is to a rural elementary school by the name of Escuela Rural Rene Zeas Ochoa Primaria for grades kinder through 6th grade. This was also a government funded public school. This rural school was some distance off the highway on a dirt road and overlooked a picturesque valley below. On our way to the school two indigenous women wearing black felt hats, colorful skirts, and rubber boots led a horse with milk jugs tied to its back. At the school we were met by the “directora” (principal) of the program, Mariana Jarin.

In addition to acting as principal for the school she taught k, 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade at the school. This school had about 35 students enrolled. It is a two classroom school. In the other classroom, grades 4th, 5th were being taught. The school also had a newer cafeteria and kitchen that the Rotary Club from Tomebamba built about a year before. Students in the primary room were sharpening their pencils with a utility exacto knife. The sharpener in the classroom was broken. We were treated to a dance that the students had practiced and dressed up to perform. They performed an indigenous dance called “El Venado”. The dance portrayed a deer hunt. Needs at this school were computers, a TV and VCR unit to show educational DVDs and working pencil sharpeners.

After our school visits we went to lunch in the mountains of the Las Cajas Park. This protected area has hiking trails in to the mountains and is known for its 1000 ponds throughout the mountains. The black trout is plentiful in this area and is a popular regional dish. We had lunch at a very picturesque spot called Dos Chorreras. We had a “plato tipico” (regional food) of locro (potato soup) trout, salad, rice and canelazo (a small warm beverage served in a shot glass) to warm us up.

Our third school visit was the most rural and the poorest. It only had a concrete foundation. Students (about 20) are schooled at someone´s house. They hope to begin building soon. We were not able to see any students as school had let out for the day.

To end our day, we all had a dinner at the Rotary Tomebamba club with the Canadian Rotary group. Speeches were made, banners were exchanged and we again showed our presentation. This time the color was better but we are still lacking photos. We hope that for the next time we finally get it all to work out. (Not that anyone else seems to mind.)