Quaker School in Achacachi

5/19/11

We visited the Quaker school in Achacachi, one of only three remaining Quaker schools in Bolivia. (The other two are Max Paredes in La Paz and Emmanuel in El Alto.) Achacachi is a town two hours away from La Paz, on the way to Sorata. To get there you ride along the altiplano with a rim of snow-covered peaks in the distance, and then along the shore of Lake Titicaca. All along the way, people are farming their fields by hand.

There are three multi-aged classrooms in Achacachi: one for kindergarden through grade 5, and two for the two older levels. Unlike in the public schools where we have taught, there was plenty of room in each classroom as there had been more students in the past than there are now. The students are generally low-income and most do not wear the full school uniform. They were so eager to learn! We sang and played cards (Go Fish! is a good way to learn to ask a simple question and practice the numbers). Conor played a wild game of soccer with them in the courtyard during break. I showed the girls some of the cool things you can do with excel, which they had not used but which they have in their well-appointed computer room. I promised to send the teacher a program I have been using which teaches typing through games.

It was very meaningful to me to be with this small group of Quakers out in the country and to make this connection with them between their world and ours.