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Spanish or, as they call it, “Castellano,” as well, but there is still that additional language barrier from the

Quechua presence that will add to others you may face.

Speaking of the language barrier, you will find that, if you are not totally fluent in Spanish,

communication issues will arise during your work in the school, whether in communicating with the students

or communicating with teachers and other staff. We found everyone at the school to be very forgiving about

communicative struggles, but it’s important to keep practicing your Spanish and definitely reach out to your

coordinators for help if you need it.

Although you may not be doing work in Occopata as a community, the community context is very relevant to

any work or interactions you will be doing in the school. Occopata is a very close-knit farming community, as

you will be able to tell almost immediately. Many of the students know each other’s families, many are

related, and, although some of the parents may work in Cusco, all of the students and their families live a short

walk away within the community boundaries.

The social attitudes are a bit different in Occopata than in Cusco city. Domestic violence is very common and

gender roles are highly pronounced - particularly “machismo”, a.k.a. notably pronounced masculinity and the

inherent assumption of women’s inferiority. Many of the parents didn’t finish primaria and, thus, may not

necessarily have an interest in or dedication to the academic education of their children. These are most likely

the central differences you will interact with daily, although not necessarily in an outright or dramatic way.

Occopata is also considered “extremely poor,” meaning that the majority of its occupants live on less than 1

Sol (around 30 American cents) a day. Because of this, the students in the school receive a lot of government

services aimed to maintain their health and well-being.

Contributing meaningfully and effectively to a school outside of your own country, of course, requires an

understanding of the large-scale context of the education system in the country you are working in. We had a

limited understanding of Peru’s education system upon beginning our work at Virgen del Carmen, but we

learned fairly quickly about the context that the school is nestled in and it helped us understand the practices

in the school and how we could be of use. To give a succinct synopsis, the terrorism that plagued Peru from

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