Moving on Up

On March 10th I moved from my home on Jiron Grau to Carmen Alto. So I am no longer living with the Sulca-Tucno Family in the city part of Ayacucho. We both came to realize that my host parents spend a large majority of their time focused on and at the private Christian school that they run. This did not leave a lot of time for interacting with me. As the new school year set into motion in March it was evident that our quality time together was only going to become less. Now I live in Carmen Alto which is one of the distritos that surround the city proper of Ayacucho and helps make up the provincia of Huamanga, so now I am even more Huamangina than ever!! My house over looks a soccer field and the valley of Ayacucho, so at night it is all lit up with rows of streetlights in the distance. Quite striking actually. I am now living with the Quispe-Cerda Family. Paco, Celia, and their full of joy and energy/2 year-old son Franco (Franquito). They are expecting their second child in June, possibly a little girl. I will let you know. The funny thing that I realized in discerning with my facilitator in Lima, and the folks at Paz y Esperanza-Ayacucho was that having someone to share meaningful conversation and meals with was more important than cable television, a washing machine and a more ¨well to do¨ house in the city. Do not get me wrong, my other family was nice, but one of the underlying and grounding principles of the YAV program is accompaniment, the idea of learning by being, moreso than doing. That is challenging when your schedules sort of conflict and you do not see a whole lot of one another. Paco is a welder and all around handyman, studied as a secondary classroom teacher, and trained at the Andino Seminary in Ayacucho to be a Presbyterian minister. He remains without a church because frankly there aren´t any in Ayacucho that do not have a pastor. He stays at home and takes care of Franco. Celia is trained in women´s health and obstetrics, and works for World Vision International in Mayurina, a rural pueblo just north of Ayacucho. She is working on her Master´s Degree in Cergincias Sociales...I am still trying to figure out what that one is. Franco (Franquito) is a blossoming 2 year-old who will be 3 in June. Franco has Down´s Syndrome. He is full of life and Paco and I are still try to translate what ¨BA¨ and this sadistic giggle that he does sometimes really means, along with some of his other words. Franco´s hobbies include throwing objects out of the side window of the house or off the rooftop kitchen and then laughing. He also likes to steal the soccerball out of my room and run a few laps around the den with it, then brings it back. Franco started attending a preschool with other young children last week. He will have a little uniform, and has a lunch box that Paco packs each morning with fruit and chicken and rice, and a mochilla or backpack. Franco gets to paint, listen to music and stories, and interact with other children his age. Of course everyone thinks he is an angel. All of the women in market oogle over him and give him little snacks. He came home with a big scratch on his face yesterday via another child, and Paco was not happy...Celia even less happy when she arrived home. So for now I settle for the random Franco run by and exploration of whatever is in my pockets while we are at church. In my new home I still have my own room, actually a slightly bigger one, and it is blue (my favorite color). Bonus!! There is cable television and Paco moved the television out into the den for my arrival. Oh and bonus x 2!! There is internet, but the best part is that Paco loves coffee, to talk about anything, but especially scripture, theology, and the church. So in many ways, Paco and Celia who were worried because they do not have a lot of money, may not realize it but by moving to Carmen Alto I haved moved up, literally and figuratively.