Day 3 - Initial Contact

We arrived at Peca today to find one of the Mothers from the foundation selling food. We had been hoping to see her there she knows the area well and we hoped that she could tell us about any potential students. Uri and her talked but I didn’t understand much of what she said. As we chatted we she gave us some of what she was selling, puffed corn, beans, potato, tostada (popped corn kernels, a boiled egg, an onion salad topped with peanut sauce, all in a small bag.
We spoke to a few different kids but many of them already go to school and are currently working because it is school holidays. We told them about the foundation and the activities that will start on Monday so that they can either spread the word or come if they had lied to us and don't actually go to school.

Next we headed to Alborada but I was confused when we got off the bus at a different location. I was confused as to why but then Uri explained to me that she recently had been held up on a bus in the same area and she was sure that the bus we were on was about to be held up. Two men had got on and started distributing lollies, but a number of ques drew her attention and she decided rather than take a risk we should just change buses before anything went wrong.

Roberto, Carlos and Matilde were working as usual when we arrived and were still eager to be our friends. Sadly, Matilde told us that her Dad had said 'no' when she asked if they could come to our school. He said that they need to work so that the family has money, but she is still trying to convince him by suggesting that they could go to school and work afterwards.
We also met another boy who has finished primary school but his Mum can’t afford to pay for secondary so he works instead. We suggested that he come to the foundation; repeat the final year and then the foundation can support him through the rest of his studies. His eyes lit up when he found out that the students get breakfast and lunch free every day so he said he will go home and see what his mum thinks.