First Day of School

On Tuesday, I assisted in the English classes at the high school for the first time. The high school the children attend is run by NPH and all 180 pequeños attend it. It’s supported by the other half of the student population who are Cuernavaca residents (called “externos”)who pay tuition.

Because all the pequeños attend this high school, I already knew half of the students in my classes which got me off to a great start with remembering names. I’m enjoying the chance of being able to speak a language in front of my kids without a horrible accent and grammar mistakes. They look at me with wonder when I read from the book at seemingly “lightening speed.” Or maybe they’re just realizing I’m not as stupid as I sound when speaking Spanish.

One of the thoughts that constantly crosses my mind during class is the difference in backgrounds and home environments between the externos and pequeños. Many of the externos go home to a family, where they live with their mother who cooks them dinner every night and their father who buys them things form the store. Who when they have trouble with homework, they can ask their dad. Or who when they have a problem in school, they have a mom who can come in and talk to the teacher. They always have someone to look out for them, who always has their utmost interest at heart.

Then there’s my pequeños, for which each group of 20-30 kids has a director and one caregiver to help them with their homework, to watch out that they’re doing well in school, to comfort them as a parent would with their heart breaks. It’s not fair, that when they have trouble with homework, they sometimes have to give up because there’s no one to help them or to push them. Yet, I am so amazed by how hard these kids work simply on their own initiative, their own desire to succeed.

Don’t get me wrong. The kids have a support network here. There are safety nets in place. For kids who have trouble in school, their teachers hold extra tutorial classes for them. For kids who have further trouble, they have individual tutors. And most of all and most valuable, they have each other. These kids truly are each other’s brothers and sisters regardless of blood relations. I’ve seen countless pequeños help another who is so frustrated with her work her head is on her paper or one who arrives at dinner defeated because of the last grade he received.

But there’s the thought in the back of my head that refuses to go away: with as much love and support there is at NPH, can it ever live up to the love that a mother and father could give their child? A rather rhetorical question. Of course, every child in NPH is here because their mother and/or father cannot give them the educational support needed. These children for sure receive more at NPH than back at home where they would have had little life options and the far off opportunity to succeed.

At the same time, I feel such pain and pride. Pain because they don’t have figures in their life. But so proud because they have refused to let that dictate their level of success.