Teacher Strike

I don't know if I've mentioned it already, but the public school teachers here have been on strike the whole month of July. So, all of the kids are out of school, leaving them, at best, pretty bored, and, at worst, really behind and getting into trouble. GeGe's mission is to keep kids off of the street, giving them a place to learn and play without getting into the wrong crowd and messing up their lives. The English name of the program is Kids at the Crossroads, but the Spanish name is Ninos en la Esquina, which I'd translate ,ore as kids on the corner. We don't want kids out in the street during their formative years, when they should be learning and growing and playing. So, GeGe makes a point of always being open when the other schools aren't, during vacations and strikes or whatever, so the kids have somewhere to go for at least part of the day. This time around, that meant that her vacation was cancelled in order to keep the school going during the strike.

Anyway, today all of the buses and taxis aren't running in support of the teachers. (Personally, I feel like that decision may have involved some coercion on the part of the teachers) So, the roads around here are all blocked with stones so a car couldn't get through. We walked down to the market, but it was closed too, probably because you can't really get goods to the market without transportation, and if the big supplier market is closed, they don't really have a source for stuff anyway. The bakery was closed too. Everyone was just kind of sitting around, and it felt really weird. A lot of police hanging out outside of the station down there too. Just strange. Luckily, a few little stores were still open, so we were able to get sone chapla and some other basics we needed for today.

Generally, I'm a fan of the working man, and if they organize themselves effectively to strike, then I think that's good. But! I don't like the idea of the teachers keeping other people from earning a living, even for one day. And! Teaching is fundamentalky a selfless profession. Good teachers do it for the students, not for themselves. So, I like how teachers strike in the US, usually one day with everyone involved to make a statement, but then they go back to work to help their students. I know my mom sure isn't earning what she deserves, and she's not even getting the cost of living raise each year that voters approved, but she also would never walk out on her students for a month. The teachers here have given the government an ultimatum- meet all of our demands (and there are many) or we won't go back to work. I don't pretend to understand how things work in Peru because it is definitely different, but I think that a little more compromise might make the situation better for everyone involved...