Essay / エッセー：GCN人語

Interaction with the children of Peru / ペルーの子ども達とのふれあい


I participated in the 2005 Peru Activity, this is a municipal based NGO program which is held each year by the “Club de Amigos de Latinoamerica de Osaka”. Math drill books and Spanish translated picture books are distributed to elementary schools in Peru. We arrived at Lima airport after leaving home and a 30 hour long flight. ____ When standing for the first time on American soil, a place famous for having the most popular world heritage “Machu Picchu”, and its history of “the Inca Empire” etc. This deepened my interest and expectations of what the children of Peru would be like and it was with that that I took the first step towards meeting the children of Peru	箕面市に拠点を置く市民レベルのNGOグループ「大阪ラテンアメリカの会」が毎年行なっている「算数ドリルとスペイン語翻訳絵本」を小学校へ配布する「ペルー2005活動」に参加した。リマ空港に到着したのは自宅を出てから約30時間の長いフライトのあとである。総称アメリカ大陸に降り立つのは私にとって初めてであり、世界遺産でNo1の人気を持つマチュピチュ、インカ帝国の歴史など、興味深くかつ想像をかきたてる世界に住んでいるペルーの子ども達との出会いに期待して一歩を踏み出した。
Our Peruvian program coordinator, Jeannet had arranged our schedule so that we would visit 6 elementary schools this time. The children and adults alike gazed at the scene with interest. A procession of young girls holding the Japanese flag in their hands, a welcome banner and national and school entered, there was a display of Peruvian traditional dance and the children made speeches of words of welcome while shyly clutching a microphone. At one school, we were greeted by welcome kisses in a flood as though a dam had burst. At first we were surprised, and perplexed however this later changed to joy. The school teachers and the students alike waited craning their necks in anticipation of our arrival. This was evidence that showed that this NGO program was not a once off thing but in reality had a sense on consistency.	ペルーでの私達の活動をコーディネートしてくれているペルー人のジャネットさんのアレンジで今回は6つの小学校を訪問した。日本の国旗を手に持ち、歓迎の横断幕、国旗･校旗を持った女の子たちの儀礼行進、ペルーの伝統的踊りの披露、子どもたちが、はにかんでマイクを握っての歓迎の言葉、子ども達の父兄が興味深そうにみつめる光景･･･。ある小学校では、堰を切ったように、私たちに挨拶のキスをするために殺到した時は、みな驚き、困惑し、最後は喜びに変わっていった。学校の先生そして子ども達が、算数ドリル、翻訳絵本をそして私達のことを首を長くして待っていたのであり、このNGOの活動が一過性のものではなく、継続して実施している結果だと思う。
In each class the members of the program and the Peruvian volunteers read the picture books, held puppeteer plays, gave instruction on the art of paper folding (Origami), a quick lesson in greetings in Japanese and the introduction of what a Paper balloon (Kami-fuusen) is to the children. The reaction to this from the children was for them to gaze with eyes that reflected their great interest or smiling innocently or showing great curiosity towards the taking of photographs and videos by the foreign visitors To an extent I could understand a minimal amount of the children’s feelings however, if I had a greater understanding of the language perhaps I would have been able to understand these children’s sentiments a little more deeply. Yet all I could do was say “what’s your name?” “Your age?” Once again this reconfirmed the importance of language for me.	各教室でのメンバーとペルー人ボランティアによる絵本の読み聞かせ、人形劇、折り紙教室、日本語の挨拶講座、紙風船の紹介･・。それに反応して真剣に且つ興味深く見つめる子ども達の眼、屈託のない笑顔、且つたまに来る外国人の訪問ということも手伝って写真･ビデオ撮影に対する旺盛な好奇心。言葉が理解できれば、そのあたりの子ども達の心情の一端が少しは理解できたのだが、スペイン語で「名前は？年は？」だけではどうしようもない！！言葉は大切さを再認識。
On the route to each school I would see dirty house , lines of houses that looked as if they were built flattened to the mountainsides, beggars by the sides of roads asking for money, children coming to cars to sell flowers when the lights turn red but amongst the poverty stricken schools that I visited (I don’t really know a lot about the state of education in Peru, nor do I know what should be fundamental for comparison.) With all that aside, In this great wide world there are those with no nationality, who do not have the right to education, and so many who are made to work from a young age by their parents. But once uttering those words there is not a lot that can be done, In the case of our small group, I think it is necessary for us not to try to do the impossible, rather we need to continue as we are now doing what we can.	それぞれの学校に行く途中で見かけた朽ちた家々、山腹にへばりつくように建っている家並、横断歩道などで逆立ちをしてお金を要求するとか、信号待ちの車に花などを売りに来る子どもたちも見かけたが、訪問した学校は貧困な中での教育環境とはいえ、概してそれなりに恵まれているのではないかとも思えた（ペルーの教育事情は良く分からないし、どこを基準にするかは別として）。この広い世界には国籍もなく、教育も受けられなく、親に働かせられている子ども達は沢山います。しかしそれを言い出したらどうしようもなく、私達のような小さなグループにとって、背伸びをせずに、今出来ることを継続してやるということが必要なのだと思う。
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