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Desires and Imagination / 119 collaborated with another American woman, Patricia, who works as a coordinator . Together, they got materials for the school, such as grammar books for learning Spanish, a stereo, and a VCR. In trying to get money for the Spanish school in the United States, Emily realized that she could apply for funding at her university by forming a formal organization. She then gathered a group of her university fellows and created an organization through which she received a $1,500 grant to carry on her education project. With these funds, Emily and her fellows were able to buy storybooks, notebooks, and other materials for the primary school children. In the summer of 2001, Emily returned to Todos Santos with three other fellows to conduct their education project. One of them, Cassandra, whom I met just once on the street, left after a few days. Emily told me that Cassandra did not adapt well; she could not put up with the living conditions of Todos Santos and the family with whom she stayed: “She said it is ‘too rustic and poor.’ She could not deal with not taking hot showers every morning, the food, or with the fleas in her bed.” In contrast, Emily enjoyed Todos Santos and was happy that she was not alone conducting her project. Yet she was also struggling with the fact that she was the most fluent in Spanish while her fellows were studying Spanish in addition to their involvement as facilitators of their education project. It was a social dynamic of giving and receiving from each other. Todosanteros were teaching Spanish while their “students” were also their “teachers” by instructing them on creative ways to teach primary school children. In the primary schools, Emily opted to work with the classes of the teachers working in the Spanish school. She knew these teachers well and had a good relationship with them. She initially intended to work with other primary school teachers who were not involved in the Spanish school. However, this meant building new relationships,which meant investing vital time,which she preferred to use working with the teachers she already knew. Not all teachers of the Spanish school were participating in Emily’s project since only a handful were interested enough to participate. Despite her enthusiasm and efforts, Emily and her fellows were frustrated with the teachers who were not that responsive to the project. Few teachers showed up for meetings to plan the activities for the primary school students. Emily and her fellows opted to work with just a few classes. Nevertheless, Emily told me that even the teachers who were more responsive to her project did not do the work that was expected. Emily complained that some teachers used Emily and her fellows to leave the room and take a break: It feels like they are using us as an excuse to leave the room and do whatever they want; when, in fact, we want them to do it themselves. We are 120 / Barrera Nuñez there to assist and offer the little that we know. We are not teachers. We don’t know.They are the teachers. Emily was disappointed that teachers were not that interested in learning from them and in teaching ideas they intended to introduce. What Emily was expecting from the teachers was more than creative thinking in teaching, it implied that teachers had to do more work designing lesson plans,evaluations,and creative activities.Planning and developing an extra curriculum added to teachers’already busy schedules teaching Spanish,attending to their families, and being involved in local committees. A similar situation with regards to education occurred in 1996 with the organization Education Without Borders (EWB). Eustacio, a local, well-respected Ladino teacher, told me, “Education Without Borders worked in Todos Santos . They were people from Spain who came to improve [elementary] education .” EWB focused its work building classrooms and providing teachers with professional training. Eustacio explained: Things went all right, but later [Todos Santos] teachers rejected them because they thought they [EWB] were monitoring teachers’ work and, thus, would penalize them. The Spanish woman [working in this project ] left very frustrated. She told me that “teachers don’t want to work. They get to work on Tuesday [in remote villages] and want to leave on Thursday.” Furthermore, EWB tried to not affect children’s morning classes by offering their training courses for teachers in the evenings. Teachers, however, claimed not to have time for training...

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