such a tough enchilada: Gracias to My Family

To start I want to send out a GRANDE Gracias to my family who answered my call for donations to make the following blog possible.

So GRACIAS GRACIAS GRACIAS TO :

~ MOM and DAN - the polar bear- Abbott

~ Daddio y Mel * and happy early birthday Mel J

~ La Mama Cortez T.Q.M.

~ Grams aka Mary Atha a million xoxo

~ Uncle Kurt and Aunt Vikki love love love to you both

~ Tia Susie y Caballero Rod Collins

NOW THE UPDATE:

“An Introduction to Professional Development” was the name of the camp put on by 9 Peace Corps Volunteers in the Community Organization and Economic Development (COED) program. Each COED volunteer brought anywhere from 1-4 of their most talented youths from their community.

As many of you know I don’t have a community but rather a region in which I work and so the 4 students I brought were from various pueblos from my region. These 4 were also my English students who I gave scholarships to attend my “English for Tourism” course that I gave earlier this year. I chose my students based on their grades, attendance, and scores from an aptitude test administered to them during the selection process for the English course. These students have shown their dedication over the months and working with them in the past allowed their families to feel comfortable letting me take them 8 hours away from their home for 2 nights. It’s not a normal occurrence to spend the night away from home let alone travel halfway across the country. I also wanted to continue investing in these 4 students in the hopes further inspiring and motivating them to be leaders in their communities or where ever life takes them.

Driving along I couldn’t help but notice their eyes big with wonder as our micro van snaked through the capital on the way to the campsite. My students had been to the capital one other time when I took them to job shadow at the Sheraton Hotel in April but it was still exciting to them. They reminisced over the fun we had when we went out to Pizza Hut and swam in the hotel pool. They felt very special riding in a private vehicle as they are relegated to public transport, which equals the back of a pick up truck or squeezed into chicken buses. We played music, ate snacks and took naps during our long ride to and from the camp.

Thanks to YOU this was all possible. Private transport is VERY expensive in this country and the public transport is dangerous so while my students were in my care I really wanted to make sure we had a private driver. We took advantage and picked up other volunteers and their students along the way. So in total 9 students and 3 PC volunteers were able to ride comfortably and safely to and from camp. It also had an added bonus in allowing for the students of each volunteer to get to know each other a bit before arriving at camp in turn helping a smidgen with the “pena” or shyness.

What about the camp you ask!?

Well… Let me tell ya, it was long and hard we didn’t let these youth rest. We left Thursday at 4:30 am from my pueblo picking up volunteers and their students along the way. The poor things were pooped by the end but there were so many topics that were important to cover and each peace corps volunteer gave their own talks and worked to make them interactive. It was rare to see the students sitting and just listening, they were active. As you can see from the photos…

A public campsite offered for free by the government to NGOs and other organizations like Peace Corps to hold gatherings, training, and such things

Each cabin has two rooms complete with bunk-beds, shower and flush toilet! fancy I know.

The students were broken up randomly so they could have a chance to meet other students.

It sorta worked. Most nights everyone was so tired we got back to the cabin to put on PJs and sleep.

Chelsea gives the bienvenida and sets expectations and rules with the students

Later comes a slew of dinamicas or Interactive games ...

Put yourselves in order of birthdays without stepping out of the line

getting very close. nothing new considering the public transportation situation in this country.

The Space

On a hike, lots of photo taking occurred and many of my students have posted new photos of themselves on their facebook account. Yes even our dear salvadoran campo kids have fallen victim to FB. :)

Giving a talk on Marketing before making them create their own marketing plan I broke them into two groups
The first was a music group who had to market themselves using the 5Ps and
the second group was a tourism group who had to offer products or services
They did great for only having a half hour!

The Human Knot...
working together to untangle yourself while never letting go

Mirror exercise to further understand leadership or was it creativity...
I forget, I walked in late... but it looks fun!

Working together AGAIN... strategy, leadership, creativity
goal... get everyone across without touching the string or using an opening more than once

Students worked in groups through the weekend and on the last day before certificates they presented
they were assigned to be a youth group, community organization and had to present how they would run the show, money marketing project etc... basically using all the skills they learned in the last two days