Two weeks ago I traveled to Chinameca, San Miguel with a couple of members of my ADESCO to pick up 150 trees we successfully solicited from FUNDACHINAMECA, an NGO specializing in gardening and reforestation. We loaded the trees in the back of the truck, and so began what I thought was going to be a fairly simple project to do with the school kids. Boy was I wrong!
We’re at week three of planting at this point and we’re still not done. I’ve got about 30 trees in the ground at the school and am hopefully going to get the remaining 25 that I’ve allocated for the school in the ground this week. The rest are supposedly being planted by the soccer team at the soccer field, but I’ll believe it when I see it…
Planting with the school children has proven much more difficult than I anticipated. I initially tried planting each day with a different class, but when the entire class is involved at once, most of the kids just run around and goof off. So I’ve had to pull 4-5 kids at a time to dig holes, plant and water the trees. And my kids are small; the school only goes up to sixth grade, so there are only a handful of boys who are strong enough to dig the holes somewhat efficiently. Needless to say, the process is a slow one! The kids seem to be enjoying the project, though, which is fun. The trees are small still, and like babies, need lots of care, so we’ve got a schedule posted now organizing which classes are in charge each week of watering the trees. The girls, although completely uninterested in planting the trees, are eager to cuidar them, and give them water every day. So at least we’ve got a system going.
Our computers are mostly fixed now also, we’re just waiting on a few monitors to come back from (hopefully) being repaired. Once we get an official count on how many actually sirve we’re going to buy the computer desks and get set up! I’m giving basic instruction, with the help of Don Saul (a teacher at school), to the older kids right now, and am hoping to get my hands on a typing program in Spanish and maybe an electronic encyclopedia to start giving regular classes. The computer room needs some work but we’re getting there! My mission this week is to draw some posters of basic info about computers and typing that we can hang up to help the kids out on vocabulary. The kids are so excited to finally get their hands on the computers, and it’s such a trip teaching a child how to use a mouse for the first time. They are so proud when they can “hacer clic” correctly, or type their names!
What else? We’ve got fiestas patronales next week so my community is full of visitors from the states and I’m now being sexually harassed in my community in both English and Spanish. Fun? Vendors are busy building their stands and pizza is already being sold at night! I’m excited to be able to buy food next week instead of cooking! The softball team (which I recently joined) is hosting a baile Saturday to raise money for new uniforms, and we’ve got a tournament on Wednesday, so wish me luck! The girls and I are selling food to support the men’s soccer team the following day, so I’m heading to the market this week to buy an apron. The salvos are going to DIE when I show up in a campo apron ready to vender! Can’t wait! Other than that its carnival rides and discos every night for a week. I’m going to need lots of Benadryl to sleep through all the noise but I’m excited.
April should go quickly. This week I’m working on the trees, next week is fiestas, then Semana Santa and then HONDURAS with my mom!! Is it April 30th yet!?
Miss you mucho! And thanks for reading!
I really enjoyed this posting. You will have a blast selling stuff those guys. In fact, I suspect sales will increase because many of those guys will want to say they bought from you.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you try selling kisses for a couple of bucks a pop like used to be done here in county and firehouse fairs? Your causes will make a lot of money.
They play good softball I would imagine.