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| Art Classes at Escuelita Yo Puedo |
After spending a very cold few weeks in Pittsburgh, I’m finally back in Granada,
Nicaragua working with the chavalos (kids) and teachers at
Quinta Los Chavalos and
Escuelita Yo Puedo. The landscape here has changed a bit—the
rainy season ended and
things have begun to dry out—and just like at home in the
dry August heat, you can feel
kids getting anxious for the new school year here, which
begins for most on February 10th.
For students who come to Building New Hope’s two educational
programs, things
got started last week. Students began coming to Escuelita Yo
Puedo and Quinta Los
Chavalos to gear up for the coming school year—I for one
would have never voluntarily
cut my summer break short by a week when I was in elementary
or middle school, but
then again I wasn’t as driven as most of our students are.
This year we have many new students and some returning ones
as well. I walked into
Escuelita Yo Puedo last week and was greeted by a very
enthusiastic and charming
group of first graders. I asked them what they were doing
and they responded with a
chorus of “Learning to read!” Lisbeth, (who never ceases to
amaze me with her endless energy and good humor), the teacher in charge of
twelve first and second graders
had the older second graders reading to the first graders in
the corner.
As I left that group to go look for Ivania, the head
teacher, I heard from another corner
of the classroom, “Cookie, cookie, cookie!” I knew this
could only be Orel, one of my
favorite students, albeit a self-proclaimed antagonist of
the English language--evident in
the fact that the only word he cared to remember from all
last year’s English lessons is
“cookie”. He’s a skinny, short kid—smallest in his class. In
spite of his stature though, he holds his own—specifically as the class clown.
Several times last year I had to pause class until everyone
(including myself) stopped
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| Soccer Clinic |
routine he would put on instead of reading a sentence on the
board.
Far from being disruptive, Orel’s distraction from class and
his overall attitude about
life seem to be a microcosm for life in Nicaragua. Here is
this kid who would most likely be world famous if he had his own comedy show, a
kid who shows up for an additional school program every day, from obvious
poverty like many of our students are, with the most positive character I have
ever seen. It makes me realize just how large of an impact the schools and our
invaluable teachers have on these students’ lives.
There are a lot of projects for the coming school year with
Quinta Los Chavalos and Escuelita Yo Puedo. This week we’ll be holding a soccer
clinic (playing soccer in Nicaraguan heat doesn’t seem too appealing, but I’m
gonna strap on my cleats and do it!)
and next week two new volunteers will be starting at the
schools giving art classes. We’ll be focusing on using recycled materials (i.e.
trash from the street) to create art. This idea was inspired by one of our
students at La Quinta, Dylan, who makes incredible bracelets from discarded
plastic bags and sells them to earn money for school—just another example of
the ingeniousness and motivation of our chavalos!
Again and again I am amazed by the students in our programs
and so thankful for
