Youth Group Promotion

Jennifer and a few others go around to different schools to promote the youth groups. 

The biggest challenge with going to one of the schools in the community to promote the youth groups proved to be gettin in to it! In the blazing sun we were greeted by locked doors and high walls. However we could have ended up waiting longer than we did for them to come open for us as they seem only open during breaks. Slutet gott, allting gott!

Zumba

Jennifer, one of our volunteers from Sweden, talks about there evening working on a dance for the girls youth group.


Yesterday me and two other volunteers spent all evening working on our preparations for this thursdays girl's group. As we are going to have a zumba class for the girls, we were literally drenched in sweat by the time we had set all the steps for the choreographies and had run them through a couple of times. Luckily enough we had some help the day before from one of the local teen talents who taught us the moves to a very popular Reggaeton song. With the choreography down it's just down to the presentation tomorrow night. Let's see if we have just enough latin flavour in us to get a room of bolivian teens dancing!

Working with the Grupo de Chicas

Fiona one of our newest volunteers hasn't had a problem fitting in amongst the girls at our youth group. Here's a short glimpse of what she and the other volunteers have done to create a safe environment for the young women of Ushpa Ushpa.

Since starting work at Proyecto Horizonte I’ve only been to the girls’ group twice so far but it’s fast becoming my favourite part of the week. It’s on once a week for about 3 hours and it’s a place for the girls of Ushpa-Ushpa to come and hang out, listen to music, and get to know each other. 

And it’s the getting to know each other part that is the main focus of the group at the moment. Or rather, confidence and trust in each other. After talking to the girls about who they could talk to if they had a problem or a secret, the overwhelming response was apparently ‘no one’. They don’t have anyone they trust enough to confide in; and this is something that surely has to change. Being a teenager is hard enough as it is, but not having anyone to talk to about it must make it that much harder.

So, that’s what tonight’s group was about. And I loved it.

We started off with jewellery-making and, although it didn’t start up too many conversations since everyone was concentrating pretty hard, it was fun to see what everyone produced at the end, and the girls let me take a few snaps of their handiwork.

Then, Jennifer came up with a great game to break the ice between the girls. It basically meant everybody ended up sitting on top of each other and laughing a lot, so the physical barriers between the girls were broken down which definitely helps a lot when it comes to trust.

The next game was Truth or Dare. Dangerous territory, but everyone made it through unscathed. I thought this was a great idea because both truth and dare require a certain amount of trust in the people you’re with: you tell the truth in the hope that you won’t get ridiculed, and you do a dare in the hope you won’t get ridiculed.

But the lights cut out halfway through. And, after a bit of screaming and running around, the group turned to the one activity you just have to do during a blackout: ghost stories. And, although I didn’t understand much of them (I know there was something about a black dog), it was fun to just sit in the dark and listen to the girls telling stories.

Overall, it was a really good night and I think the girls are beginning to trust each other more, and, as they see our faces there every week, I hope they’ll begin to trust us volunteers as well.

 

Setbacks, difficulties, and finally--some shreds of success.

March has flown by in a blur of canned foam and water balloons for Carnival, and now April is looming close and my number of weeks left in Cochabamba has dwindled to the single digits. The past month has been characterized by a healthy mix of excitement, frustration, and laughter--which has shown me that after half a year at Proyecto Horizonte, I'm just beginning to feel like I'm doing more than flopping uselessly about. (Okay, maybe I didn't feel like I was flopping, exactly, but I'm just starting to get into a groove where I feel adequately useful).

Cold and wet after celebrating Carnival at the school with my students.

The Excitement: 
In the past month, I've been focusing mainly on three things: English classes and extra tutoring for new students, arranging in-home nutrition workshops for a group of women in the community, and a youth leadership initiative that I've been thinking about practically since my arrival. English classes have been getting better and better as my students become more comfortable around me and my confidence in my teaching increases. The nutrition workshops are finally starting to look like a possibility as we explore possibilities for using outside resources to bring student nutritionists out to Mineros San Juan. But finally, my youth leadership initiative is finally up and running and off the ground. I'm thrilled to see it finally have decent attendance. The participants seem to be enjoying the meetings and activities, and I can already see them starting to realize and correct the mistakes they make when working in teams. I'll write another post about the leadership program soon. Check back!


The Frustration:
As wonderful as the above is, it's been quite a struggle to reach this point with everything. In English classes, I've had a rough time managing some classes of unruly (and sometimes manipulative) kids, who at times have made me doubt my abilities as a volunteer and teacher. Organizing the nutrition workshops has also been difficult. With the initially grueling work of arranging groups of neighbors done, we've had a challenging time locating a professional to give the workshops, as the majority of our contacts are in La Paz for some time and unavailable to come to the community. This has forced us to postpone the workshops' start. With the leadership program I was initially frustrated by how few students showed interest, and even more frustrated by those who showed interest but failed to act upon it by showing up to the first meeting. It was certainly hard to face my first leadership meeting with just two students, but it only doubled my resolve to encourage the kids to come and make the initiative a success. The next meeting saw ten teenagers turn up, proving that perseverance is probably the most important factor when working in this environment.


The Laughter:
The way I've turned most of my frustration into excitement is by laughing. Of course it's hard to deal with disappointment, especially after working very hard for something. But one of the great things about working at Proyecto Horizonte is that the work is never done. When something doesn't work, try again, change it up, and do it over. Eventually it'll start to work. That attitude has allowed me to see a lot of these potential setbacks as funny rather than upsetting. The most important thing is not to be discouraged and to keep your spirits up. Energy and persistence conquer all things, after all. 


If you're considering coming to work with us, please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions at keah20@gmail.com and I will answer as promptly and candidly as possible.