Community Service

Today I met some of my students at a nursing home to do some community service.  It was so cute when we walked up the stairs to the entrance and a man in the wheelchair exclaimed "Oh, so wonderful we have visitors" (in Spanish).  Made me smile and glad I went.  So today we were just there to meet with the lady who runs the place and ask her how we could help.  We worked a little--cleaned the paths and moved wood.  We were there for about an hour and a half and got a lot of things done.  My students talked about things they could do on their next visits such as reading to the older people, performing dances, etc.  I'm excited for them. 

We walked back into town after this and it reminded me of something funny Nicas say.  They also exaggerate things, but sometimes with distances, they underestimate them.  Well, this morning the students told me "Oh, it's not too far to walk back to town" so I agreed to walk with them.  It was nice out and the scenery was beautiful, but after the 25 minute walk through the country in 90+ degree heat, I was sweating profusely.  I bought the kids some ice cream since we were all sweating and tired.  They did a really good job too.

After I got home and cleaned up a bit and had lunch, I was off to the next community service activity at the casa materna (where pregnant ladies go).  My students gave another charla and this time it was about caring for babies.  The two ladies at the casa materna were sweet and participated in the charla.  My students even brought prizes for them--little outfits for their babies (I guess they had asked some one to find out that the ladies were having girls so they picked out pink outfits--so sweet!).

I'm really enjoying seeing my students learn about volunteering and helping others.  Volunteering is sometimes difficult to get high school students to do, but it's very rewarding once they get into it and see how they can make a difference for others.  One of the students actually said today that he was glad to be working.