POR FIN...first official day at CSF

For the first time in two years, I jumped out of bed to go to work. I honestly could not wait to get out the door and wasn't even in need of my coffee (although, I did take a cup just to be safe). The two British blokes (Rob and Will) who were found via Cerys (one of the three original founders of CSF...and my roommate) bellowed their arrival to my apartment and we began our giddy jaunt to the catch a bus. After picking up the last volunteer, Naomi, we were headed in the right direction...Valle de Gaira.

The bus stopped for less than a second to plunk us down outside the Bomba Azucar (sugar pump) and already the motos were surging forward to flash their 'steeds'. I felt like I was choosing a horse for a race, but in this competition, it was not speed I was focused on so much as the seeming 'surefootedness' of the mount. One hears plenty about moto mishaps in Santa Marta and while I may be one to walk on the wild side, motos are not my adventure of choice. I didn't care how fast I arrived, just as long as it was in one piece.

My mount, a sleek red dirt bike that looked fairly new, was driven by a boy that couldn't have been more than 13 years old...gulp.

While I had visited Colombia Sin Fronteras before, this was my first full day experience and my first time seeing the morning program. As a few students trickled in, we quickly became aware of the fact that the attendance would be minimal. Once everyone had shown up there were about 6 kids who had braved the mid-morning heat to improve their reading and math skills.

As I realized I wasn't going to be able to do much teaching during the early session, I decided to start working on developing a portfolio of the students. My first subject was Alvaro Enrique De La Telea.

Alvaro is 8 years old and has been attending classes at Colombia Sin Fronteras for almost a year now. He attends a public colegio (along with most of the other students) which he said was called 'La Quinia Uno', but  I have yet to find it in any database. I will be checking this place out for myself... Alvaro lives with his mother and grandparents (dad was not mentioned...not an uncommon situation in these parts). He has two siblings: Yelibanz (11), and Emilio (5).

His favorite food is arroz con pollo, tajadas (platano madura frito en aceite muy caliente), y jugo (maracuya). His best friends are Camilo, and Juan David (both CSF cronies). He love math, science and Spanish (Castellano). His favorite person is his mom, Mayelis, and he loves helping her around the house (I swear this is what he said...albeit in Spanish and I could have mistranslated, but he added that he likes helping her with the wash...no joke).

When he grows up, Alvaro wants to work on building houses or washing big trucks (lavado mulas...I thought this was washing mules at first, but no...washing big trucks seems to be a coveted position around these parts). I later brought up the idea of a doctor and he honestly had never let that possibility cross his mind. Wow. The question is: is that a bad thing? Should we all feel like we need to become 'doctors and lawyers and such' in order to be successful?

While Alvaro didn't tell me this, I was impressed by this anecdote: Cerys told me that when Alvaro first came to the school, he was 'like getting blood from a stone'. What he was then and what he is now was not the same person. The founders and staff had believed Alvaro was depressed, but that after achieving a feeling of belonging in the CSF program, he became more open and gained a confidence through education. Hearing about this was pretty powerful as the student that I met was precocious, open, and proud of his ability to read. What a difference a year makes...

 When I returned after the lunch hour for the afternoon classes I was amazed by the number of students that were pouring out of the tiny schoolhouse. There were around 30 lively, excited kids jumping on volunteers and hugging anyone that had recently arrived at the scene. The place exuded love and happiness and I was impressed...very, very, impressed. The materials were minimal, but the commitment of the staff was unlimited.

I was immediately put to work teaching a class on reading comprehension with the higher level reading students. The material consisted of list of 'true/false' questions that the students were expected to read and discuss. I was completely entertained how a statement such as 'there are only three animals that have blue tongues' created a very heated discussion and required a slight teacher intervention. Colombia es pasion...la verdad!

Needless to say, I was amazed at the level of reading (and comprehension) that these students had achieved in such a short period of time. I was able to put one of the students, Luis Felipe to work as the 'maestro' helping the small group correct their true/false responses while I floated to other groups helping with management and observing the work being done by the incredible volunteers.

As I left the school around 4:30pm today, I walked and thought about how lucky I am to work with such passionate, creative, determined people...and the volunteers are pretty great, too.