Well, it's not sexy I'm bringing back, that's for sure, but it's a blog update with pictures. *Cue the "YAYYYY" It's been too long. Let's just call it one of those fancy TV "hiatus" where it breaks off mid-season and the plot is too good to wait till fall and you look for any clues in online gossip blogs and stalk the celebrities Instagram acounts hoping for a sneak peak. Just like that, right? I have to say I had a sliver of hope you'd stalk me for Peace Corps life updates.
I'm doing a brief overview of the 'haps in August, September and October. Day-to-day life isn't that exciting so it's best to review the highlights and update on the generals.
In August, I helped the Municipality with their first annual Job Fair. To be honest, a job fair was one of my main project ideas coming to Huamachuco. A lot of youth get stuck in the mentality that anything beyond highschool is unreachable (due to lack of money, lack of motivation, lack of experience/skill, etc.) Peace Corps set up a booth amidst the other colleges and universities (representing Huamachuco and Trujillo, our region's capital). We had over 250 juniors and seniors stop by our booths to listen to our mind-blowing information on about how to set and achieve goals, things to keep in mind when picking a career, and where to find scholarships. Some of them came to stare more than listen (and to steal our candies), but at least they came.
 |
| Our little Peace Corps booth! |
 |
| Alejandra and I |
Alejandra is my new site mate. She's a Business volunteer and she came to Huamachuco mid August, 2014 and will be here working until August 2016.
September rolled around and Youth Day did too. Peace Corps participated by helping out in the day of competitive games. Different high schools participated in these games in order to win points and ultimately computer tablets they could raffle off for their end-of-the-year celebration.
Games included sack racing, carrying eggs on spoons, popping balloons, etc. It was all to celebrate the day of the "joven" or "youth." Peace Corps led the "Marshmallow Challenge" game (check out the challenge here: MARSHMALLOW CHALLENGE) Groups had to build the tallest free-standing structure with ONLY 20 spaghetti sticks, 3 feet of masking tape, 3 feet of yarn and 1 marshmallow that goes on top. Whichever team measures the highest (from the base of the structure to the marshmallow) wins. The students were frustrated because we didn't give them instructions on how to build their structure, and that was the point. They had to use critical thinking and team work to come up with a base that would not only hold the weight of the marshmallow but be high enough to outwin other schools. First go-round was a little rough and only 2 of the 8 schools' structures withstood the final measurement so we did it again and we had 6 structures standing at the end.
Mid October we had CAMP ALMA which is a camp for youth girl where we focus on strengthening their leadership skills while developing skills in topics such as self esteem, sex ed, and career building. I brought three of my youth leaders from my youth group. They did extreemly well and I'm proud to be their Peace Corps volunteer! It was an exhaustive 4 day camp (I felt like a zombie by day 3) but I always personal get a lot out of camps. I feel like I can be my crazy wacky self but all with purpose of motivating and energizing others so they can get more out of their experience. Call me crazy (you probably already have) but it's what I enjoy the most of being a Peace Corps volunteer.
No comments:
Post a Comment