July 10 was our themed day of Aid and Development, so after breakfast at 8 am we had an academic seminar on the theme led by Aaron and Ollie. Then I led a team builder where we tried to guess who someone was from the group when another person described their good personal traits. Guest speaker Emily Sendin came to our hostel and spoke about the moral ambiguity of aiding people and doing community service. She told us the quote: “If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together,” -Aboriginal Activists Group.

We had lunch with our guest and then we took a field trip on our private bus to the Chacraseca community. We visited the school that has about 400 kids, that has a program, with 36 kids in it, that is dedicated to helping these kids from kindergarten to the university. The program also teaches the kids in it how to speak English. In another  part of the community we visited two workshops where woman worked on making items to sell online so they could support themselves and their families. The first made tye-dye purses and sheaths; and the second used recycled chip bags to make wallets, purses, keychains, and other little items. We got back early so the group had some free time to go talk to family or buy snacks from the supermarket. After dinner we had english tutoring and then we ended off the day with our nightly meeting. It was a good day to get to be lider del dia.

Love, Natasha/Natalia/Natalie/Nat Fazeli