Hola Chavalos!

Hola amigos y familia! It’s Reyna and Rachel from Dougherty Valley High School, and we were the leaders for the final Community Action Project day. Today was another busy yet fun endeavor in the beautiful city of Matagalpa. We woke up and headed to Los Pipitos after breakfast. As our CAP project came to an end we had a lot of work to accomplish. As leaders we took the initiative to plan out how we thought our project would best be completed. We decided to finish painting and cleaning before lunch. After lunch, we would replace and organize all of the toys, furniture, and supplies. We were able to follow through with our plan and as lunch time arrived, we took the bus with Jorge back to the Hostel to gather everyone’s lunches. On this awesome bus ride we discovered that Jorge learned how to speak English by interpreting the “heavy southern drawl”. Anyways, after we got back to Los Pipitos we kicked into high gear to finish up our work. All hands were on deck to mop the floors, finish detailing the murals, and reorganize the rooms. We were especially impressed by the strong sense of camaraderie that flowed throughout the building as our work was completed. As our project came to a close around 2:30, we gathered around to hear what Yadira, the director of Los Pipitos, had to tell us as her closing remarks. It really resonated with us when she told us that we had fulfilled her dreams.

The rest of the day consisted of free time. Some of the group headed to the cathedral to meet up with the New York delegation that is also staying in Matagalpa. It was neat that we had an immediate connection with a group of strangers because of our similar experiences, even though it was the first time we had met. Meeting the NY delegation proves how Global Glimpse brings out the best values in all of us, which are easily recognizable among one another.

Our final day of CAP proved to be stressful and difficult for all of us, but it definitely brought out the best in everyone, especially when we stopped working and saw all the progress we had made. It was inspiring to see how twenty teenagers could come together and create a major impact on the lives of others. Each of us come from extremely diverse backgrounds which influence our ideas and sense creativity, but we were all able to combine our strengths to help Los Pipitos. Despite all the obstacles we faced, we ended up with a final result that demonstrated the deep pride we take in our work.

This evening during our nightly meeting, one of our fellow glimpsers, Paulina, shared an idea that really struck a chord with us. She said that all of the tension and frustration that CAP may have brought up in the group just proves how passionate and invested we are in our project. If we didn’t care so deeply about how our visions came to life, we wouldn’t have cared enough to speak our minds about what we felt was best. The CAP project is truly an experience we will keep with us forever (we know, it sounds cliché!).

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To end this post, we send our love to all our friends and family back home with this inspiring quote:

“Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or the willow survives by bending with the wind.”
-Bruce Lee

Rachel Layne and Reyna Zaver