“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela

Today we started off our morning at la escuela de La Amistad, this school had many special needs students with down syndrome, autism, and learning disabilities, however the school also had supportive students with no learning issues. As soon as we arrived at the gate we were greeted with a warm wave of affection by the young students; hugs, high-fives, kisses, and beautiful smiles. The glimpsers and I settled into the new environment with a tour of the school, and new friends from the school to accompany us throughout the school tour. After this we were split into small groups to assist the teachers with a lesson such as; arts, crafts, cosmetology, and mathematics. The glimpsers being the brave individuals they are tackled this task with no show of fear even though most of our Spanish is not the best. The students then gifted us with some cultural performances, at the end many connections were made and it was difficult to leave los estudiantes de la Escuela Amistad. Later in the afternoon we visited a non-profit organization ADIC, that has an after school program. Once again, as soon as we walked into the classroom the young children greeted us with hugs, kisses, warm smiles, and asking us who we were and what our names were. The women who run this after school program teach the students human rights, gender equality, and social responsibility. We played some games with the children like jump rope, and the glimpsers also read to the kids teaching them English and the kids would read to them, teaching them Spanish. This activity was great preparation for tomorrow’s task of staring our English tutoring classes.

Adelante!