The Global Glimpsers, with help from the GG leaders, have created a new Community Action Project (CAP) that hopefully will lead to a better orphanage home and a new memorable experience for the Global Glimpse delegates.  After a quick breakfast, a three hour seminar was conducted by yours truly in order to discover the perfect CAP that the students could accomplish.  Ideas were thrown about and graded and scaled to the equation of; “feasibility+need+personal passion+ community engagement=impact”.  Countless thoughts spewed from the minds of the intelligent students and graded as a group until there were only two great ideas left, the best amongst the best.  Thinking of the orphanage children as well as the requests of the orphanage staff, we decided that we will first renovate the playground where the children play.  The playground is a perfect breeding place for disease, sickness and injury, an accident just waiting to happen.  The Glimpsers decided to replace many of the dangerous “play structures” with safer structures, in order to create a playground that will become not only less dangerous to play on, but also save the orphanage money and time in the case of an accident.  The second project that was decided was the idea of painting the outside of the orphanage entrance.  This thought was conceived when the delegates remembered the cracked entrance and how ratty it looked in comparison to the rest of the rich neighborhood in which the impoverished orphanage resided within.  The idea behind this CAP was that with a better looking entrance, not only would it enhance the image of the orphanage, but would also attract more potential donators.  After the projects were decided and the materials needed were found, the students went off to a quick lunch of a chicken tamale with rice and macaroni and cheese with bell peppers for the vegetarian eaters.

For practice, the Glimpsers acted out a mock presentation about the various projects, again with yours truly acting as a master of ceremonies.  Passing with flying colors, the students put on the finishing touches, polished their speeches and waited for Madre Maria Cristo (the nun that runs the orphanage) to arrive.  When Madre finally arrived at around two in the afternoon, the students dressed in their very best, carried out a flawless performance describing with acute detail of what was going to be in each project.

Group one giving a presentation about the playground renovation.

Group 2 detailing the actions to be put into effect when painting the entrance of the orphanage.

When the two groups finished, Madre immediately approved both projects, and the CAP was set.

Group picture of the entire Global Glimpse team with Madre
PC: Shiloh Burton

Free time for the delegates followed immediately afterward and the Glimpsers enjoyed a variety of activities, from card games to chess, from an intensive work out to a relaxing conversation on the terrace.  The students carried on in this fashion until 5:00 when din-din came around.  The entree of the meal were manuelitos, a type of dish that consisted of a salty cheese wrapped in a sweet pancake like tortilla creating a perfect fusion of salty and sweet deliciousness, served with a side of beans.  After dinner came the nightly meeting, which began with roses and thorns of the day followed by pluses and wishes for the group, and finally feedback for el lider del dia before the torch was finally passed on.