Pura Vida to all!

We began our day with a mental warmup different from many of the previous ones in hopes of getting everyone in the mindset required for the day. We introduced an activity that made our peers think about five things they can see, four things they have touched, three things they can hear, two things they can smell, and one thing they have tasted. The second portion of the mental warmup up was a guided meditation which focused on releasing the stress we may carry during the trip to finish out our last day of helping the community strongly. We believed that it would provide the most beneficial outcome to have everyone let go of their worries, venturing into the last day with a steady conscience. While it proved important to maintain high morale, ensuring everyone was able to clear their heads to work effectively would prioritize the project and subsequently boost morale.

We took a short drive to the school and got straight to work. As some of my peers worked to put another coat of green paint on the gymnasium’s floor, the other two groups worked on painting the walls inside and outside of the lunchroom bright shades of blue.

Everyone presented their flexibility during the times we announced the groups needed to switch out for another job. The teamwork presented by every single individual throughout the day allowed us to complete the tasks we worked relentlessly on. I believe the last day of our community action project displayed to everyone how effective teamwork is. Everyone contributed something to our common goal of bettering the school, allowing us to complete what we were tasked to do and bond as a community. In the end, we cleaned, sanded, and painted the gym, the bathroom doors and walls, the inside and outside of the lunchroom, and the pillars and gates of the hallways. Being able to step back and take in our hard work would not have been possible without everyone’s help made this project that much more special. Though we can only speak for ourselves, we are sure everyone envisioned the children running into their school, smiles adorning their faces, as we left our project for the next delegation to come. This experience reminded us of the quote of the day which was “In a time of destruction, create something” said Maxine Hong Kingston who’s a US novelist and professor of Chinese descent. We were reminded of this quote as we created something for the children enrolled in the school, a prosperous learning environment.

After our hard work, we took a group picture to mark the last day of the community action project.

When we got back to the base house it was around four and we were given two hours of free time which most of us took as an opportunity to go to the local corner store down the street with two of our GGLs, Alejandro and Brandon to stock up on snacks. While others in the group took the chance to shower and wipe away the paint and sweat from our last day of CAP. When the two hours of free time were up, we had gotten together in the dining room to eat dinner.

During the nightly meeting, we had conversations about the quote and the question of the day which allowed us to reflect back on not just what we learned during the community action project but what this trip has taught us and how it has changed all of us as individuals. After the meeting, we followed it up with a circle led by one of our Global Glimpse Leaders, Angela. This circle was one of appreciation where we, as a group, were all given the chance to tell someone in our delegation how much we appreciated them and how much their actions over the course of these two weeks had impacted us in a positive light. Although a few tears were shed, we could tell how much we all enjoyed the circle and in the end, a few people gathered around and embraced one another.

The night was filled with gratitude as well as fun as we came together in El Rancho, originally to sing karaoke, but it ended up turning into a huge dance party. As the music blasted, people were able to share a bit of themselves and their cultures as everyone was taught a thing or two about different dances. Overall, everybody had a place to be themselves and dance freely as we were together in a community which is something we can all take away from this experience as the question had intended. At ten o’clock we called it a night and lights were out.