Hello there lovely family and friends!

Today is day five of our trip and I am super excited to share our experience with you all! Today’s theme was Aid and Development. We focused on what factors would impact our Community Action Project (CAP) and how to make a sustainable project that is both feasible and needed by the community. We kept these topics in the back of our minds throughout the day and reflected on them once we met with our CAP partner and discussed our project’s design.

Here are the glimpsers with the students from Escuela París

Our first activity of the day was to go to La Escuela París and meet with the principal to find out more information for developing our CAP. He gave us a tour of the campus and explained some of the needs and problems that the school faces. Then we got the chance to ask questions that would provide important information for deciding on the details of the CAP. We also got to spend some time talking to the students. Spending time with the children was a very powerful moment for me. Each one was so eager to learn our names and find out information about us, whether it be age or favorite color, they had questions about everything. They all walked around and asked us to sign their notebooks and take pictures with us… but mostly they just wanted to be the ones to take the photos! 🙂 Each student had so much happiness, energy, and love for being at school. Today made me think about how much we take our education for granted. Students all around the world want to learn but struggle to find the opportunity to gain a high quality education. This pushed me to think differently about how I view going to school. In the past I have found myself complaining about how hard a class is or how much work I have, but now I am more appreciative of the education available to me. I have access to so more resources than most people around the world and now that I have a wider perspective, I am even more grateful for the things that I used to take for granted.

While at Escuela París we met a young boy named Carlos. He was the most inspiring person I met today for many reasons. Physically, he was the smallest of the bunch, but he had the biggest personality. He was easily the most social student of the group. This stood out to me especially because I was Líder del Día (Leader of the Day – LDD). Carlos’ personality was contagious and everyone followed his lead. He spread so much joy, excitement, and positivity and showed the leadership qualities that I hoped to embody during my day as LDD. In addition to learning from Carlos, I also learned how important it is to take initiative and have confidence through my experience as the LDD. With the support of the Global Glimpse Leaders and my peers, I was able to further develop my leadership and interpersonal skills. I learned how much of a difference you can make in one person’s day by making a small decision and how important it is to do so at the right times and with confidence.

Later today we discussed more about our CAP based on the information we collected. We chose to re-paint the walls, pillars, and benches, paint a mural, and improve their computer systems. We began to brainstorm/plan the logistics of the project and then quickly transitioned into tutoring prep for the first of seven English tutoring classes. Everyone went into it with some nerves, but came out of it feeling amazing about their abilities. I was so happy to see everyone encouraging each other and working together to make their class run smoothly despite the obstacles they faced. Afterward we had a small debrief and Nightly Meeting, then off to bed.

Today I saw immense growth within the group and a strengthened bond between each Glimpser. To quote one of our Glimpsers, Sergio, “I feel like we’re becoming a family,” and I couldn’t agree more. Today I grew as a leader and learned about how to be there for my peers. The day taught us a lot about the community we will be supporting and how we can push ourselves to do things we could have never imagined.

Time for lights out! Logging off,

Lilia Kazerooni, Glimpser