Being leader of the Day during a Free Day is not as fun and easy as it sounds, in fact, it comes with its own unique set of challenges that as a leader, I had to overcome. A few days ago we visited the mayor of San Juan de la Maguana, Hanoi. After our meeting with her she extended to us an informal invitation to her home and more specifically her pool. Today we were given the chance to follow up that invitation and so right after breakfast we walked over to Hanoi’s house. We spent three hours of fun playing in the mayor’s pool and interacting with the mayor’s family. The highlight of our time there however was our birthday surprise for our very special Global Glimpse Coordinator Lucia. The other day I organised the glimpsers into creating a nice card signed by the whole GG team as well as chipping in for a chocolate cake for Lucia as well. That was quite a challenge for me because the Glimpsers had many things on their minds. This included getting ready for their community action projects which requires many hours of exhausting planning. Despite the struggle in trying to get these tired-out-of-thier-minds glimpsers to put a hold on their planning and instead work to create a surprise for our GG coordinator I knew it was all worth it after seeing Lucia’s face after we presented the delicious chocolate cake and our card for her. Another highlight of the day for me as leader was both seeing my fellow glimpsers propose their Community Action Plans as well as presenting them. The only way I can describe how I felt as I saw both groups of my fellow glimpsers presenting to the GG and FUNDASEP leaders was pride. Pride in the two CAP’s that we were able to come up with and pride in our desire to make a sustainable difference to give the community a more dignified life.
This leads me to my Question of the Day which is “How is your project creating a more dignified life for the community?”. To me, the answer to this question starts in the fact that every human being is born with certain rights. These rights are called human rights, and I feel that one of these rights is the right for everyone to be able to live a life of dignity in the work place and at home. Before, when we visited the communities we would be enacting our CAP’s at, we saw people living in a way that violated that one basic right that all human beings are born with. In the Sala LectoEscritura the building was made of corrugated aluminium metal and riddled with holes. The benches and desks where the kids were supposed to sit in were rickety wooden benches and desks that were in a state such disrepair that they began to fall apart when we sat on them during our visit. Behind the building itself was a yard that could have been used as a play-ground for the kids was full of trash and broken glass. These conditions are absolutely in violation of that basic human right for all peoples to live in dignity. My hope for my fellow glimpsers and me is that our projects can at least lay the foundation for the creation of a more dignified life for this community. The plan I’m involved in is to clean up the yard and plant a garden behind the Sala LectoEscritura building with the help of the community so that they start to be aware of that human right they have.
CAP Group 1 Presenting their ideas to bring sustainable change.

CAP Group 1 Presenting their ideas to bring sustainable change.

CAP Group 2 presenting their creative ideas for the community.

CAP Group 2 presenting their creative ideas for the community.

SURPRISE LUCIA! Happy Birthday! Feliz cumpleanos, we love you!

SURPRISE LUCIA! Happy Birthday! Feliz cumpleanos, we love you!

Cristian and Lucia, our fantastic GG coordinators!

Cristian and Lucia, our fantastic GG coordinators!