The theme of the day was politics, and it went pretty well. The morning began with an 8 o’clock wakeup call by yours truly. However, unlike my peers I decided to wake them up by singing Sam Brown’s “A Change Gonna Come.” You might ask why, well it was the only song I knew most of the lyrics to. Once everyone was up and ate breakfast, we readied ourselves for 3 hours of Academic Seminar and guest speakers. Today’s speakers were Panny Contreas; Juanito Luna, the current mayor of Constanza; and Jeffrey, a candidate for mayor of Constanza.
After lunch with our speakers, we spent an hour working on our Community Action Project Presentation to present to the heads of Vida Para Ninos, a school we will be renovating as our contribution to the community. Despite some initial challenges with communication between groups, our presentation was a success. The employees of Vida Para Ninos seemed to really enjoy our ideas and showed us the places where we can see our plans to fruition.
Once our project ideas were approved, we returned to the hostel to self-reflect on the theme of politics. All opinions were expressed during the nightly meeting, where I received a significant amount of praise and some suggestions for improvement of my leadership throughout the day. Lastly, I passed the torch to Maya, the next leader of the day, and let her close the nightly meeting.
Politics Day was pretty interesting and I am sure the whole group felt the same way. As we went through the academic seminar I saw people asking more question than usually do, especially as we discussed corruption in the government. We went over the complexities of political figures taking money from certain services and placing the ill-qualified in important positions. It seemed that everyone was really engaged in the discussion.
Today, I learned that as a leader I need to be more assertive than when I’m just a member of the group. There were times during the day when I was hesitant to get everyone’s attention because I did not want to come off as too demanding. However, this day taught me that I should not be afraid to be assertive when making demands of the group because this is what they need from a leader.
I look forward to reading about Constanza-7/29/2015 trip every day. I feel like I am experiencing this journey with you all. You all have been very thorough in describing your everyday adventures.
Lovebug it so warmed my heart to hear your voice yesterday. I can’t explain just how proud I am of you.
Don’t forget the souvenirs for your Grandparents, Grandma Sims, Uncles and Godmothers. They said to remind you. 🙂
Love Mom & Dad
I love to see how all these kids getting experience on their own, without mom, dad, sister(s), brother(s), etc. Learning how to have fun/responsibilities at the same time. This program is awesome.
Leighton – You’re a great communicator, well written post. Yeah I totally get how sometimes we confuse aggression and assertion. For me I need to keep my goals in mind and motives in check and usually all goes well. But here’s the thing -nothing is wasted. Everything in life is either a lesson or a blessing.
I dare not delve too deeply into politics- especially corruption. All I can say is that in this country in which we reside, we should be more reflective and selective of how and why we put people in office. As a democratic society we need to research and hold our politicians more accountable. A new world currency is about to be announced. We better wake up is all I can say. So you guys are fortunate to be introduced and confronted to those sobering realities- BE the change you want to see.
God bless you guys in all you do- YOU are way ahead of the game.
I love you Ms. Victory and am so happy to see you smiling. Nice outfit. See you soon beautiful.
Guys- try to enjoy the group project. Remind yourselves that it will be a tremendous life long contribution and blessing to the people you are serving.
I believe everyone deserves a “Glimpser” experience. Living in each moment of each day is a lifetime experience to be cherished. Leighton you have been looking forward to a trip to Dominican Republic for ages. Now you have fulfilled a lifetime dream that will carry you through the next phases or your life. I admire your strength and conviction in all that you do. Your enthusiasm for life is the bedrock of this family that carries us through. You are destined for greatness. We are all proud of you.
Hooray!!! One more day of shared learned experiences – How great is that.
I believe everyone deserves a “Glimpser” experience. Living in each moment of each day is a lifetime experience to be cherished. Leighton you have been looking forward to a trip to Dominican Republic for ages. Now you have fulfilled a lifetime dream that will carry you through the next phases or your life. I admire your strength and conviction in all that you do. Your enthusiasm for life is the bedrock of this family that carries us through. You are destined for greatness. We are all proud of you.
Hooray!!! One more day of shared learning experiences. What can you say to that. Enjoy and have fun.