During the day there were many complicated decisions. We devoured our wonderful pancake breakfast with knowledge that today was Brayan’s, one of our Global Glimpse coordinators, birthday. The day started off with celebrations and cheers before we got into the tough decisions of in discussing the logistics of the CAP (Community Action Project). As a group, we were passionate about aiding a community’s need of improving their school by painting the walls and providing supplies to attract local children, planting fruits and vegetable for the garden, and welding a fence to provide protection to prevent animals from coming in. Sadly, our budget could not fund everything. Through thorough discussion, we came to the conclusion that we will focus our time and energy towards the school. We believed that having a strong foundation in education is the most important thing that we can provide to help the community.
After this energy-draining planning, we feasted on our comedor’s weekday buffet and regained our strength to follow through the next activity. Straight after we had to change wardrobe and rode the public bus to shadow a high school student at Modesto Armijo School in the afternoon. Unlike the United States, Leon’s elementary school is in the morning and high school in the afternoon. While enduring the sweaty pits in the public bus on our way to the school, going to the school made me realized that I am blessed to have an education in the States. The school looked like it was prison, no offense, and the rooms and windows were barred. The students didn’t pay attention to the teacher, it wasn’t clean, it was always loud, and the teaching quality was not great. To sum it all up, the education quality and environment was lacking despite the enthusiasm of the principal. This experience strengthened my faith in the final conclusion of CAP.
As a leader of the day, I’ve noticed that my entire Global Glimpse group has different personalities and perspectives about everything. But what makes us different is instead of clashing, we become open-minded and accept these differences to grow closer. Everyday I am with my group, I continue to be amazed in the achievements and closeness we have become. This may sound like a cliche, but this group is irreplaceable.
