Community Action Project Day 1 (No. 3)

Hola Everybody!! Happy Fourth of July!

We were very excited to be leaders of the day on the first day of the community action project! As leaders we were determined to emphasize our quote and question of the day. Today’s quote was: “Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can make a difference. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” (Anthropologist: Margaret Mead). The question of the day was also instrumental in getting ourselves ready to work together: What are the keys to successful teamwork?

The morning started off great, we had our expectations, intentions and goals for the day! As the first work day, our Glimpsers were ready to take a five minute drive to the local school. After arriving. we were introduced to the maintenance guy here Gilbert, who is here to support us throughout the three days by letting us know what we need to work on as a delegation. We are excited about making the school a better place ? Groups were made based on job responsibility, one group of ten and two of five. The first group spent their time painting the entrance railings and posts the color black. The second group spent time sanding other areas including part of the hallway’s railings. The larger group spent time sanding the soccer court, which took some hard work and determination. Every twenty minutes we called for breaks with fruit and made sure Glimpsers were having water breaks. Thanks to Maria and Erika, nutritious fruit was given out to us with granola bars and other small snacks. The snacks gave us enough energy and strength to continue our tasks until lunchtime. A special thanks to the school’s lunch lady that was there on site for us. Sonia made us a delicious lunch of Arroz con pollo, with beans, and vegetable salad. After lunch, we continued working until 4pm when our bus arrived to pick us up and take us to base house after a long day of putting in sweat equity! A big shout out to our group coordinator’s for getting us a bus, which was a last minute ask:) Also, thanks to our group GGL Brandon for taking us to the corner store to buy snacks to take back to the base house. We then got to eat a delicious dinner made by Ms. Liz and Laura which was a scrumptious Spaghetti dinner. We ended our leadership with our nightly meeting, introducing the new leaders of the day to the group.  Lastly, we gave the group a rewarding movie night with popcorn, thanks to Maria!

We had a blast being leaders of the day, even with the stressful moments of getting people to do certain things. But in the end there was so much progress done to the school, that when the principal came to see, she wore a proud face looking at what we had done in just a couple hours. A big thanks to  Patricia, the principle, for letting us come to her school and work on it to make sure her kids have a better place to learn.

We are very thankful for our Glimpsers and GGL’s for always being there for us throughout the day. Looking back at all of the work being done made me smile and warms my heart that we are making a difference in this town. Can’t wait to do more!! Signing out! ?

Love,

Marina

(Karina and Mariela)