Well the two chapters (Indiana University and University of Tennessee) have finally merged as one supporting unit for these Guatemalan children.  Our first week together was spent acclimating and getting into the groove of things. We have decided to divide and conquer this project by placing ourselves in different environments and areas based off of the skill sets we have as individuals.  We are thrilled to get the opportunity to enhance the education of these children, but at the same time create these relationships simultaneously to build better connection and trust so they can understand our purpose for being there as well as grasp what we are trying to achieve together. The challenge we’ve come to face is understanding that the Guatemalan lifestyle isn’t exactly that which we live.  More specifically we’ve noticed that their perception on education and other things differ from what we originally thought.  However we’ve overcome this cultural barrier and believe we can better understand their mindset which allows us to provide a more enjoyable experience.  We’ll keep posted on the progress.

Much Love,

IU and UTK

It is the night before our flight to Guatemala, and we could not be more excited! After weeks of planning and discussing our goals for this trip, the time has finally come! Although it might be difficult to leave our home, family, and friends behind, we cannot wait to experience the amazing moments we will spend there. We will have the opportunity to immerse ourselves within the culture and grow throughout the process, so hopefully we can bring back some valuable knowledge when we return. We are so grateful for this wonderful opportunity!

Time to make a positive impact in some people’s lives!

-The UTK Family

Hello friends!

We survived our first week of classes!  This week was not a normal week.  They spent majority of the week getting ready for their Mother’s Day celebration!  Mother’s day here is like Christmas. Actually every holiday is like Christmas here, including birthdays.  They go all out for every single event.  Both the English and Guatemalan teachers taught their kids songs and dances for them to perform for their mothers today.  The kids dressed to the nines and gave their moms gifts that they had made by hand.  Because of the holiday the kids do not have school tomorrow and will get to hang out with their moms all day!

We decided that the best way for you to understand what we are doing is for each of us to share a personal experience that we had this week.

Carli- I have already learned a ton in these first three days! The classrooms here, in Guat, are nothing like the classrooms in the US. The structure is different entirely and the kids are at different levels. Here it is not rude to interrupt and it is just loud in general. I went in expecting the kids to listen to me and do the worksheets we gave them, but this is not what happened. I realized the kids need one-on-one attention and when I would give it to them they actually were learning how to write in English. I try to speak to them only in English so that they become familiar with the language. I also have a new respect for all teachers! I am completely wore out by the end of the day! After this week I know how the classroom is structured and how the kids respond to certain styles of teaching. I am hoping to brain storms some new ways of teaching for next week and see how the kids respond!

Colt- Well..to get started I’m working with children not in the UPAVIM school kindergarten to 6th grade.  These children only speak Spanish which has definitely enhanced my Spanish speaking abilities.  I am currently teaching topics ranging from language to mathematics at every grade level. This was a lot easier said than done, because I had to learn the topics myself in Spanish from my co-instructor Raquel the morning of each lesson and all of the corresponding vocabulary.  Examples being like finding area and perimeter of shapes like parallelograms, rhombus, and trapezoids , exponents and factorization, or even easy concepts such as subject and predicates!  I could obviously teach these in English, but Spanish was a whole new experience; a positive one though. The kids are really responsive to our teaching and definitely benefit from it, so it makes it all worth it.  I cannot wait to actually be apart of helping Raquel build the curriculum for the upcoming weeks.  I’ll keep you guys posted on future successes and challenges.

Me (Mykala)- I have the absolute best job ever! I work with the Preschoolers and the Kindergartners teaching them English.  In the morning we go to the two Preschool classrooms for a half hour each and sing songs that teach kids words that have to do with family and emotions.  The kids absolutely adore us!  Then in the afternoon we are in the Kindergarten class for three hours straight. We do a variety of English things that include stations, like math, library and house, singing songs and coloring.  These kids are sooo smart!! I speak English the whole time and they understand majority of what I am saying, it is amazing!! They love the attention that they get when they get it right too.  These kids seriously make my day everyday! They are so sweet! Also a thing with these kids is that they are sooo affectionate.  When they leave they give you kisses on the cheek and hugs! Sweetest things in the world!  Next week I know what to expect so I can go in more prepared and ready to teach!!

To all our mothers back in the states, we want to wish you a Happy Mother’s Day and we miss you!!

Hola todos! (Hello all!)

We arrived in Guatemala City around 11:30 am their time.  Which is on Mountain time for those of you that don’t know.  This is two hours behind our normal Indiana time.  We survived customs without being searched and all our bags arrived with us!  This is a great way to start off our trip.  Laura, our contact here at UPAVIM, picked us up form the airport in a taxi.  With all our luggage we had two seats left and 4 people….it was very cozy.  We had to sit on laps and squeeze in tight.  As we were driving through the city to our destination, it was felt like we were watching a movie, but we were the actors.  This is totally new ground for all of us so it was very surreal.  We got to the school about a half hour drive later and met all the volunteers that we will be working with while we are here.  We were introduced to our room which has three beds, some dressers and some plants.  Our rooms are on the roof and we have a little garden outside our room next to the clothes lines.

After we got ourselves acquainted with our surroundings, we traveled by bus to the local supermarket.  The buses are free here so everyone has access to them and they can pack them pretty tight.  Luckily for us, ours was not that packed.  First things first, we had to exchange our money for their local currency, Quetzales.  Then we headed to the supermarket, which much to our surprise was not much different than our local ones at home.  With a little guidance and translation from one of our UPAVIM volunteers, Mariah, we were able to successfully purchase some basic necessities.  Upon our arrival back to UPAVIM, we had black bean chili that was prepared by one of the other volunteers.  During dinner we discussed what our roles will be while we are here.

As of now, Colt will be working in the “Raforest”, where he will be helping tutor and provide supplemental learning to kids ages K-6th grade.  Most of these students are from other local schools and attend this free program after they get out of their school.  Carli will be helping the English program for kids in grade 1st-6th.  In the mornings, they work on reading and in the afternoon they focus on conversational English.  I, Mykala, will be working with the Preschool and Kindergarten kids.  We will be working on jump starting their English language skills.

Tomorrow morning we will be starting our first real day here and so excited to be immersed in the school and their daily routine.  We look forward to sharing our first day experiences with you sometime soon!

Buenos Noche! (Good Night!)

¡Hola! … Hola, hola, hola!!! We better get used to this, because we’re going to GUATEMALA!!!

I don’t think excitement can really capture the emotion IU Chapter is feeling right now.   If you would have told us last semester that we would be traveling to Guatemala City this summer, I think we might would have questioned your sanity, just a little.  After all, we’ve only existed for one year!  That’s right, our first year and we’re already going on project!  How awesome is that?  Despite the odds, after a semester’s worth of hard work and unlimited dedication by our team, it is with great pleasure to announce: we leave in 2 days!

Teaming up with on-site organization, UPAVIM (Unidad Para Vivir Mejor) and our future best friends, University of Tennessee Knoxville, we’re going to be extending a helping hand to the community of Guatemala City.  During our stay of 6 weeks we get the extraordinary opportunity of integrating ourselves into an amazing program that acceleates the learning of children of all different ages!  What will we be teaching, you might ask?  Well, we get to supplement the learning of subjects including, but not limited to: English, Science, and Art.  My expectation is that this experience is going to blow our minds!  But it doesn’t stop there!  We also get to help out the community in other ways, too.  We’ll be planting Moringa trees that bear leaves that can compensate for more than half the basic nutritional neccessities one requires, as well as, coming up with other innovative, environmental projects while we’re down there to imact the community as a whole.

To give a logistical perspective of the project there’s 3 members coming from IU Nourish (Carli, Mykayla, and Myself (Colt)) in addition to 6 members coming from the UTK Chapter, who we’re dying to meet.  After a semester of communication via email, Facebook, and Skype, it’s going to be bittersweet meeting everyone in person and creating friendships with other Nourish International members.  It’s amazing, the chance we get to discover other people united under the same cause of eliminating global poverty, just like us.

So it’s safe to say we are pretty pumped about the whole situation, all together!  Both of our chapters have raised more than what we planned on in the beginning, and intend on using the money to fund teacher’s wages at the school we’ll be particpating in, in addition to funding all the projects we we plan to implement once we get down there.  Keep tuned in as we update you on the advancement of this project and we’ll keep everyone informed on the highlights and experiences to come from this amazing adventure to Guatmemala!  We’re going to let curiosity be our guide and allow this journey to unfold before us.

Wish us luck!

-Colt