Holas a todos!!
Ok, so now that I have one blog post up FINALLY, I thought I would go crazy and even put another one up. This one is to show that I do other things besides party all weekend with festively-dressed Bolivians.
So, the reason why I have not been able to write any blog posts is because of a little project called Centro para Rehabilitación para Ciegos “Manuela E. Ganarillas.” I have been working with this center for the last two months to develop an environmental education program for blind students there. It is by far my favorite work I have done so far with my NGO here. Even though it took an incredibly long time to get this project launched and has resulted in many weeks of stress for me, I cannot deny that the skills I have gained and the relationships I have built are more than worth the trouble.
I have been given this project to me by my supervisors as my own, meaning that although they are an endless source of knowledge and support for me, I have planned and implemented every single lesson I have had with these students. In addition, I have nearly mastered my use of Spanish in professional environments (it is difficult to cheat and use hand gestures in front of blind students, I learned quickly), and have truly experienced what sustainable development is, as my priorities with the older blind students (from ages 20-38, though they still have the uncomfortable habit of calling me Profesora Sarah, like I´m a professional or something) shifted beyond environmental education and instead to teaching them environmentally-friendly microenterprise skills so that they can find a way to gain their own income.
I teach two groups, one of children from ages 11-16, and one of the older students that I have already talked about. This was the first time that I have gotten the chance to work with education with young adults, and I was not that surprised to find that I loved it, and even enjoyed it much more than working with the younger group. It is very difficult to work with younger blind children in a group, because their level of development and integration into the community are at staggeringly different levels, and it has been very difficult for me to adapt to this. For example, I have two students 11 years old, one who was more than ready to learn something more complicated than the food chain, and one who was so distracted by playing with the plastic animals that I was using as a teaching aid that she ended the lesson not knowing how to define the phrase “food chain.” J It´s been a new experience teaching them, to say the least.
On the other hand, the students of my age have already found their own ways to be independent and are genuinely interested in how they can save the environment, how they can teach others, and how they can “meterse en su comunidad” – find their own place in society. So far I have loved every lesson I have had with them, because they are so passionate and excited about learning everything and about applying what we have learned to their lives. Working with them has helped me understand sustainable development in a much more tangible manner, and I am hoping to be able to work with adults, especially the younger ones, in third-world countries throughout my life in various workshops like those I have been able to teach here.
OK, enough blah-blah-blah, here are some various photos of the projects that I have been doing with these students. Some of them were taken by my supervisors, Alejandra and Lia, as I was stressed-ly running around trying to make sure that every student was doing what they needed to be doing.
My favorite project so far, where the older ones make baskets out of used newspaper. The whole goal is to give them microenterprise training so that they can start their own business:
About a third of the money donated to Fundación Gaia Pacha by all of you wonderful people is going to this project, so thank you! The majority of the rest of the money is going towards creating another center for environmental education not unlike the first one on the sustainable farm, only this one is in a natural history museum. The rest of the money is going towards creating environmental education workshops for environmental engineering and education majors at the local universities. If we get the chance to get these projects up and running to the point that I can take photos of them before I leave, I will post them as well!
I hope all is well with you all!! I will hopefully post another blog soon of a beautiful trip I took in January to the world´s biggest salt flat, called Salar de Uyuni, now under extreme international spotlight for its lithium resources for batteries for electric cars. This all depends on my ability to steal the photos taken by some friends on this trip while I was without a camera, but stay posted.
Cuidense!!
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