This Picture Has Nothing to do with This Post....

This post has nothing to do with my host nephew, I just think he's really cute, especially when he puts watermelon in the dirt and then eats it (as shown here). My initial inclination is to start this post by saying that the past few weeks have been difficult, but after being here and working in places like a shantytown I always stop myself as soon as that thought crosses my mind. Life here may present its challenges, but to say that it is difficult seems a completely ridiculous as soon as I remind myself that there are millions of other people who lead lives that are actually difficult. So, instead of saying that things have been difficult I’ll share with you a recent challenge that has presented itself, as well as the positives that keep me motivated and energized to keep working hard and learning more from such challenges.

Jovenes por la Paz, my long-term service learning project, has been quite the adventure. I don’t know why I continue to make up my own projects when there are millions already written and prepared, step by step, but I am definitely learning a lot by making everything I do up as I go along. I won’t re-explain the project because I talk about it all the time on this blog, but I am currently trying to plan the closing event that is meant to celebrate the successful completion of the six different service learning projects. The problem is that I still have 2 groups who have yet to get their projects off the ground, so planning the celebratory event feels strange at the moment. They still have about 2 months, which is ample time, but it still makes me a lil nervous.

Last weekend I met with the leaders of each group, which was both disheartening and motivating. The disheartening part was that the two groups who need the most help were the only groups who did not send a representative to the meeting (this was a BIG disappointment). The motivating part, however, is that the young leaders from the others groups, without any prompt from me, spent the majority of the meeting talking about how they could help encourage the other two groups and get them organized. After making a plan to help the other groups and reflecting upon their experiences from their own projects (what they learned, what were the challenges, how they can improve future efforts, etc.), I had all the group leaders write words of encouragement and congratulations on cards on each other’s backs. They got really into the activity and left feeling good about their efforts to improve their communities, and ready to help make an even greater difference. I had a meeting with one of the groups later than day and the group leader showed me that she had pasted her words of encouragement on the inside of her agenda to have it with her all the time.



Hopefully we can get these last two groups going so that all 60 youth involved can celebrate their successes at the closing event. I’ll keep everyone posted on how it all turns out, and I’m looking forward to seeing all the groups come together in order to help each other finish their projects. The fact that some of the groups are struggling just makes the experience more real, and hopefully everyone involved will learn even more as a result of the hard times. I know I sure will!

More to come soon on a project I just started with sixth graders in my smaller elementary school called Junior Achievement, and an Art for Peace workshop I did using art as a medium to discuss intra-familial violence with a group of kids who are finalists in an community-wide anti-violence art competition. In other news, check out the photos of the chicken farm on Facebook. The women are working their butts off and have already built everything. We should have chickens in less than 2 weeks. I agreed to learn how to kill them, so I probably won’t be eating chicken again for a REALLY long time after that happens.

Hope everyone is well, send me an email if you have questions about anything that is going on here, or if there’s anything particular you’d like me to write about. My head is often so flooded with ideas that I end up writing none of them, so it would be nice to get feedback from others. Email me at pleasant.morgan@gmail.com. Peace!