Hey everyone,
I'm here to annoy you with my donation question:
School ends on Dec. 22 and starts back up in March. I want to have field days during these few months of break with the children. They're all interested in all types of American sports; frisbee, baseball, golf, etc. A few told me they wanted to learn other sports because here all there is is soccer, volleyball, and a little bit of football. Therefore, my original plan was to to have this field day with both children and youth at different times of the day with different sports equipment. I have other ideas as well, such as relay races, etc. However, the people here really enjoy sport sports. I didn't ask before because I thought when I went to Ancash for a week of training I'd be able to find sports equipment, but to my disappointment, there is none. I tried another city during one of my meetings, and I realized that Peru just doesn't have much sports equipment. The only things I have been able to find are small balls.
I know this is last minute, but if anyone has any kind of sports equipment that you don't use anymore or if anyone can find anything and send it to me, that would be AMAZING! Any sports equipment, it really doesn't matter--balls, small toys, tennis balls, baseballs, Frisbees (if anything, I think they would enjoy Frisbees the most),or even small arts and crafts things such as play-do or anything!
Again, I will put my address at the bottom of this blog. The faster I receive the equipment, the faster I can start. Thank you so so so much! I will update more when i have more internet access :)
Megan McKenna
Cuerpo de Paz
Casilla Postal 208
Oficina de Serpost, Chiclayo
Lambayeque, Perú
Sud America
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
My Provider
So I have not had internet for about month, therefore sorry for not replying back to some people's emails! I'm replying back to everyone now, so sorry if I forget somebody!
I always have a million thoughts flooding my mind and never know how to verbalize fully how I feel.. But I'll try anyways. I'll try bullet points again:
--I know some already know this story, but here it goes anyways:To travel from my village to the city, it costs 15-25 soles, depending on the driver and how much they want to charge a gringa. I just discovered a problem I have--I don't know how to control my money very well. I'm still figuring out how much money I need to take out of the bank before I arrive at my village since there is no bank where I live. I have to take out a month's worth at a time since I only go to the city once a month. All this unimportant information to say that I miscalculated this time. I had to go to the city, and I thought I had enough money to get there until I checked my wallet--a 10 sole bill plus some change that just BARELY equaled 15 soles, not including money for taxis, etc. I tend to freak out about...everything. Especially when I've been in my site for a month and need to leave and get out. I like my site, but sometimes I just need to get away, haha. I thought maybe I had a bill unseen in my wallet. Maybe I had folded it really small somewhere in my one pocket wallet. As I'm trying to calm myself, I emptied out my wallet, still only to see a one 10 sole bill. My wallet is very simple, with just one pocket and a small one for change; it's hard to miss anything that's in it. After emptying my wallet 5 times and re-flattening my 10 sole bill, I gave up on my optimism. I put my wallet back in my dresser, searched every jean pocket in my room, every crevice, everywhere I could think of. Unfortunately, no luck. So I just prayed that I would be able to get out of my city with enough money. I really didn't want to have to wait to get out of my village. After I gave up, I decided to go to bed and hope for the best the next morning.As I was falling asleep, I silently prayed "God, can you just drop me a 20 sole bill? That will fix everything. k thanks." The next morning, I felt like checking my wallet again. I open it up and there neatly arranged in the center of my wallet is a neatly red bill that says '20 sole.' Which DEF was not there before because I emptied that thing out a million times. It wasn't even hiding in a crevice in my wallet; it was right there...it would have fallen out if I dropped my wallet. crazy!I know some people would say im just blind or that was just some weird thing that happened. But I believe it was God's provision. Thank GOD I was able to leave with enough money. I even had some left over when I arrived in the city :) It made me realize how small I am and how big God is, and how He pretty much can do anything he wants and defy the law of common sense.
--I'm starting to get invited to more things,meaning the people are starting to accept me more. I stayed at a dance party till 2 in the morning. I don't understand how these people dont sleep and still have a crazy amount of energy!
--I'm almost done with my world map at the high school, more like my '1/4' world map, because the students only want to paint a couple continents...at least it's better than nothing.
--I'm still teaching english to the school, the convent, police, the doctor in town, and a friend.
--I'm sorry for my poor grammar, haha. Sometimes I'm in a hurry like today and just write as much and as fast as I can and click publish without reading it.
--One girl wants to know how to run and exercise, so in the mornings I will be teaching her different exercises and how to run :)
--I'm starting my projects in 3 weeks after my training this month! here are the list of a few:
1.trash project: I'm going to give classes on trash in the schools, such as the effects of pollution, the importance of being responsible with the trash, etc. Not many people own trash cans in my town, the majority of people throw the trash wherever they are standing at the moment. Some streets are flooded with all kinds of trash. There is one trash group who sometimes comes by to pick up a few of the trash and just dumps it in a really big pile about a mile from my village...In my surveys I gave the school, many people mentioned their dislike in trash as well, so I'm going to show them the graphs of the responses. Then I'm going to have each grade compete with each other by having each class decorate and paint their own trash can. One thing these kids are motivated is with art. The winner gets a prize, which I'm still working on. Afterwords, we're going to put the trash cans in the street and I'm going to try to create weekly trash groups with the youth. I've built a few relationships with some of the older youth, so I'm hoping to have them involved. If I can't afford enough materials (I'm very surprised how costly art supplies and trash cans are!!) I want to have 'Earth Awareness Day,' with dramas and dances and face painting for a fundraiser.
2.Recycling project: have the students in high school compete (they love competitions) by making outfits out of recycled products, and making ornaments out of recycled objects. People here make their own things out of scratch all the time, so maybe it wouldn't be too hard with recycled objects. Also, there's a program where you can receive money for a certain amount of products you recycle. So I want to motivate the people by telling them exactly what they need to recycle to gain X amount of money, etc.
3. I want to do a scholarship and college awareness project: many of these students want to go to college but do not have the resources to go. Some just do not know much about it. I researched some colleges, but I have a friend that did a college fair awhile back (She's a 3 year Peace Corps Volunteer) and has a booklet of information of all the colleges. She's still in the process with putting the final pieces together, but when she's done, she's going to send me a copy and I'm going to give charlas to whoever wants to hear about these opportunities. I'm thinking about doing a fundraiser like a movie night (if we have a projector, that might not exist here, haha) or a dance night (since we have them every week anyways, or bi-weekly) and have people pay a sole to get in. The highschool did this for their anniversary and raised a good amount. After the fundraiser, if we receive enough, I want to take a few that are actually interested on a field trip to a college to ask questions, explore, become motivated, etc. If only a few want to hear, I might just give these discussions in my office.
4. Field Day-- school ends in December and doesn't start back up until March. During this time, I heard it's like a ghost town. However, for the people that are still here, apparently there are no activities for the kids or the youth. Therefore, I want to create field days bc these people LOVE sports. They told me they want to learn american sports like tennis, Frisbee, etc. So I want to maybe have a weekly sport day involving different teams and kids just to get these children out of their houses and moving and exercising. However, I went to the market yesterday and could not find any American sports. I'm hoping to find some during training. This is still being molded, I'm a little stressed with this one, but I'll figure it out.
5. Nutrition/Sanitation is a HUGE problem here, especially when water turns off in the middle of the day so people don't even have the resources to wash their hands even if they wanted to. We learned in training how to make topy tops. Which is basically getting a liter water bottle, filling it with water while there's still access to it, poke a hole in it and put a stopper on it and hang it on a wall with a string. There's a few more details in making it, but that's the gist of it. It's like a portable sink and when there's no water left, people can use this. I'm also going to be giving lessons on nutrition and sanitation, hopefully with the health post. I have a few experiments in mind.
6. Gardens--not now, i have to get these other projects done first, but many people love to garden here. However, they only garden fruits and flowers. Hardly anyone here eats vegetables. I'm pretty sure there are a ton of malnourished people here. Therefore I want to start a vegetable garden with whoever wants to get involved. However, this will be a pretty long project. I'm going to start when other projects are starting to lift off.
7. There's a year long workbook made to be in the for of discussions for classes or youth groups with youth. It's about communication, self esteem, the basics of how to respect each other, the importance of value, etc. Many people don't even know the basics. However, I don't want to teach this in the school because with my experience so far, I'm pretty sure they won't even listen. I want to create youth groups and have very informal sessions in my office so people will participate and get involved. I've realized the smaller groups have more participation.
There's a few more ideas but these are the main ones I'm thinking about that I will hopefully be starting very soon! and I have to leave to go back to my town, but ill post more pics net time!
I always have a million thoughts flooding my mind and never know how to verbalize fully how I feel.. But I'll try anyways. I'll try bullet points again:
--I know some already know this story, but here it goes anyways:To travel from my village to the city, it costs 15-25 soles, depending on the driver and how much they want to charge a gringa. I just discovered a problem I have--I don't know how to control my money very well. I'm still figuring out how much money I need to take out of the bank before I arrive at my village since there is no bank where I live. I have to take out a month's worth at a time since I only go to the city once a month. All this unimportant information to say that I miscalculated this time. I had to go to the city, and I thought I had enough money to get there until I checked my wallet--a 10 sole bill plus some change that just BARELY equaled 15 soles, not including money for taxis, etc. I tend to freak out about...everything. Especially when I've been in my site for a month and need to leave and get out. I like my site, but sometimes I just need to get away, haha. I thought maybe I had a bill unseen in my wallet. Maybe I had folded it really small somewhere in my one pocket wallet. As I'm trying to calm myself, I emptied out my wallet, still only to see a one 10 sole bill. My wallet is very simple, with just one pocket and a small one for change; it's hard to miss anything that's in it. After emptying my wallet 5 times and re-flattening my 10 sole bill, I gave up on my optimism. I put my wallet back in my dresser, searched every jean pocket in my room, every crevice, everywhere I could think of. Unfortunately, no luck. So I just prayed that I would be able to get out of my city with enough money. I really didn't want to have to wait to get out of my village. After I gave up, I decided to go to bed and hope for the best the next morning.As I was falling asleep, I silently prayed "God, can you just drop me a 20 sole bill? That will fix everything. k thanks." The next morning, I felt like checking my wallet again. I open it up and there neatly arranged in the center of my wallet is a neatly red bill that says '20 sole.' Which DEF was not there before because I emptied that thing out a million times. It wasn't even hiding in a crevice in my wallet; it was right there...it would have fallen out if I dropped my wallet. crazy!I know some people would say im just blind or that was just some weird thing that happened. But I believe it was God's provision. Thank GOD I was able to leave with enough money. I even had some left over when I arrived in the city :) It made me realize how small I am and how big God is, and how He pretty much can do anything he wants and defy the law of common sense.
--I'm starting to get invited to more things,meaning the people are starting to accept me more. I stayed at a dance party till 2 in the morning. I don't understand how these people dont sleep and still have a crazy amount of energy!
--I'm almost done with my world map at the high school, more like my '1/4' world map, because the students only want to paint a couple continents...at least it's better than nothing.
--I'm still teaching english to the school, the convent, police, the doctor in town, and a friend.
--I'm sorry for my poor grammar, haha. Sometimes I'm in a hurry like today and just write as much and as fast as I can and click publish without reading it.
--One girl wants to know how to run and exercise, so in the mornings I will be teaching her different exercises and how to run :)
--I'm starting my projects in 3 weeks after my training this month! here are the list of a few:
1.trash project: I'm going to give classes on trash in the schools, such as the effects of pollution, the importance of being responsible with the trash, etc. Not many people own trash cans in my town, the majority of people throw the trash wherever they are standing at the moment. Some streets are flooded with all kinds of trash. There is one trash group who sometimes comes by to pick up a few of the trash and just dumps it in a really big pile about a mile from my village...In my surveys I gave the school, many people mentioned their dislike in trash as well, so I'm going to show them the graphs of the responses. Then I'm going to have each grade compete with each other by having each class decorate and paint their own trash can. One thing these kids are motivated is with art. The winner gets a prize, which I'm still working on. Afterwords, we're going to put the trash cans in the street and I'm going to try to create weekly trash groups with the youth. I've built a few relationships with some of the older youth, so I'm hoping to have them involved. If I can't afford enough materials (I'm very surprised how costly art supplies and trash cans are!!) I want to have 'Earth Awareness Day,' with dramas and dances and face painting for a fundraiser.
2.Recycling project: have the students in high school compete (they love competitions) by making outfits out of recycled products, and making ornaments out of recycled objects. People here make their own things out of scratch all the time, so maybe it wouldn't be too hard with recycled objects. Also, there's a program where you can receive money for a certain amount of products you recycle. So I want to motivate the people by telling them exactly what they need to recycle to gain X amount of money, etc.
3. I want to do a scholarship and college awareness project: many of these students want to go to college but do not have the resources to go. Some just do not know much about it. I researched some colleges, but I have a friend that did a college fair awhile back (She's a 3 year Peace Corps Volunteer) and has a booklet of information of all the colleges. She's still in the process with putting the final pieces together, but when she's done, she's going to send me a copy and I'm going to give charlas to whoever wants to hear about these opportunities. I'm thinking about doing a fundraiser like a movie night (if we have a projector, that might not exist here, haha) or a dance night (since we have them every week anyways, or bi-weekly) and have people pay a sole to get in. The highschool did this for their anniversary and raised a good amount. After the fundraiser, if we receive enough, I want to take a few that are actually interested on a field trip to a college to ask questions, explore, become motivated, etc. If only a few want to hear, I might just give these discussions in my office.
4. Field Day-- school ends in December and doesn't start back up until March. During this time, I heard it's like a ghost town. However, for the people that are still here, apparently there are no activities for the kids or the youth. Therefore, I want to create field days bc these people LOVE sports. They told me they want to learn american sports like tennis, Frisbee, etc. So I want to maybe have a weekly sport day involving different teams and kids just to get these children out of their houses and moving and exercising. However, I went to the market yesterday and could not find any American sports. I'm hoping to find some during training. This is still being molded, I'm a little stressed with this one, but I'll figure it out.
5. Nutrition/Sanitation is a HUGE problem here, especially when water turns off in the middle of the day so people don't even have the resources to wash their hands even if they wanted to. We learned in training how to make topy tops. Which is basically getting a liter water bottle, filling it with water while there's still access to it, poke a hole in it and put a stopper on it and hang it on a wall with a string. There's a few more details in making it, but that's the gist of it. It's like a portable sink and when there's no water left, people can use this. I'm also going to be giving lessons on nutrition and sanitation, hopefully with the health post. I have a few experiments in mind.
6. Gardens--not now, i have to get these other projects done first, but many people love to garden here. However, they only garden fruits and flowers. Hardly anyone here eats vegetables. I'm pretty sure there are a ton of malnourished people here. Therefore I want to start a vegetable garden with whoever wants to get involved. However, this will be a pretty long project. I'm going to start when other projects are starting to lift off.
7. There's a year long workbook made to be in the for of discussions for classes or youth groups with youth. It's about communication, self esteem, the basics of how to respect each other, the importance of value, etc. Many people don't even know the basics. However, I don't want to teach this in the school because with my experience so far, I'm pretty sure they won't even listen. I want to create youth groups and have very informal sessions in my office so people will participate and get involved. I've realized the smaller groups have more participation.
There's a few more ideas but these are the main ones I'm thinking about that I will hopefully be starting very soon! and I have to leave to go back to my town, but ill post more pics net time!
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| Showing some love, haha |
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| I taught the youth how to make crazy pictures; they thought i was weird until they started having fun making weird pics too |
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| I want to steal her and take her back to the US with me. We were both bored during an event (anniversary of the school), and we played a bunch of games until the event was over |
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| Girls that I teach English to; I watch English movies with the girl on the right, Milagros |
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