These past few days have been amazing. I have met so many incredible people these past few days I have been here. I love observing at the school. I have not interacted educationally with them yet, but I have played outside in recess. They are such wonderful children; so full of life. They have such a zest and hunger for learning. They love going to school, interacting with their classmates, and doing their Montessori activities. I have had a special bond with these sisters named Jamie and Jenny. Whenever they see me around the school, they say "Hola Violeta!" (Violeta is Violet in Spanish. My middle name is Violet and Morgan was harder to pronounce) and give me a hug. Their smilies are so big! The parents are so incredibly friendly and kind. They care so much about the school, community, and children.
This community is so amazing. Once I knew more about this place, it became more and more clear of how astonishing these people are.
We hear about poverty quite often. We see it on TV and read about it. There are many people around the world who are experiencing poverty, and hunger at this moment. Seeing it in person however, was completely different.
The girls and I went on a tour to the neighborhood where majority of the children live, La Cienega (english, The Swamp Land). This is very close to the school and convenient for the students who live here. Most of the homes looked very similar to the picture above. As you can see, dirt, mud, and water was covering most of the ground. The houses barely stood up with used metals, hay, tin, and stone. The inside isn't much bigger than a typical American dining room. With that size of a home, there are several people who live in there, sometimes up to 7 people. Some of the homes have water pumps in them, and you're luck if you get one. The water that has the pump is contaminated with bacterial water. Some of the families must drink this water because they can't afford purified water. The electricity only comes to the city three hours a day.
And yet, every time we passed by someone, the biggest smile shined from their faces.
When our clan passed a person outside, we said either "Hola" or "Bonjour" because it is a Dominican and Haitian neighborhood. Each time, every person smiled back and said "hello" back to us. The children ran over and were so excited to see us. Their smiles were so contagious it was hard to keep a straight face the whole time.
Everyone there made us feel so comfortable.
I see here more than ever that these parents work so hard to provide a good life for their family, and children. Most of the parents at 3 Mariposas work at the school to keep their child's scholarship money.
When I got back to the villa, I didn't know what to think. The girls and I are very fortunate. We all live in homes with roofs, we have our own clothes, our own rooms, bathrooms and easy accessed education. I have all of these "things" in my life.
And then I thought about something.
Yes, I am extremely lucky. I have all of these" things" that I can call my own. But these "things" in life are just "things". The "things" don't create life. You do. It is important to not sweat about the small things in life. The small things add up to the big things, which then create the big picture. How one perceives certain situations makes the bigger picture. Yes, we all have our bad days. Trust me. However, its how we overcome each of these challenges with grace and dignity that help us along the way, and impact us later on in life. How we look at the rest of our life.
The people of La Cienega had an incredible look on their lives. Despite their famished homes, and little belongings, they came over each of those challenges so gracefully and don't look back. They make the best of the situation.
I am very much inspired by the town, and the people who make it.
This will not only help me along the way the rest of my life, but throughout my career as well. Many students that I will someday teach come from several different backgrounds. Its important to not only be a supportive teacher, but gain a full knowledge of understanding of what is going on. The children's success is not only dependent on the teacher, but their parents as well. We need as many tools as we can to help a child grow, and reach for the moon and stars.
After reading this, please make sure to look around you. Look at the amount of things that you have. Whether it be your family, a book, a house, and education. Start to look at something once a day and appreciate that you have the things you have and why.
Because you are lucky, and there is so much in life to be grateful for.