I Will Miss You!

We've been so busy lately it has been hard to post! I haven't forgotten about it.. it's just that the amount of time I have to post has decreased. Last week marked our final week in the schools. On Monday and Tuesday we started telling the students that these were our last days. In Zambiza, the 2nd and 3rd year Bachillerato classes, which is equivalent to grades 11 and 12, have a sort of practicum on Thursdays and Fridays so we let them know that Wednesday would be our last day with them. The 3rd year class is the one that I connected with the most and enjoyed spending time with the most. Their English was the best for our school and we were able to communicate the most. On Tuesday, one of our facilitators had a presentation with all the teachers so Justin and I were left in charge of the entire school. Luckily for us that's only about 80 kids. Justin took the grade 9's since their English is the worst and his Spanish is better than mine and because he admits he connects better with them. I took the 2nd and 3rd years since they're so much more mellow and easier to handle!! We had stuff planned until the break, which is at 10 am because we assumed the teachers would be back. I took my grades out to the courtyard and taught them the Boot Scootin Boogie! (I swear the kids down here are going to think its our national dance! haha) They seemed to have a good time and some caught on really quickly. We played some dodgeball then headed back into the classroom. I had them work on an "About Me" that was in English. I gave them some examples to use and had them write it out on looseleaf first so I could correct it. After that, we supplied colored paper, glitter pens, markers, pencil crayons and stickers for them to decorate their About Me with. I have to say the students here never complain about anything and are always willing to do what we ask. They're also very particular with their school work so their work books are immaculate. I've never seen such neatly kept books. Whenever we have them work on something that has to do with coloring or decorating, they really go to town. They put in so much effort! It was fantastic plus I got to learn a lot about them. So many of them want to be doctors, nurses, vets, or engineers of some sort. One even wants to be an English translator!
Once they were finished their About Me's some of them asked what I was going to do with them. I said I didn't know (since it was just an activity to keep them busy) but they told me they wanted me to take them back to Canada with me, so that's what I plan to do. It was break time so we all went out to eat and play games. The teachers still weren't back after the break so we had to improvise a little bit. It ended up that the teacher's didn't come back until 12:00 (which means we spent 5.5 hrs teaching when we thought it'd only be 3! I taught the kids a little about Canada geography and a few stats about the country. I also talked about a few animals, listed all the provinces, and then got the kids to list all the provinces in Ecuador. They didn't actually know how many there were! I was relieved when the teachers came back, that's for sure!

Wednesday was our last day with the older kids, and actually our last day at Zambiza school since we spend Thursday's at Inca and then Friday we were having a school Olympics with Zambiza and Inca vs. Calderone (the school that Justin and Flo were at). I was definitely extremely sad to be leaving the school. We had a day full of English classes, which was a great way to end off the day. We also gave all the kids in the school toothbrushes that were donated by the U of M Dentistry Faculty. It was so nice to be able to give these kids something. We presented the teachers with the supplies we brought down to donate to the school. We learned throughout our trip that supplies are very expensive for the students so we were glad to be able to help! We made sure the teachers understood it was important that the sports equipment be left out for the kids to play with on the break. To be honest, I expected a little more excitement and gratitude from the teachers, I mean we brought an entire hockey bag filled with markers, pencils, erasers, scribblers, binders, etc, but we assume they're used to donations from people that come so I let it slide. Our teachers are also the most shy out of all the schools so its probable they just weren't showing how grateful they were. For the 2nd year class, the teacher had something planned but she said that she wanted us to do something with the class. This class is the most shy, most quiet, and I think she said they have the least motivation. One of them is pregnant and two have new borns at home. We decided we'd play charades with them, in English. They were all quite shy but when we started doing the acting they really got into it. I had such a blast with the class and was glad to see them get excited about something! They're always just sooooo quiet. At the end of the day we had gym class with the 3rd year class. At the end of class we said our goodbyes and told them to stay motivated, so I really hope they do. We got a big group picture with them and then as we were standing around they all swarmed us and gave Justin and I a big group hug. It was amazing! They did this twice so we decided we would swarm them with a hug. After this, we really did have to leave so every one of them gave each of us a hug and said good bye. I could really feel the love from them and I knew I would miss them. I was really sad to think I would never see them again! :(

Thursday we spent at Inca, which was a normal day. It was Andrew and Dana's turn to say goodbye to their kids and they were sad to see them go. And then it was Friday. The Olympics day. We had to do all the organization for this day so we'd all put a little bit of work in. We decided to have events for volleyball, handball, basketball, soccer, puzzles, math, charades, and labelling a body with body parts in English. The day was really busy and a little stressful but it was amazing. All the kids seemed to have a fantastic time and I was glad to get to work with so many. At some points, I felt like I had paparazzi. One kid would ask for a picture and then 5 kids would come out of no where to get a picture of us and then 5 more kids would want a picture. It was unbelievable! The end of the day came and we made sure to get a picture with all the kids and all the teachers we'd been working with. I am so so so sad to leave the English teacher since I got to know her best. She's an amazing teacher and does so much for these kids. She's helped their English so much. We were saying our goodbyes and we had kids coming up to us from all angles presenting us with things. I ended up with an Ecuador bracelet, an origami heart, and a couple of cards. One card is my favourite with a picture of me with the kids and things such as "don't forget Ecuador" and "We'll miss you". I almost cried with the kindness they showed us and the cute things they presented us with. The teachers had lunch with us and then presented us with another card and a table runner with Ecuador on it. I never expected anything!

I have to say my time in the schools was stressful at times but I truly love the students. As one of the teachers told us, "the kids here are kids. They aren't trying to be teenagers or adults or anything but kids" and its true. They participated in everything and I never saw the "I'm too cool" attitude. They appreciated us so much and showed us so much acceptance and worth. They commented our hair and eyes were beautiful and were so interested in us. There's even one kid in the Calderone school that wants to come to University in Canada. His English is better than most other students so I truly hope it happens for him. If I could do it, there's a lot of the students I would bring back to Canada. The unfortunate thing is that its so difficult for them to come to Canada. South Americans need a Visa just to come to Canada for any reason, vacation, school, work etc. They can't just come up like we were able to come here. It's especially difficult since their Visa applications go through Colombia so they find it impossible to come to Canada. It makes me so sad! There's so many amazing people here and I really think Canadians could learn from the warmth of the South American culture.

I really hope this programs continues on in the future. The program never turned out exactly as we, or the facilitators, really thought but it was the first year so we never really knew what was going to happen. The program has a lot of adjustments that need to be made and the schools have a long way to come for the program to be able to continue, but I truly hopes it happens. I wondered if I actually could have made an impact, but from the response of the students I know I was able to. There are people that didn't believe in what I was doing here and were skeptical, and I think the teachers here were skeptical as well, but I KNOW we did something amazing. I know we impacted these students and I hope our goodbye messages that they can do anything sticks with them. I am going to miss the students so much.

If I had someone to stay with me, I'm pretty sure I would stay in Ecuador for at least a year. I love South American culture, and it's not really anything I can explain. You need to come here and experience it for yourself!