Casa del Nino

Hola! Feliz lunes!
Sorry, I'm feel pretty awkward blogging but I think its a good way to force me to reflect (I dont write in my journal like I promised myself I would). Plus, I like to let everyone know what's going on!
One of my classes here is called Service and Learning. It's a two part class: first part is called theory, an hr and a half that we spend in a classroom discussing volunteer work, solidarity, what it all means internationally and how it relates to our lives. The second part is a "practica," when we go into the community and actually volunteer with an organization for the semester. The organization I picked is called Casa del Nino. It's an organization located in a pretty poor neighborhood outside of Buenos Aires where kids from the ages 4-14 can go when they aren't in school. There are classes, lunch, and a playground for the kids. Along with two of my friends from my program, Carolyn and Sarah, we teach a class for the oldest age group every Monday morning. We are just starting to get the program underway, but our theme for the class we teach is "International Culture." Each week we pick a different country to teach the kids about. First week we did Italy, and to accompany our lesson we taught the kids how to cook Almond Biscotti! Not only was it delicious, but it was a good icebreaker to get to know some of the kids.

However, one thing I really wanted to teach the kids was how to work in a garden (I have no green thumb, and I strongly dislike gardening usually, but kids should like to work in the dirt, right??). We worked it out with Sylvia, our coordinator, and she said that although they don't have space at the Casa del Nino for a full garden, we could create a flower garden in front of the building (where there are these scraggly weeds right now) and put some spices in pots in the classroom. So, this week we took a field trip with the kids to the nearest garden, which actually turned out to be the community center! Sarah and I were talking about how different it was to go on a field trip in Argentina- all we had to do was round up the kids, walk six blocks through the town, and go into the community center. If we were in the US it would have been a three week process, complete with permissions slips and matching t-shirts!
The cultural center was so cool though. It offers free classes for kids or adults in any area of life they need. For example, when we arrived, a group of adults from the town were in the garden learning how to plant spices for their own gardens. We met one of the teachers, a student from Buenos Aires who came to live in the town and now teaches ceramics and music class in the center for kids. The center donated a couple plants and spices to the Casa del Nino, so we now have some plants to start our garden! We didn't start planting this past week, but one important thing we did was get the kids acquainted with the Community center. The majority of the kids in the class had never visited, but it is such a good resource for them to learn skills and play with other kids.

This upcoming Monday we are going to start planting-- I'll bring a camera!