By Janina Martens | Volunteer
Books, puzzles and fish – a volunteering experience in Don Juan
After five weeks of living and working in Don Juan, a tiny fishing village in the Pacific, we are saying our goodbyes. It is 9am and our English class at Don Juan’s small school has started: We are standing outside on the dirt playground, playing the guitar and singing: “If you’re happy and you know it, say Hooray!” The kids in front of us shout “Hooray!” and put their hands up in the air enthusiastically. It is a precious moment – on our last day of volunteering in Don Juan they have finally got the gist of the game! Well, I guess that´s how foreign language, or any learning process for that matter, settles in, with time and patience. My husband Tom, a music and art teacher, and I, a journalist, chose to come to Don Juan and work with Fundación A mano manaba because of their approach to intercultural learning. We have not been disappointed.
We stayed at the “Biblioteca”, opened it every day in the morning to welcome children from the village. The first days we were a little shy and felt uncertain: “Will we find a connection to the children? What difference can our help make? Are we actually helping and not just infiltrating?”
But we were welcomed warmly by everyone in the village. We liked walking around Don Juan, because always people smiled at us, saying “!Buenos días!” or “!Buenas tardes!”. After some days at the library of A Mano Manaba we also felt comfortable with all the different activities that are offered here: We encouraged the kids to read – to read out aloud or to listen to us reading stories. The world of books is still a new one for many of these children. A world to discover – and it was a lot of fun to accompany them on their way.
We also helped the children with their homework, played chess and puzzled with them. They love puzzles! The basic idea of the library is allowing a space so the children can have fun while learning. So, we tried to come up with creative ideas every day. We were a little shocked that homework often just consists of copying pages from school books, just writing down without thinking or understanding. Apparently as a result of that, many of the children struggle with creative tasks, for example with having own ideas of what to draw. So, we offered artistic activities and encouraged the children to try and learn new things. Sometimes it was hard to motivate them. And at first, you do not really see an impact. But then there are many good, surprising moments: For example, one day, one of the boys sat down quietly and started to draw a whale on his own. So, things do change!
Another task to work on is the empowerment of girls and women in this region of Ecuador. A Mano Manaba aims to improve the conditions of life for girls and women. We wanted to participate in that. So, we played soccer with the girls on the beach and Tom offered photo workshops especially for girls. These workshops were a good way to pay attention to the way on how the girls perceive the village and their reality here. With their photos they could share their view on the world.
During our five weeks in Don Juan we got the chance to learn and experience lots of new things. The people of the community are really nice, open and willing to share their knowledge. So, some fishers took us with them early in the morning for fishing, we helped to classify fish and our neighbors showed us how to cook typical food like Ceviche. That is the best thing about it – that it actually was an intercultural exchange. We learned from them, they learned from us!
In our view the Library of A Mano Manaba is a good and important project – a project that definitely makes a change for the community. Why? Because it is a secure place with a positive learning atmosphere. Because there are many activities taking place that help to empower women and girls. Because with hosting volunteers from all over the world A Mano Manaba offers the possibility to create an intercultural exchange. And because it widens the horizon of the kids and changes their perspectives. We are sure that this generation of children who have access to the Library will be able to make a real difference and provoke positive changes in Don Juan.
We are very thankful and glad that we could be part of this great project!
Janina Martens
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