This past week I visited my friend Keeton at her site in Banica, located on the Dominican / Haitian border. She has a great site, except it takes over five hours to get there. I went to her childhood literacy classes and the following day we left at seven in the morning to go out to the campo and work with kids at schools there.
At the first school we visited, Keeton and her youth group from Banica facilitated a bunch of dinamicas (ice-breaker like games) and then had a sports day with the girls playing kickball and the boys playing baseball in the field in front of the school. Afterwards, we went to another much poorer school where kids from the morning and afternoon were waiting for us. I ended up with the littlest kids teaching them what crayons were and how to use them.
Keeton’s Project Partner is an American priest at the church in her site and so we had sheets of paper with the nativity scene that the kids could color. The little kids didn’t know it was the nativity and a girl asked me, “Ella es una bruja?” pointing to Mary holding baby Jesus. She asked, “Is she a witch?” One of Keeton’s youth was working with me and the little kids and she looked pretty worried, probably for the little girl’s soul not knowing it was Mary and all, but I thought it was pretty funny.
The visit was really fun getting to see the successful projects of another volunteer and I’m just glad that I wasn’t the PCV who got thrown up on in the back of a truck at 7:15!
*Click on one of the photos to watch them in a slide show*
Keeton, the rock star volunteer I went to visit
One of the little girls I spent time with at the second school
I was surprised these kids had never played with crayons before, but they took to it and had a lot of fun even though they don't look like it in this picture.
Showing little kids that you should play with crayons and not just be scared of them!
Keeton with one of her reading groups playing a game.
It was this little girl's birthday and the teachers wanted to make sure I got a picture of her.
