Teaching

Okay, so I'm not really in the mood to write a blog. But, I am here to teach and I haven't written anything about my teaching experiences thus far. And it's a Sunday evening in Guayaquil and I've been meaning to catch up on my blog for awhile, mostly because I also have been slacking on journal writing, which means nothing has been getting written down. In the life of Natausha Bennit, this is always a bad sign. For her, writing is therapeutical, and she is really sad when she realizes that here she is in Ecuador and she's not gonna remember anything about it because she is a struggling writer at the moment.
So here goes my try at catching up. I do at least have journal entries from this first week of teaching so most of this will be copy and paste. This is a pretty long entry but it will give you a good look at what it's like to teach.
Our second week in Guayaquil we went to El Cisne to teach. On the drive over, we realized these people are a lot more poor than we though. We were both making an effort to look into the dark windows and doors as we passed and saw that they really have nothing. They cram an entire family into a one room building the size of my living room, with a dirty cement or dirt floor. They are really really poor. Which is why this workshop was even more incredible. The following is a picture of the street the chapel is on.
We showed up to the building and we explained that I would be teaching the taller de autosuficiencia laboral (career workshop) and Becky would be teaching the taler de autoempleo (self employment workshop) and told them to separate and those who wanted the career workshop to follow me. Nobody moved. Turns out they ALL came for the self-employment workshop. That was a shock and not expected. So we adjusted. We moved to the cultural hall to fit all 75 people. (75 people was a shock in and of itself, past interns have talked about how they were lucky to have 10 people show up for a workshop) I was extremely disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to teach my workshop and had no idea what I was going to do for the next 3 hours because I know nothing about the self-employment workshop. Becky also doesn't know much about the workshop but she has at least read the 120 page teacher's manual. So we got started. I helped where I could, asking questions, organizing activities but I felt like I was just kind of there. Becky appreciated the moral support and the few minutes she had to plan what was coming next while I took over for a few minutes. But honestly, I had problems speaking because I was taken so off guard at having to help with this workshop that I had taken in training in 3 hours when it is meant to be 15 hours. I kept tripping over my words, not being able to pronounce anything, making word-choice mistakes, it was ridiculous. I was so annoyed. I know Spanish better than that.
The 2nd and 3rd day were substantially better. In fact I felt like a whole new person on the 2nd day. (September 25, 2008): I was surprised by how many people returned to the workshop. There was a training meeting for bishops and institute teachers tonight so we were missing some but we still had about 60 people. Mimi and Jeff and Robert are going to have a heart attack back in Salt Lake when we e-mail them about this. But everyone was there, dressed nicely, looking crisp and ready to continue. Since we were gone all day I didn't have time to read over the workshop still so I didn't have a clue what was going to happen. But we started and you know what, tonight was so much better than last night, and last night wasn't even bad. But tonight, we had arranged the benches into groups so it was much more organized and for some reason all of a sudden I could speak clearly and wasn't stumbling over any of my words. I was excited to be there. I was helping teach a workshop that I knew nothing about but improvising with the training I had from the other workshop and it was working! And I was understanding the participants, and we got around to them a lot more to talk individually and give one on one feedback. I was able to answer people's questions and offer examples to help them. Becky and I were working together, I was able to contribute some valuable ideas and we just learned as we went.
There are 2 older men who sit on the right side that we just love. They are always so willing to participate. Then there's the women in the first few rows who always nod their heads and I can see that they are learning and gaining from the information we are presenting and the activities they are practicing. And they smile as they learn. And I love it. And the way everyone loves the watermelon cheer that is so silly and yet they requested it twice tonight. The way they look at us and just love us for being there to teach them.
We had a 5 minute break half way through the workshop tonight and as they returned, first we were presented with a liter of red soda. I hate carbonation and soda, but I drank it anyway to show my appreciation. Then shortly after someone brought us each a little container of yogurt they had gone out and bought during break for us. And then I saw another man walk in with a liter of Coca Cola who then saw that we already had a drink and kind of hid it behind his back and didn't end up giving it to us. He shared with some of his neighbors instead. I was actually glad about that because I can't do dark sodas, that would have been hard. I could drink a little cup of the red stuff but coca cola would have been really really hard to get down. But can you believe that? These people are so poor, they have nothing, and yet they go out and spend some of the tiny bit of money they have, on drinks and snacks for us! I was so overwhelmed with love for these people that I just about started to cry.
So the workshop went really well. At the end of the evening many of the participants kissed us good-bye and confirmed that we would meet the next evening at the same time. This is incredible. Hispanics are known for being pretty non-committal people, but here we have 60 of the poorest people in the city, taking time away from work and children to come to this workshop to learn how to better their temporal lives. When we got out of the cultural hall and were getting into our waiting car I just loved the atmosphere. Some of the participants were standing around visiting and there were tons of kids everywhere. I think as the night goes on the kids tend to flock to the church where their parents are in th workshop for 3 hours. I just love how the kids ended up at the church late at night rather than out on the streets getting into trouble. Some teenage boys were on their bikes by our car and said good-bye to us and we said good-bye and then Becky thought that maybe they would like that liter of red soda more than we would. I heartily agreed and so Becky offered it to them and they excitedly took it from her. I added on that the only condition to them having that soda is to make sure and share it with their friends and made them promise to do so. I can't forget the look in their eyes as they looked at us. They were so happy and thrilled that we had just shared with them. And talked with them. We were probably the talk of the streets already, being 2 young American girls in their neighborhood. I doubt that happens too often. I could see the older guy with them, who looked more our age, look at us with deep appreciation for the thing we had just done. Such a small thing, that probably made their night from the way their faces lit up.
The 3rd day (September 26,2008) we went to Cisne for the final workshop. Upon arriving an hermana presented us with a gift, a really cute decorated notebook that she had made. Another presented us with a bracelet in a box with a teddy bear that she had made out of craft materials as well. And Becky just complimented an hermana on her purse saying she liked it and the hermana asked her if she wanted it, and Becky said "oh no, it's just that it's really nice, I like it" or something along those lines. But by the end of the night the hermana emptied her contents out of the purse and gave it to Becky as a gift. Two others told us they have gifts for us and they will bring them to the center. Another sister wants to have us over for lunch to her house, and cook us a traditional meal. Can you believe these people? They have so little but they are willing to give and genuinely appreciate us and what we're doing. They were learning, many thanked us and told us they had never thought of these things before, and were grateful for our sacrifice to come down here and teach them.
Congratulations if you read all of this. Apparently I was a lot better at keeping a journal the first couple of weeks here. But the bottom line is that first week of teaching was pretty amazing. I saw true poverty for the first time and am learning a ton about life and people and love.
The following is a picture from our graduation. We only managed to get about 45 people that stuck around for the picture and whatnot, but it's a good one nonetheless.