Preparations

After my last visit to El Porvenir, I had been feeling overwhelmed. There’s so much to do and I have no time. I tried finding another volunteer in the area so I could spend the week preparing them to take over the project. The problem is, however, Peace Corps doesn’t send volunteers to sites where training is conducted, so I couldn’t arrange anything. I wasn’t looking forward to my next visit and having to tell them that that would be my last week with them.

Max asked permission to get away from Spanish class and go with me. It was great. The typically playful and extroverted kids in town were shy, hiding behind walls or trees. We talked with the women and planned for the first sell next Sunday. We discussed all the costs involved in producing each piece, and how much they should sell each for. We planned logistics to get the product to the market, and how much of the stuff they needed to sell to break even. We agreed I would come back once before I left to help train a few of the women who can read to keep track of the inventory and how to use it to make business decisions. The session was really productive and Max helped a lot, but the best was after the meeting was over.

All the kids kept trying to approach us. They were curious about the new “gingo”, but were shy to approach him. I remembered we had made some plain paper airplanes in one of my visits and asked Max to make them some. As soon as they saw him working on the planes, they got closer. They sat around him while he made a flower for one of the girls and birds or planes for the rest of the kids. I watched how much they loved what he was doing and I loved him too… for being there with me, and for caring about these people.

As we were leaving, a family (Mom, Dad, and Baby) was arriving on a bike. It wasn’t new to me since there’s always people visiting the house with babies. I’ve wondered why there’s so many visitors with babies but have never had the chance to ask. We were heading out and there was no time… I made a mental note to try and solve the mystery next time.