Later in the day, we had the opportunity to go visit a group called Young Achievers. Meeting each and every Saturday, this groups goal is to help kids from Katutura find their 'vision' in life and accomplish it. The kids range from 8 years old up through college. As one of the boys stated, although this is a youth group, it is more like a family.
To start out, we all sat in seats all around the room in a big circle, all of our group intermingling with the the normal members. We then were introduced to a globe inflatble ball. Similar to a 'talking ball', the person speaking held the ball so that everyone knew the attention was on them and that they had something to look at if they were embarrassed to speak. Each person stated their name, vision and then holiday accomplishment. The visions varied from engineers, pilots, president, media, to all of us talking about graduation/teaching. It was so inspiring to hear these students of varying ages say what they wanted to do and be so determined to get there.
The students then went back around and shared their marks that they received for the previous year. Not only was this a great time for each child to share their accomplishments and advancement to the next grade, but also for those to share what they struggled with and need support in for the upcoming school year. The supportive environment was set as questions were asked such as, "how are you going to get there? What are things that you can do?"
One boy in particular had finished his final year, grade 12. However, he shared that once he gets his marks back, if they are not good enough to his standards he would take the grade over again. I was blown away. Never in my life could I have imagined one of my friends in high school saying that if by graduation their grade isn't what they would like it to be, a C instead of a B, that they would retake the whole year. To see this young man's high standards for himself was amazing. Not only that, but then the leader of the group stated, "Well then we need to discuss what areas you need to work on and how to get you to reach your goal and potential...otherwise it will take you 20 years. You have to find a solution to the problem, not keep making it." Having a group like this available for students who do not receive the same motivation and encouragement from home was amazing, and moving to us all.
When the students were sharing with us about what the program was really about, a few key aspects really stuck out ot me. One was the main director's motto, "poverty is not an excuse to not make it". The students knew this by heart, and knew it was true; they really could become pilots, engineers or the president if they took the steps to get there. They focus on three main strands--professional, social, and intellectual. Using these three things as their ground work, they plan and take strides towards the future they desire for themselves. Another students shared with us an analogy they use often--crossing the river. He explained that accomplishing their vision was like trying to swim versus canoe across the river. If you swim, their are hippos and crocodiles in their way; things like laziness, lack of self motivation, etc. Instead, if you use a canoe, which is education, then you can make to your destination every time.
With the great mind of Janelle, we came up with the ice breaker for their day--knee challenge. You go up to someone, challenge them, then do rock-paper-scissors. The loser sits and the winner finds a new partner. Once the first winner loses (at some point), any and all people he/she beat ar back in the game. This is a great, never ending cycle game. The directions were clear and they all understood...except for one thing: they had never played rock-paper-scissors. We all traveled around from group to group, explaining the various steps of rock-paper-scissors--modeling, practicing, etc--then began to play. They LOVED it. It was great participating in the laughter, fun and excitement that they experienced from a game that was based in something we had known forever. It shone a new light on the silly hand game to me, as the kids sat and practiced to themselves during the speaking and talking later.
After some of the students shared the various events they had planned and lead throughout their communities (this was AMAZING by the way), they had the opportunity to ask us questions about our education, college, America, etc. The questions varied from the difference in winter/summer, snow and what it was like, transportation in America, the size of our universities, the different levels of school, and how college classes work. Although we had little time to work with our small groups of students talking about these varying aspects, it was great to discuss with them our futures, visions, and inspire them to move forward with their own.
At the end of our session, we didn't want to leave. The small children playing were adorable, and we all had quickly connected with the students. Two children that latched onto me and Janelle were Elias and Justine. Both loved math, and they were syblings. Justine was a chatter, and reminded me a lot of myself at her age. Jan even told her that in class I talked a lot like her and she had to tell me to be quiet. In response, Justine said, "That is why I like her and we get along so well," with a huge smile on her face. All the children were precious, and we are hoping and planning to go back there again. Janelle and I gave Justine our emails to share with her brother so they can contact us, have us check their school work, etc.
Once we arrived back and debriefed about our fabulous visit with the Young Achievers, the 9 of us girls headed down to the market to buy us dinner for the evening. As seen below, we ultimately settled on some Doritos of a new, interesting flavor, and some home-made guacamole (credit to Kari and the help of MJ and Bri). It was delicious, and we enjoyed the nice dinner as a group.
Me and Jill on our morning walk
Janelle and I with some of the kids
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