Volunteer Coordinating

On Monday, I experienced my first taste of my social work internship. Aaron and I walked the 30 minutes to San Felipe where Nuestros Ahijados is located. We arrived on site and had no clue what came next. Nuestros Ahijados is currently being “restructured” and the volunteer/internship coordinator recently left. So we were paired with 2 20 year old male social workers who were going to a nearby town Jocotenango to conduct home visits/checkups with the families of the students at the school. Nuestros Ahijados has a school onsite with 215 students. The family pays $2 a month for their child(rens) education and purchases their uniform and school supplies.

We walked another 30 minutes to the town and met with 5 families. 4 out of 5 of the families we met with were single parent households. The mothers worked all day to provide for her children and afford a fairly small casita. 1 woman made tortillas all day. 1 family had cement basin for a stove; ashes from the firewood constantly floated in the air. All of the students were little girls.

“You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.”

― Brigham Young

Upon returning from these visits we spoke with the director of Nuestros Ahijados. He offered Aaron and I internships doing volunteer coordination work M, W, F. I knew that Volunteer Management class would be beneficial! On Tuesday and Thursday we will work wherever needed.

One thing I’ve been reminded of while trying to successfully establish an internship abroad, is that organization and planning are not as important in developing countries. Esta Bien!

The remainder of the semester abroad group arrived on the 25th and I am super excited to be a part of a wonderful group!

The city where we are interning!

Mi maestra de espanol, Marcela!

The view from Crystal's roof in Santa Ana. 

View of Fuego & Acatenango from Santo Domingo Hotel & Restaurant. 

Have a question? Please ask me in the comment section of this blog post. Thanks for reading! :)