A Tale of Two Groups

Hola GEBC!  It's me, Mateo R., not to be confused with Matt Granger, astronomer extraordinaire.  I thought it would be opportune to fill in our faithful readers as to what sort of work our two groups are doing this week.  The first are the 'maestros,' or teachers.  The group is made up of Carolyn, Mary, Jennifer, Gino, and Matt G. and they are heading up an English camp at ECA for about 40 students.  The school year starts next Monday so many families are using this week as an opportunity for their kids to brush up on their English since many speak only Spanish at home.  Each day of camp has a theme, and kids recieve English instruction in such activities as music, writing, crafts, and gym.  As a general rule, the older kids (4th and 5th grade) are well behaved while the younger kids (Kand 1st) are a bit more antsy!  But everybody seems to be enjoying themselves and its been a big help to Beth and the children's families as they prepare for next Monday.  In addition to teaching, the maestros are also handling some of the teacher training for the staff at ECA.  We have a lot of experienced teachers in this group, and they've been able to pass on some knowledge to a mostly young staff at ECA. 

School children at Colegio Semilla de Vida

The other group, the 'futbolistas,' are the soccer coaches. Dave K., Hailey P, and myself (with an occasional guest appearance by Matt G.) head out in the morning to a different 'colegio' (high school) each day to do some soccer training with the school, no matter how big or small. Some days, when the weather fails to cooperate, we visit classrooms and share our testimony with students of all different grade levels. Flexibility, and thinking on our feet, has been the key with this ministry. Soccer, like you might guess, is a pretty big deal here, and it's been so fun to break down the language and cultural barrier with the sport. We've been in a lot of different schools with a variety of ages represented, but perhaps my favorite group was the 20 5-6 year olds we played with yesterday that attend Rafa's Hogar de Paz (House of Peace). If any of you have seen a Park District soccer game, you can imagine what it was like playing with them. Like a school of fish, they all ran wherever the ball happened to go, giggling the whole time.

Our drivers: Raul and Jairo

Another highlight has been listening to one of our drivers, Jairo, praise his favorite Colombian soccer team, Los Millonarios.  He has made it his personal mission to convert us all into fans by the end of the trip.  He even drove us to their official store to see all their apparel (which I admit was pretty sweet) and bought all of us official 'Millonarios'  coasters.  He's relentless, to say the least. 

So both groups are doing great work and it's been a real privledge to represent the Afanadors and ECA as we minister to the students and in the community.  Bueno, gracias por leer lo que les he escrito y espero que esten bien! Hasto luego!