Day 3: How do you match the energy of young kids? (Hamartii)

Good evening! We’re back with the Monday edition of the Colombia exchange. Today is through the eyes of Hamartii Hailu (12) after an intro from yours truly (Ms. Martinez)!

Ms. Martinez: Today was a full day compared to the last two, with an earlier wake-up than the last. That seems to be a pattern as the days go on [stay tuned for tomorrow’s post]. We made our way to CASFA and immediately dove into the day’s programming. This was the cutest thing!!! The CASFA students from pre-k to 11th grade had presentations ready for us room to room, showing the typical dress, dance, food, and activities of various regions of Colombia. Sister Carolina told us to bring snacks for the morning if breakfast wasn’t enough and it was totally unnecessary because each group had samples of five foods at each of the five stations. So good. So full. Our students had to plan 1.5 hours worth of activities and games for students ages 4-9. Sounds easy enough but my teacher pals know that planning and executing are two totally different things. The time went by quickly though, and by the end of it, our CRJ students were riddled with hugs and hand holding and the kids didn’t want to go back to class. Connecting back to yesterday, we had a large lunch that prepped us for the next activity.

This afternoon, we walked– more like hiked– through the Buena Vista neighborhood where CASFA is located. Kathy and Brandon mentioned the altitude yesterday from three flights of stairs– Hamartii will tell you what it felt like to go up and up and up some more for a three hour tour. We hit points of the area and heard personal stories of how immigration, gentrification, and government involvement have affected the area. From “mother communities” taking care of each other to allow them to make the walk for water (which only ran for two hours a day… imagine those lines… just to get water) to extending the housing area further up the mountain as city blocks became more popular, we heard joys, sadness, and community pride. Going back down was much easier. By the end of the hike, everyone’s legs were shaking from the exertion! Not to say that we’re out of shape, just using different muscles than normal!

We left the walls of the convent we’re staying at and CASFA for the first time in our three days here. We have made adjustments to each planned activity so far. The unrest in the city has affected us at various steps and it’s made a real test of our adjustment skills. What we’re hearing from our hosts is that normally unrest lasts for a day or two but we’re on day five this time and the movement is gaining momentum. Adults of the trip are checking the news for updates and listening for whisperings of what’s planned to happen and where so that we can get plans C,D,E and beyond ready for the day. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been safe and safety is the #1 priority from hour to hour but we’re trying to keep students engaged without missing their expectations. What a hard balance! They are making the absolute best of the situation.

Hamartii:

Today was filled with plenty of mixed emotions. The night before, the CASFA team told us that we’d be leading our own activities tomorrow, but with children from ages 5-9. I suddenly got a rush of nervousness because we had a limited time to plan our activities. I was constantly thinking about how I’d communicate with the children. When we left CASFA, Mr. Dale put numbers from 5-9 in a hat and had us pull them out to form groups of 2-3 to determine what ages we’ll be planning activities for. I was hoping to pull out the number 5 because I wanted to work with the younger children, but I pulled the number 8 and Brandon did too. When we got to the convent, Brandon and I were told that our activities would take place in a classroom. Not knowing the exact size of the classroom made it hard for us to plan activities that’ll work or not. We brainstormed a list of 10 activities that varied from very active, to very calm because we were aware of the low attention span children have. Some of these activities were telephone, musical chairs, four corners, the frog game, night at the museum, etc,. As we were brainstorming, I was anxious on how I’d engage with the students, but come to find out that was the last thing I should’ve been worried about!

Today we ate breakfast at 7:00 AM before leaving to CASFA at 7:30AM. We arrived at CASFA to the beautiful dancing of Kindergartners. My heart melted! They gifted us with hats, eye masks, along with party noise makers. They offered us a typical Colombian treat of a ball of coconut shredding which was amazing! For the rest of the morning we watched multiple other groups of students, I believe they were the ages 7-10, give a presentation about a specific region in Colombia and the dances and treats that are in those regions. My favorite moment was when we were dancing in one of the groups, and the dance teacher who was dressed in a colorful outfit, kind of like a clown outfit brought me in the middle to dance with him. I saw him making eye contact with me, and I knew right away he was going to pull me in. I was timid at first, but I loosened up and danced with him. That was one of my favorite parts of the day.

Later in the morning, it was our turn to facilitate activities for the younger kids at CAFSA. As Brandon and I were walking to our classroom, we were anxious and didn’t know what to expect… Will the kids be hyper, will the be engaged, will they not be engaged? We didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into. When we walked into the classroom the kids were excited to see us. They all screamed, “Buenos dias!” I was surprised about the energy they were giving us, and that gave me confidence and energy to give them the best of me. We started off by having the students form a circle and play an introduction game where we went around the circle and said our names and favorite animal. Then we transitioned into a Q&A where Brandon and I shared things about ourselves and gave them the opportunity to ask us additional questions they had about ourselves, where we’re from, or anything. The two weirdest questions I was asked were, “Have you ever seen a lion?” and “Are you or have you seen a youtuber before?” After the Q&A we transitioned into playing telephone. We gave them the option of using a Spanish or English phrase, they all chose English. Our first phrase was “I love you” and the second phrase was my name… which didn’t turn out well. From “Hamartii Hailu,” the final phrase was “Pollo con salchicha,” which was hilarious and was our icebreaker. Then we played 4 corners, the frog/tongue game, and heads shoulders knees and toes, which all went really well.

As it got close to wrapping up, I didn’t want to leave. Within an 1 1/2 hours, they felt like family. They reminded me of my two little brothers that I deeply miss. All the nervous thinking I had about being able to engage with the students flew right out the door when I walked into the classroom. Throughout the activities, the students were hugging Brandon and I, and asking us a lot of questions. Working with these students has been the most memorable thing with my three days in Colombia.

In the afternoon, the CASFA team wanted to take us for a walk around the different neighborhoods and talk about the history and meaning of those different neighborhoods. To be honest with you, I was excited about seeing more of the neighborhood, the culture, and the history behind it, but I wasn’t too excited about the walking. With the altitude here being thousands over sea level, I was winded after a few flights of stairs… and there were plenty of ‘few flights of stairs’.

After a 1.5 hour reflection, we hung out together joking and laughing knowing full well we have an even earlier wake-up tomorrow! What fun!

Signing off,

Hamartii (and all of Colombia Crew)