2015: The Rainbow Fish and The Blue Whale

Many Americans have read The Rainbow Fish, an awesome children's book that tells the story of a sparkly fish who learns to share his shiny scales. Today we read the Rainbow Fish and the Blue Whale (El Pez Arco Iris y La Ballena Azul). The whale keeps staring at the beautiful scales on the fish, and they get frustrated that he is staring at them. The fish begin to make fun of him, and he gets sad, and then frustrated and violent. The Rainbow Fish eventually approaches the whale and they discuss what happened. The fish realizes what the whale was doing and the whale realizes that he intimidated the fish. Using this book, we spent the day exploring how to ask others how they feel, how to express our emotions effectively, and how our emotions affect us.

To process how our emotions present in our bodies, Gloria and I helped the girls acted out a variety of feelings while the rest of the group guessed what they were expressing. We drew hearts and talked about how unkind words create wrinkles on our souls. The girls crumpled their paper hearts with each mean statement they could come up with. Using our hands, we then "ironed" out or hearts with positive  statements. The girls were able to recognize the power of their words on other's feelings, and they stated that they felt empowered, joyful, and thoughtful as the activity finished.

We then used balloons to simulate how stress affects us throughout the day. The girls blew into the balloons while we told them a story, blowing air in when something negative happened to the character, Juana, and letting air out when she used a calming strategy or something positive occurred. Post-story, we discussed how we can't control others actions, but we can work to control our responses and stress reactions. To close the circle, each girl had to compliment the girl to their right, which made them nervous but ended up causing many smiles! It was a beautiful workshop, and Las Yahoskas continue to teach us new lessons each day. 

2015: Somos fuertes! We are strong!

It is great to be back for my sixth summer. Nicaragua is beautiful as usual. I missed the rain on tin roofs, mangos falling like leaves, and amazing gente. I am so lucky to be able to continue to work alongside this wonderful community.

The girls at Las Yahoskas are so grown up and it is great to meet the new ladies! A few of the girls were 4 and 5 when we met them in 2008. Now they are all grown up and in high school! Time flies...

I am humbled as an educator with every day I spend with Las Yahoskas. They are incredibly patient, kind, and energetic. Our week long self-esteem workshop has began! We worked on fostering personal strengths (fuerzas) by writing "I am" poems and drawing "power pictures." The girls want you to see their amazing work below! 

Check out the Girls Only Toolkit via Google. It has been used by LAUSD and others, and it is a great girls empowerment curriculum! 

2015: All-nighters never fail

 

I always plan to get sleep the night before I leave for Nicaragua, but I get too excited...maybe anxious is a better word. Did I gather enough donations? Will I get my yearly dose of parasites? Which girl will I get to hug first? How much have the girls grown? These questions flow through my head like a raging river...uncontrollable. I can't sleep, so I shouldn't fight it. That's what planes are for right?

Before I leave, I want to give a special thanks to my friends and family who support me year after year. I couldn't continue to make this journey without them. And a special thanks to my parents for becoming a permanent part of my work with Los Quinchos - they started a scholarship program which is currently funding the first girl from Las Yahoskas to go to college (she is about to start her fourth semester)! Another special thanks to Anna Ledezma, who makes gorgeous hair bows (photographed above) year after year for the girls.