Somotillo - Changing Lives

I have developed a love for teaching - not in the "180 days in the classroom talking to texting high-schoolers" sense, but a love for teaching a specific subject to a small group of children who know barely any English. This passion started early this morning as four other team mates and I started our first agriculture lesson in a small Baptist school in Somotillo.

Yesterday all ten of us arrived safe and sound (mind you, with a few bumps on the head from the van ride over broken asphalt roads) at Casa de Shelly - the ministry headquarters which serves as part dormitory for volunteers and part educational center for the locals. Casa de Shelly was established by an American couple who have worked and lived at the facility for almost twelve years providing immediate aid for local villages (including food, clothing for children, and even building houses when a village is hit by flood or other natural disaster). We also met six other volunteers from the United States who had arrived the day before us and were only staying a week.

Since it was my first day officially teaching, as well as the first experience teaching agriculture in a foreign language (AFL, ha ha) for all five members of our ag. education team, we were all nervous as we arrived at the school just five minutes from our home away from home. We were accompanied by a translator but hoped to be able to teach and interact as best as we could without a language barrier.

Throughout the four hours spent at the school, we introduced the idea of leadership and the importance of agriculture to the students as well as started our first lesson: soils, the foundation of all crop production. Luckily we had two experts on our team: a former State FFA Leadership Coordinator leading the leadership aspects and a current middle school science teacher to talk about soils. The other two team members and I followed along, leading ice breakers (including the famous 'human knot' game) and passing out candy as rewards for volunteering (you won't believe how popular 'carmella' is for these kids!).

Overall the entire experience was fun and rewarding. Considering the poverty level in this community, almost every student knew something about agriculture and also the importance of a being a leader before we even had a chance to teach! This is why we are here: to educate, share our knowledge, and also encourage these students to be the future leaders for their community and their country, in an attempt to stop poverty once and for all.