Solidarity Work

Last Thursday’s visit to Nautilus Middle school grabbed my attention, why? Because of the solidarity and excitement we were surrounded by. The assignment this week was to help the kids from Nautilus write a letter to the kids of Nicaragua. When Mr. Salinas and Mr. Gonzalez gave the assignment, I felt very unsure and hesitant; the kids didn’t seem to want to cooperate or do anything at all, maybe because they were wondering how the kids from Nicaragua would understand their writing if is in another language. But then the professors informed everyone that it will be us, the college students, who will do the translating. That’s when the whole environment and sensation in the room changed. The college students started to move around the place and went to help each student individually; the kids were now not only writing but also drawing in order to make their letters look better; also they were making comments, asking questions and forming ideas of what to write, in other words everyone was getting involved. At that moment I felt really excited and anxious. My hesitation was completely gone; within seconds of this change I found myself working with my kid and helping him develop ideas.

Luckily for me I avoided the translating stress because my kid, Christopher, knew how to speak, read, and best of all, write in Spanish. I’m just starting to know him and so far this kid is awesome. He is very independent and hyper active, in a good way. He’s always asking questions and making comments just to get attention from me and my classmates. I think I’m starting to form a bond; hopefully it will grow bigger with time. Overall this past visit to Nautilus went great, and so far it’s been the day that I’ve enjoy the most. It was strange, but the fact that could actually see and feel how everyone was doing the effort of making the assignment look interesting and fun, really gets into you and also works. At the end making the goal of making another group of kids happy and excited was reached.

~Giordano Sanchez