What I learned at work...

Up until recently, I was quite unsure of what my experience at Adopta un Herman@ had taught, much less what I had been able to offer them. I had gone through my duties pretty well, working at the schools twice a week and writing memo's afterwards. It wasnt until after the week in which I experienced that enormous conflict in Lampa, that everything started to click. I wrote a pretty critical memo of, what I perceived to be, the lack of discipline in the Adopta program. Not surprisingly, this memo caused a bit of worry among my supervisors. I was called in for a meeting with Vivi, the regional director, and Caro, the one in charge of all of the Professional Assesors.



I went in expecting my head to be bitten off...



and I left with my head still attached...



The point of the meeting wasnt to criticize me for the things I had written, but rather to explain to me the reasoning behind the "Informal Education" model of Adopta. Primarily, they explained to me that, the kids we worked with were the kids who were getting expelled and suspended from every institution imaginable and that, Adopta sought to be that one thing whic managed to include them. More importantly, however, they almost took an apologetic tone with me, implying more than once that it was their mistake that they had decided to strategically place me in their most problematic commune. Moreover, they asked me not to dismiss the possibility of me working with kids in the future because of my experiences there. I was shocked, that had never been my intention in writing the memo (perhaps this opened my eyes to the fact that my spanish writing skills still need some honing). It was in the process of explaining to them my intentions that I begun to realize the impact my work in Adopta had on me.



But it wasnt until two days later, when I was interviewing my coordinator, that I finally realized just how much I had learned and changed in the last few weeks. After the interview, she expressed the same concern that I had heard in the meeting, so we sat down and talked about it.



What follows is, roughly, what I told her, and sums up many of the things I have learned and realized in this work experience



I chose to work for Adopta because I had plenty of experience working with kids. I had coached kids in two different sports, acted as a mentor, and even spent a summer as a counselor at a sleep away camp. I knew how to deal with kids, I knew it took patience and understanding, and that, in the end, it always turned out to be rewarding work. The reality that I understand was a starkingly different reality than what I experienced here. That's not to say that it hasnt been rewarding work, because it has, just not in the way that I am accustomed to. However, I feel that the reality of working with kids in situations of poverty and abuse (and here I am referring to a poverty more extreme than what I have encountered personally) is entirely different and that it takes an entirely different level of confidence, patience, and determination to make sure that your work actually makes a difference. In ways, I feel that my efforts here were fruitless because it took exactly two months to understand just how patient and determined I have to be to be effective, however, the pure fact that I learned that lesson is in some way significant. Working with kids, I have found out, is much more than being cool and hanging out with them, it's a job that takes dedication and an ability to recognize that there is no set strategy that will guarantee success.

Needless to say, I had the opportunity to work with an excellent coordinator, truly an expert in her field, whose approach to her kids was awe-inspiring. The kids respected her, but liked her. They listened to her, but also understood that she listened to them. And despite all of the problems we had, they kept coming back to the program because it gave them a space in which they could belong to a group that wouldnt ostrasize them. They loved Adopta not because the coordinator made it fun, but because they knew that they were welcomed and treated with some semblance of respect at every session and, for them, that was something they were unaccustomed to.

Finally, contrary to what my coordinator or bosses think, this experience has left me more willing to work with kids than before. Particularly, I realize the importance of working in an educational context to better the problems of economic inequality that plague our world. Education is the path not only to material enrichment, but to achieving a more well-rounded, understanding, and sincere human being. Money comes and goes, but the abilities to think critically, to set objectives, and to have the capacity to carry out your goals stay with somebody forever. Ultimately, these abilities are the ultimate cure for poverty.