Esperanza = Hope

By Señor Hernández – Teacher

During the last two days I've seen our students go through quite a significant journey. I have seen them interact with students (pen pals) from a local school during our meeting with Ms. Melissa Gonzalez. What I found most refreshing was that students who have never studied Spanish formally were making every possible attempt to communicate with students from her class. They decided to take a worthwhile risk and remove all anxiety or apprehensiveness in an effort to learn more about their pen pals. I am very proud of how our kids represented themselves and their school.

Today we went to the La Carpio community to fulfill our service learning project endeavor. During the next two days we are helping to build a road in that community so that they may attain property rights for their homes. I have to say that it was eye opening to see how optimistic the people of La Carpio are. Unfortunately, they don't enjoy some of the "luxuries" that we in the U.S. enjoy. Could you see it by looking at them? The answer is a resounding "No." I have never met a more optimistic and happy people. They were more than willing to offer you a kind word and a smile without expecting anything in return. When one of our students asked Chicho (the president of the local community organization), what his most valued possession was, he pointed towards a little girl in the room. I think that he and the people of his community have an overabundance of "Esperanza" or "Hope." This is a more valuable luxury than any material luxury anyone can have. My inspiration for writing this blog post was the picture that I found on the outside wall of a house in La Carpio and it is also included in this post. LaCarpio is a wonderful place.

It has been exciting to see the possibilities in tying this trip to our Spanish program at school. The possibilities are endless. I can't wait to experience what the rest of the trip will bring for our students!