Emotions!!

What an emotional past two days.

Today the program with the schools ended and the good byes were said. I was doing well until the students began crying immediately my eye welled up with tears and it was at that point that I understood the importance of our visit to these schools. I realized the power of friendship and the strength of relationships that you can create, even despite being able to speak the simplest phrases to each other. Most of my trip involved a dictionary to help me express my desires but I realized people who are willing to accept others flaws can really discover the greatness inside of each other. This is very hard for me to express as I do not express emotions the greatest but today was one of the hardest experiences I have had to deal with in a very long time. Over the past three weeks I have created friendships that I will never forget and I feel that I will also never be forgotten by some. I feel that my presence will be felt for awhile and that the impact does not end today. I know that I have influenced some of these students to strive for bigger and better things and I hope that the desires don't dwindle due to the lack or resources or simple due to demographics. If I could I would bring each and everyone of these students to Canada so they can experience a school in which there are more than two basketballs or a school in which they turn on the lights by flipping a switch rather than rubbing two wires together or a school in which they don't have to scale glass protruding walls in order to retrieve a ball that flew over the wall.

In the beginning I said that the past two days have been very emotional, that is because yesterday I had a conversation with one of my students and he really opened up to me about his home life and his dreams. I will first give you a background, this student is the current National Ecuadorian Fencing Champion, he has desires to travel and really perfect his English. He told me when he grows up he wants people to look at him and say you are a good man. He proceeded to explain to me the importance of fencing in his life and that it is a part of him that he want to pursue for years to come. He looks at this as an opportunity to see the world beyond Ecuador.

He proceeds to tell me how his mother views him as a bad person because he enjoys fencing and singing. She want him to be a perfect student and that fencing and singing should not be a part of his life. He also told me that he does not get along with his mother and that there is a lot of yelling that takes place in his house. He is worried that he will succumb to these influences and not pursue his dreams. He said that this is one of his greatest worries in life. I could tell that this was a very tough conversation for him because he getting to the point of tears and this is something that truly affect every single day of his life. I told that one of the hardest things in life is knowing what you want out life and that many people never really understand that aspect, but you know where you want to be and you know what you love. If you work hard you can achieve these dreams and that your time at home is limited. Once you finish school and are living your own life it then that you are in control of where you end up.

This conversation was very hard because I have never experienced these problems growing up. I lived in a household that encouraged me to pursue activities in which I enjoyed or excelled at rather than trying control every aspect of my life. I really appreciate the sacrifices my parents made when I was growing up in order for me to play sports and partake in programs that were of interest to me. For that I say thanks to my mother and father for always being there for me when I needed them most.

The day was not all tears and lumpy throats. Today we had a big tournament between three of the schools in the program . The three schools met at Calderon school and they participated in the following activities: basketball, handball, soccer, volleyball, charades, mathematics, puzzles and English. The day was a great success and it was apparent the students enjoyed it. They were filled with smiles throughout the day. One of the goals of the program was to increase participation in sports particularly for the female students. Today was definite evidence of the success of that goal. Over the past week I could see sportsmanship increasing and participation as well. I am happy with my involvement with the program and all that I have done in Ecuador. So far everything has far exceeded expectations and feel blessed to be partaking in a program as great as this.

We are off to Manta for a few days and then off to Galapagos. My next post will come in a few days prior to departure to Galapagos.

Adios