This job is interesting in that it has two extremes – having tons of stuff to do, and having next to nothing to do. When the groups are down, we pull 12-hour days and are constantly busy. When they aren't, though, there's really not that much going on.
Right now, there aren't any groups here. That's basically because it's September – school has just started, so not as many groups are going to come down. That leaves me with a lot of downtime.
When I have all this free time, what do I do with it? Sometimes (like this week), I actually have Los Niños-related work to do. I've been contacting schools, writing up site descriptions, etc. – mainly administrative stuff. When I don't have Los Niños-related work to do, though, I like to spend some time at the orphanage.
Most people wouldn't think of an orphanage as a fun place to go. But really, it can be. This particular orphanage is named "Refugio del Niño Jesus", and there are some really great kids there. A lot of them actually are orphans, but some of them still do have parents – they just can't live with them for one reason or another. Usually in those cases, there's been a history of abuse, drug use or alcoholism in the family, neglect, or just plain not being able to take care of the kids.
The kids themselves, though, are really great. We spend our time playing games – I just taught them paper football the other day – or just hanging out. I try to help out there when I can; last Saturday their soccer teams had a couple of games, so I went around to the games with them and watched some of the kids. It really was a lot of fun. Not to mention that these kids can really play.
So I've been spending a good deal of time there. Next week I'll have some other things to keep me busy, but hopefully I'll still be able to work in a visit there
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
"What would you say you do here?"
Yes, it's a famous Office Space quote, but it's also a common question that I get asked by friends and family back in the States. What kind of work am I doing in Mexico?
Los Niños, the organization that I work for, has been working in Tijuana for many years. The organization has a number of different branches, which would take a lot of time to fully describe in detail, so let me describe what I'm working on – we can save the other branches for a later post.
I'm a year-long volunteer with the service learning program of Los Niños. What we do is we bring groups of students from the United States down to Tijuana, and these groups typically stay here for anywhere from 5 up to 12 days. "Service learning" is an apt description for what they do during their stay – they work with the communities here on service projects, while also learning about the Mexican culture and people. In short, my job is to work with these groups.
That's a deceptively simple summary, because the work itself entails a lot more than being a glorified tour guide. When the groups are here, I'm not just supervising and giving talks – I'm working alongside the groups in the projects that we do here. The projects usually involve working to improve the schools in Tijuana. Three miles from the United States border exists some of the most profound poverty that you could ever experience – and education is key to breaking that cycle of poverty. Therefore, it's important that the kids in the schools get to go to school as much as possible, so they can learn. One of the obstacles to that is rain – although it doesn't rain here often, it can be a real mess when it does. Any unpaved surfaces here (and there are lots of those) turn to mud when it rains, and a lot of the schoolyards here are unpaved. So if it rains, the kids can't go to school for a few days, until the mud dries. Most of the time, our projects involve paving the school yards – that way, the kids can go to school as much as possible.
A lot of people ask me if it's like Habitat for Humanity, but really, it's not. What Los Niños does isn't charity – our mission is not to do work for the people, but rather to work with the people. We're facilitators – the students that come here and the communities here in Tijuana actually do the work and benefit from the work. The Mexicans are more than capable of doing work to improve their communities – but they just need people to help organize these work projects, and that's where we come in. We start out helping them organize these projects, but eventually, the communities start doing them on their own. And in a nutshell, that's our mission – community development. The communities here learn to come together, work to improve their lives, and develop themselves at the same time. It really is great to be a part of.
That said, it's also a lot of work. To pave the schoolyards, you need concrete, and that means we have to mix it – so it's a good amount of manual labor. We also have to make sure everyone is mixing it correctly, drinking enough water, and mingling enough amongst themselves. The idea isn't to have a bunch of Mexicans working together and a bunch of Americans working together, it's to have everyone work together. The culture mixing is every bit as important as the concrete mixing.
In the end, everybody benefits. The Mexican schools are improved, the communities come together, the students who come down here learn, and it's just a great experience in general. It's a lot of work, but to be honest, I wouldn't want to spend this year doing anything else.
Los Niños, the organization that I work for, has been working in Tijuana for many years. The organization has a number of different branches, which would take a lot of time to fully describe in detail, so let me describe what I'm working on – we can save the other branches for a later post.
I'm a year-long volunteer with the service learning program of Los Niños. What we do is we bring groups of students from the United States down to Tijuana, and these groups typically stay here for anywhere from 5 up to 12 days. "Service learning" is an apt description for what they do during their stay – they work with the communities here on service projects, while also learning about the Mexican culture and people. In short, my job is to work with these groups.
That's a deceptively simple summary, because the work itself entails a lot more than being a glorified tour guide. When the groups are here, I'm not just supervising and giving talks – I'm working alongside the groups in the projects that we do here. The projects usually involve working to improve the schools in Tijuana. Three miles from the United States border exists some of the most profound poverty that you could ever experience – and education is key to breaking that cycle of poverty. Therefore, it's important that the kids in the schools get to go to school as much as possible, so they can learn. One of the obstacles to that is rain – although it doesn't rain here often, it can be a real mess when it does. Any unpaved surfaces here (and there are lots of those) turn to mud when it rains, and a lot of the schoolyards here are unpaved. So if it rains, the kids can't go to school for a few days, until the mud dries. Most of the time, our projects involve paving the school yards – that way, the kids can go to school as much as possible.
A lot of people ask me if it's like Habitat for Humanity, but really, it's not. What Los Niños does isn't charity – our mission is not to do work for the people, but rather to work with the people. We're facilitators – the students that come here and the communities here in Tijuana actually do the work and benefit from the work. The Mexicans are more than capable of doing work to improve their communities – but they just need people to help organize these work projects, and that's where we come in. We start out helping them organize these projects, but eventually, the communities start doing them on their own. And in a nutshell, that's our mission – community development. The communities here learn to come together, work to improve their lives, and develop themselves at the same time. It really is great to be a part of.
That said, it's also a lot of work. To pave the schoolyards, you need concrete, and that means we have to mix it – so it's a good amount of manual labor. We also have to make sure everyone is mixing it correctly, drinking enough water, and mingling enough amongst themselves. The idea isn't to have a bunch of Mexicans working together and a bunch of Americans working together, it's to have everyone work together. The culture mixing is every bit as important as the concrete mixing.
In the end, everybody benefits. The Mexican schools are improved, the communities come together, the students who come down here learn, and it's just a great experience in general. It's a lot of work, but to be honest, I wouldn't want to spend this year doing anything else.
Friday, September 14, 2007
The Facebook Connection
I knew it was going to happen. I started this blog, and became bad about keeping it updated. But I'm going to give it another go. I even hooked it up to Facebook so you can read about it through the Notes section of my profile. Will it keep me motivated to write? Who knows – but I'll give it a shot anyway.
Speaking of Facebook, I've been constantly irritated by "Zombie Requests", "Vampire Requests", "Hot Potato Requests" (wtf?!), and "Pirate Requests". To quote Jerry Seinfeld, "I don't wanna be a pirate!"
Fortunately, I've figured out how to make it all go away. You have to click the "Privacy" link, then the "Applications" link, then the "Other Applications" link, then select the "Do not share any information about me through the Facebook API" button. That button is grayed-out until you remove all your authorized and third-party applications. So Facebook doesn't exactly make it easy, but after you jump through these hoops, third-party applications won't be able to access your information – or even see that you exist.
Not only does this make your privacy way more secure, it also means that your "friends" can't spam you with SuperWalls, Free Gifts, or other mindless crap. Welcome back to the good old days of Facebook.
Speaking of Facebook, I've been constantly irritated by "Zombie Requests", "Vampire Requests", "Hot Potato Requests" (wtf?!), and "Pirate Requests". To quote Jerry Seinfeld, "I don't wanna be a pirate!"
Fortunately, I've figured out how to make it all go away. You have to click the "Privacy" link, then the "Applications" link, then the "Other Applications" link, then select the "Do not share any information about me through the Facebook API" button. That button is grayed-out until you remove all your authorized and third-party applications. So Facebook doesn't exactly make it easy, but after you jump through these hoops, third-party applications won't be able to access your information – or even see that you exist.
Not only does this make your privacy way more secure, it also means that your "friends" can't spam you with SuperWalls, Free Gifts, or other mindless crap. Welcome back to the good old days of Facebook.
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